Mona Lisa Smile

Greetings, all! We recently took a look at Leonardo Da Vinci's famous painting, the Mona Lisa. As I mentioned in class, she's over 500 years old, and has been capturing people's imaginations for quite some time. Is she really pregnant?. Is she really smiling? Is she really...Leonardo Da Vinci? After taking a good long look at Mona in class and at home, student wrote about their own ideas on who she could be, based on their observations.

The top essays this week come from Regan and Brendan. Here is Regan's take on Mona...

The Mona Lisa probably could be called the world's most famous painting, created by the world's most remembered painter, Leonardo Da Vinci. Thousands of questions have been asked about her, and the only person who could answer them is long gone. However, that doesn't mean that people cannot make informed hypotheses about who Mona was and how she got painted.

When you look at Mona, the first thing you notice is her face and then her smile. That leads you to ask, "It that a smile on Mona's face?" To me she has an expression of amusement on her face and a sort of twinkle in her eye. When I look at Mona, I see not a smile on her face, but a smirk. The way she sits it's almost perky, yet she seems relaxed, or comfortable like she's right at home. Her eyes are squinted at the end, not at the inner sides, making it look like she is smiling. Her mouth is at ease at the sides but to me the overall effect is a smirk. The folding of the hands makes her seem as if she is hiding something. Before she relaxed, Mona could have been frightened to sit for Leo, so to make her feel less tense, he made her laugh, resulting in the smirk.

Mona's relationship with Leonardo is also a mystery, although he could have met her off the street for all we know. I doubt that is true, because there are clues in the painting that suggest against it. For example, Mona is wearing a very simple dress and back in the early 1500s they wore very elegant, elaborate clothing out in public. Mona's outfit is very simple a long dress, light overcoat, and a veil. The clothing signifies that she was at her home, or a place she considers to be a home. So, she could be the wife or future wife of Da Vinci. Another element to back this up is that she is wearing a veil, one that is not particularly easy to notice. Veils are traditionally worn by the bride at weddings. The neutral colors that she is wearing could mean that she is mourning something, maybe the death of a loved on. There's one other possibility and that is she was his mother, but I think Mona looks too young.

A final aspect that is needed to be looked at is the background. What I see is a pasture with fields, lakes, rivers and waterfalls, tall forests and grassy plains. Nature is usually a form of peace. My guess is that she was a woman ahead of her times. The background says to me, "Mona liked her alone time to think, be peaceful, and read. She cherished her independence." Another possibility is that Da Vinci saw nature as beauty, and he wanted to put two beauties together. A last notice I took was that the background was a tiny bit blurred. Perhaps this meant that Da Vinci wanted to give every detail about Mona and just focus on her.

During the time it took to write this essay on Mona, I realize that there is so much I can learn (or make an informed assessment about) by taken ten, maybe fifteen minutes to really look at the world around you. Although some questions may never be answered, we can all agree that Mona is an amazing work of art, and some captivating talent.

Here is Brendan's...

Leonardo Da Vinci was one of the world's most famous painters of all time. He was famous for several masterpieces, such as "The Last Supper" and "The Vitruvian Man", but his most famous painting is the "Mona Lisa". Nobody today knows who exactly "Mona" is; I believe she was a royal friend of Da Vinci's and he wanted to make a painting of her so he could always remember he. Another of my theories is that Da Vinci hired some poser to sit for him to draw, and she looks very elegant but is only wearing the clothes that Da Vinci told her to wear for the occasion.

The smile? That been the question for the past half millennium. Is Mona smiling or not? If so, why is she smiling? That's the other question. Is she smiling because she thinks Da Vinci is a funny looking man? Could it be that she thought of a joke that she enjoys? It might be that the artist in front of her has something stuck in his teeth but Mona doesn't have the guts to tell him about it so she just smiles and stares. Maybe it's because Da Vinci is paying her to do it. As for if she's smiling, it looks as if she is sort of half smiling. I think it's so hard to tell for some peple because Mona has her head turned a little bit, but not enough that she's staring right at hom because she still has to look at him from the side of her eye. That is what I think causes the illusion of her smile possibly being a smirk.

Some other questions about Leonardo Da Vinci's masterpiece are what she is sitting or leaning on and another is what is behind her. As for what she is supporting herself on, I think she is slightly leaning on the rail of a balcony. I believe in this theory because to the left of her you can slightly make out the image of a rail and an ornate sphere resting on that. Also, to her right you can see that her arm is resting on something that looks as if it is probably a railing. I also think it could be a balcony she is on because you can see what looks like rivers, trees, bridges, and possibly an island behind and under her.

If Mona actually was a friend of Da Vinci's then she must have been decently wealthy and well pampered. This is obvious because she is wearing a fine robe or gown that looks silky and expensive. Also, she has very fragile and pampered looking hands. If you look closely at her shirt, you can see that she is wearing a shawl around her neck that looks hand crafted and very light weight (and expensive). Finally, she wears a very faint, almost invisible veil over her head. All this makes Mona seem like a very important or possibly royal person, which would fit perfectly as the friend of one of the greatest artists of all time.

The Mona Lisa is truly one of the greatest works of art in all of history. Da Vinci did a spectacular job. From the lifelines of the portrait's face, to the careful sketches of embroidery on her shirt, to the mystery of what it is that lies behind her, and to the always changing smile, the Mona Lisa might be the most appreciated work of art ever.

If you're still curious about Mona, and would like to learn more about her, I highly recommend the Louvre's website, which has a great interactive exhibit. It's the next best thing to hopping a jet and flying to Paris! Enjoy.