The mysterious genius of the Renaissance Leonardo da Vinci - what do we know about him? A great painter who painted so many world masterpieces, why didn’t he complete so many works? The drawings by Leonardo da Vinci known to us convey both the beauty of the world and man, as well as creepy, ugly scenes from life.
He owned not only paintings, but also a variety of inventions, several centuries ahead of their time. The life of this man has always been shrouded in mystery, his achievements are simply amazing. Leonardo da Vinci is not just a man, but a superman living in another dimension.
Drawing by Leonardo da Vinci.
We will focus on his most amazing mystery - the portrait of Mona Lisa or “La Gioconda” (Louvre).
This picture, which has been debated for centuries, and every researcher tries to find in this picture new riddle to solve it. The portrait carries within itself not just a specific reality, but is a generalization of the universal, spiritual principle. This is not a mysterious woman, this is a mysterious being” (Leonardo. M. Batkin).
The painting dates back to the beginning of the 16th century. This is a portrait of the wife of a merchant from Florence, Francesco del Giocondo.
The most famous is the riddle of Gioconda's smile. The mastery of the genius here has reached such heights that the expression on Mona Lisa's face remains elusive, from different points of view - it is always different. Some considered this effect ominous, others - spiritual, hypnotic. This effect is called sfumato (very subtle transitions from light to shadow) - realism and volume as if the picture was painted with many strokes.
But, meanwhile, this is not so! The paint layer is very thin and the strokes are not visible at all. Researchers have long been trying to understand this style of writing using a fluorescent method. A barely perceptible haze shades the lines, making Gioconda almost alive. It begins to seem that now her lips will open and she will utter a word.
The first description of the painting given by Vasari is contradictory, who wrote that Leonardo da Vinci worked on it for four years and did not finish, but immediately reports that the portrait reproduces all the smallest details that the subtlety of painting can convey. With a high degree of confidence we can say that in the image of Mona Lisa Leonardo da Vinci depicted not a simple woman, and the Mother of God.
Researchers are inclined to conclude that one half of Gioconda’s face is John the Baptist, while the profile of the other half belongs to Jesus Christ.
The left hand lies motionless, in the language of Leonardo “If the figures do not make gestures that express the idea with members of the body human soul, then these figures are twice dead.” Right hand looks more “believable”. All this confirms that in the image of Mona Lisa the artist combined a living and a dead image.
We know that he encrypted many of his works, for example, using the “mirror” writing technique. Thus, the letters LV or L2 were discovered in the right pupil of Mona Lisa. Perhaps these are initials, or perhaps a code - after all, in the Middle Ages, letters could replace numbers.
According to researcher Carla Glori, behind the silhouette of Gioconda on the canvas of the brilliant master Leonardo da Vinci, the picturesque surroundings of the town of Bobbio, located in northern Italy, are depicted. This conclusion was expressed following a message from the head of the Italian National Committee for the Protection of Cultural Monuments, Silvano Vinceti, a journalist, writer and discoverer of the tomb of Michelangelo da Caravaggio.
The publicist said that he examined the outline of letters and numbers on Leonardo’s priceless canvas. It was about the number “72”, which is under the arch of the bridge, viewed from left hand from Mona Lisa. Vinceti himself believes that this is a reference to the mystical theories of Leonardo da Vinci.
Glory Carla believes that the mark “72” indicates the year 1472, when the Trebbia River, which came out during a flood, carried down and destroyed the dilapidated bridge. Later, the Visconti family, which dominated the area at that time, built a new bridge. Everything except the image of the bridge is the magnificent landscape that could be seen from the terraces and windows of the local medieval castle.
The town of Bobbio was famous for the fact that nearby is the grandiose monastery ensemble of San Colombano, which became the prototype for the setting for romantic story Umberto Eco in The Name of the Rose.
Carla Glori also suggested that his model was not the wife of a wealthy city dweller, Lisa del Giocondo, but the daughter of the Duke of Milan, Bianca Giovanna Sforza. The place depicted on the canvas is not the central part of Italy, as previously assumed. The father of the proposed model, Lodovico Sforza, was one of Leonardo's main customers and a renowned philanthropist.
The historian Glory suggests that the painter and naturalist visited him both in Milan and in remote Bobbio. There was a library famous in those days, which fell under the authority of the Milanese rulers. Skeptical researchers claim that the patterns of numbers and letters discovered by Vinceti in the pupils of the Mona Lisa's eyes are nothing more than cracks that appeared there over time.
However, this is not necessarily the case. An example of this amazing story research miraculous icon Our Lady of Guadalupe, which is located in Mexico.
The most terrible puzzle of Leonardo da Vinci
Combining the qualities of a scientist and a clairvoyant, in his old age Leonardo made a strange drawing - “The End of the World”, which was not understood then. Today it terrifies us: it is the outline of a huge mushroom growing out of an exploded city...
Some scientists and researchers are confident that some of Leonardo's puzzles have already been solved, for example:
- “An ominous feathered race will fly through the air; they will attack people and animals and feed on them with a great cry.” It is believed that we are talking about airplanes, helicopters, and missiles.
- “People will talk to each other from the most distant countries and answer each other.” Well, of course, this is a telephone, mobile communications.
- "Sea water will rise to high peaks mountains, to heaven and will fall again on the dwellings of people. It will be seen how the most big trees the forests will be carried by the fury of the wind from east to west.”
It is believed that this prophecy is related to global warming.
It is impossible to list all of Leonardo's works. But even this small part is enough to get an idea of this universal genius, which cannot be compared with anyone who lived in his time.
Incredible facts
Mona Lisa, perhaps most popular work visual arts in the world. Painted by the most famous artist, Leonardo da Vinci, this painting has been a subject of interest to many. Mona Lisa was source of discussion for many centuries.
The mysterious expression on the woman's face in the painting still is an unsolved problem. Writer Dan Brown's novel "The Da Vinci Code" has revived people's interest in famous painting. Everyone, on the eve of the solution, gathered in their homes in order to quickly unravel the hidden codes described in the novel.
Besides the novel, painting is famous for many other reasons. Firstly, it is very famous due to the popularity of Leonardo da Vinci and his work on human anatomy. Secondly, the picture is famous for its unusual methods, used by the artist and, most importantly, the Mona Lisa is notorious for thefts from the museum.
Most of you may have heard about these known facts. But we will reveal lesser known and most Interesting Facts about this mysterious work.
The title of the painting is "Mona Lisa"
The title of the painting "Mona Lisa" was result of an error spelling. Mona in Italian means short form"Madonna", which means "my lady".
The woman in the painting
The identity of the woman in the painting is still a mystery. Some people think that this is female uniform faces of Leonardo da Vinci. Most are of the opinion that the woman was Lisa Gherardini, who was a 24-year-old mother of two sons.
Damage to the painting
This painting has damage. In 1956, a man named Hugo Ungaza threw a stone into a work of art. This resulted in paint damage in a small area near Mona's left elbow.
Photo: AP/Scanpix
The personality, facial features, smile and even the landscape behind the woman drawn more than 500 years ago continue to excite the minds of researchers. While some people study her lips with a magnifying glass, others find coded messages from Leonardo da Vinci in the painting, and still others even believe that the real Mona Lisa is a completely different painting.
"It will soon be four centuries since the Mona Lisa deprives everyone of their sanity who, having seen enough of it, begins to talk about it"
(Gruye, late XIX century).
The DELFI portal introduces the most popular mysteries and theories that surround famous work Leonardo da Vinci.
It is traditionally believed that da Vinci's painting depicts Lisa Gioconda, née Gherardini. The painting was commissioned by her husband Francesco Gioconda in 1503. Da Vinci, who was then unemployed, agreed to fulfill a private order, but did not complete it. Later, the artist went to France and settled at the court of King François I. According to legend, he presented the Mona Lisa to the king, presenting the painting as one of his favorites. According to other sources, the king simply bought it.
In any case, after the death of da Vinci in 1519, the painting remained the property of the king, and after French Revolution became state property and was exhibited in the Louvre. For centuries it was considered a valuable but rather ordinary masterpiece of the Renaissance. It became a world-famous icon only at the beginning of the 20th century, after it was stolen in August 1911 by a former employee of the Louvre, painter and decorator Vincenzo Perugia, who dreamed of returning the painting to its historical homeland (the painting was found and returned two years after the theft).
Since then, the Mona Lisa has survived several attempts at vandalism and theft and has become a major magnet for the millions of tourists who visit the Louvre every year. Since 2005, the painting has been kept in a special impenetrable glass “sarcophagus” with a controlled microclimate (the painting has darkened greatly under the influence of time due to da Vinci’s experiments with the composition of paints). About six million people examine it every year, each of whom spends an average of 15 seconds on examination.
Photo: Arhīva foto
It is traditionally believed that the painting depicts Lisa Gioconda, the third wife of the wealthy fabric and silk merchant Francesco Giocondo. Until the 20th century, this version was not particularly disputed, since family friend and historian (as well as artist) Giorgio Vasari in his works mentions as a fact that Francesco’s wife was painted by a certain famous artist. This fact was also reflected on the pages of the book by Agostino Vespucci, a clerk and assistant to the historian Niccolo Machiavelli.
However, this was not enough for many researchers, since at the time when the painting was painted, Gioconda should have been about 24 years old, but the woman depicted in the painting looks much older. Also doubtful was the fact that the painted painting never belonged to the merchant’s family, but remained with the artist. Even if we accept the assumption that da Vinci simply did not have time to complete the painting before moving to France, it is doubtful that the family of an average dealer by any standards was rich enough to commission a painting of this size. Only truly noble and extremely wealthy families could afford such paintings at that time.
Therefore, there are alternative theories that suggest that the Mona Lisa is a self-portrait of da Vinci himself, or that the painting depicts his mother Katrina. The latter explains the artist’s attachment to this work.
A team of scientists is now hoping to solve this mystery by excavating beneath the walls of the Monastery of Saint Ursula in Florence. It is believed that Lisa Gioconda, who retired to a monastery after the death of her husband, could have been buried there. However, experts doubt that among the hundreds of people buried there, the remains of the Mona Lisa can be found. Even more utopian is the hope, using computer reconstruction based on the found skulls, to restore the facial features of all the people buried there in order to find the very woman who posed for the Mona Lisa.
Photo: Arhīva foto
At the end of the 15th and beginning of the 16th centuries, fully plucked eyebrows were in fashion. One might assume that the woman depicted in the painting definitely followed fashion and lived up to this standard of beauty, but the French engineer Pascal Côté discovered that she actually had eyebrows.
Using a scanner with high resolution he created a copy of the painting very High Quality, on which traces of eyebrows were found. According to Côté, the Mona Lisa originally had eyebrows, but they disappeared over time.
One of the reasons for their disappearance could be overzealous attempts to preserve the painting. In the Louvre Museum and at the royal court, the masterpiece was regularly cleaned for 500 years, as a result of which some particularly delicate elements of the painting could have disappeared.
Another reason for the disappearance of eyebrows could be unsuccessful attempts carry out restoration of the painting. However, it is still unclear how the eyebrows could disappear completely. In any case, traces of a brush stroke can now be seen above the left eye, which indicate that the Mona Lisa did have eyebrows.
Photo: AFP/Scanpix
In the book "The Da Vinci Code" by Dan Brown, Leonardo da Vinci's ability to encode information is seriously exaggerated, but during his lifetime the famous master still loved to hide various information in the form of codes and ciphers. Italian History Committee national culture discovered that Mona Lisa's eyes contain tiny letters and numbers.
They are not visible to the naked eye, but with high magnification it is noticeable that the symbols are actually written in the eyes. Hidden in the right eye are the letters LV, which could be the initials of Leonardo da Vinci himself, and in the left eye the letters are blurred and can be either S, B or even CE. Symbols can also be seen on the arch of the bridge, which is located behind the model’s back - combination L2 or 72.
The numbers 149 were also found on the back of the painting. It can be assumed that the last digit is missing and this is actually the year - 149x. If this is so, then the painting was not painted at the beginning of the 16th century, as was previously believed, but earlier - at the end of the 15th century.
Photo: Arhīva foto
If you look at the lips, you can see that they are tightly compressed, without any hint of a smile. But at the same time, if you look at the picture in general, you get the feeling that the woman is smiling. This optical illusion has given rise to more than one theory about the disappearing smile of the Mona Lisa.
Experts believe that the explanation for this phenomenon is quite simple - the woman depicted in the picture is not smiling, but if the viewer’s eye is “blurred” or he is looking at her using peripheral vision, then the shadow of the face creates the effect of an imaginary upward movement of the corners of the lips.
The fact that the woman was absolutely serious is proved by x-rays, which allowed us to look at the sketch of the painting, now hidden under a layer of paint. In it, the wife of a Florentine merchant does not look joyful from any angle.
Photo: Arhīva foto
Early copies of da Vinci's work show a much wider panorama than the painting exhibited in the Louvre. They all have columns visible on the sides, whereas in the "real" painting, only part of the column is visible on the right.
For a long time, experts argued about how this happened, and whether the painting was reduced after Da Vinci's death in order to fit a special frame or to be consistent in size with other paintings at the king's court. However, these theories were not confirmed - the edges of the painting under the frame are white, which indicates that the image did not go beyond the frames that we see today.
And in general, the theory that the painting was reduced looks doubtful, since it was painted not on fabric, but on a pine board. If pieces were sawed off from it, the paint layer could be damaged or completely separated, and this would be clearly visible.
Photo: Publicitātes foto
Judging by the columns and the landscape behind the woman in the painting, we can conclude that she was sitting on a balcony or terrace. Today, scientists adhere to the point of view that the depicted mountains, bridge, river and road are fictitious, but characteristic of the Montefeltro region in Italy.
This fact does not so much shed light on what exactly is depicted on the background, but rather Once again raises questions about the identity of the woman depicted in the painting. According to one of the Vatican archivists, the painting depicts Pacifica Brandani, married lady and mistress Giuliana de' Medici. At the time when the picture was supposedly painted, the Medici were in exile and lived in this very region.
But regardless of what region the landscape in the painting reflects and what the personality of the woman depicted in it was, it is known that Leonardo da Vinci painted the Mona Lisa in his studio in Milan.
Photo: Arhīva foto
American artist Ron Piccirillo believes that he has discovered a rebus hidden for 500 years in da Vinci's painting. In his opinion, the artist hid the image of the heads of three animals - a lion, a monkey and a buffalo. They are clearly visible if you turn the picture on its side.
He also claims that under the woman's left arm there is something visible that resembles the tail of a crocodile or snake. He came to these discoveries by carefully studying da Vinci's diaries for two whole months.
Photo: Arhīva foto
The Isleworth Mona Lisa, found before World War I in England, is believed to be another early version"Mona Lisa" by Leonardo da Vinci. Its name comes from the name of the London suburb in which it was found.
This version of the painting is considered more consistent with the theory that Leonardo da Vinci painted his masterpiece when Francesco Gioconda was 24 years old. This work is also more consistent with the legend that da Vinci moved to France without finishing the painting and took it with him as it was.
But at the same time, the history of this painting, unlike the Louvre original, is unknown. It is also unclear how the work came to England and who owned it. Experts cannot believe the version that the famous artist gave or sold the unfinished work to someone.
Photo: Arhīva foto
“Donna Nuda,” a portrait of a partially nude woman with a smile characteristic of da Vinci’s masterpiece, clearly resembles the original, but the author of this painting is unknown. It is interesting that this work is not only similar, but was definitely created at the beginning of the 16th century - at the same time as the Mona Lisa.
Unlike the work exhibited in the Louvre, which rarely leaves its place behind bulletproof glass, "Donna Nuda" changed its owners many times and was regularly exhibited at exhibitions dedicated to the work of da Vinci.
Historians believe that although this work most likely did not belong to the brush of da Vinci himself, it is most definitely a copy of his painting, made by one of the master’s students. The original, for some reason, was lost.
Photo: Arhīva foto
On the morning of August 21, 1911, museum workers in the Louvre found four empty nails at the site of the painting. And although until that moment the painting had not caused much excitement in society, its abduction became a real sensation, which was written about by the press in many countries around the world.
This created problems for the museum administration, since it turned out that security was not properly organized in the museum - the huge rooms with world masterpieces were guarded by only a few people. And almost all the paintings were mounted on the walls so that they could be easily removed and carried away.
This is what a former employee of the Louvre, painter and decorator Vincenzo Perugia, did, who dreamed of returning the painting to its historical homeland. The paintings were found and returned a year after the theft - Perugia himself foolishly responded to an advertisement for the purchase of a masterpiece. Although in Italy his act was received with understanding, the court still sentenced him to prison for two years.
This story became the catalyst for the sharply increased public interest in Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece. The press that covered the kidnapping story immediately dug up a case from a year ago when a man committed suicide in the museum, right in front of the painting. Immediately there was talk about a mysterious smile, secret messages and da Vinci ciphers, special mystical meaning"Mona Lisas", etc.
The popularity of the Louvre museum has grown so much since the return of the Mona Lisa that, according to one conspiracy theory, the theft was organized by the museum's management themselves in order to attract international interest to it. This beautiful conspiracy idea is overshadowed only by the fact that the museum management itself did not gain anything from this theft - as a result of the scandal that broke out, it was fired in its entirety.
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