Mad For Mona

There are a lot more people who wonder abut the truth behind Mona Lisa's smile than you think. It seems that there are rooms full of people who sit around and wonder why is La Lisa smiling (unpaid, I hope). Probably the most famous of Leonardo Da Vinci's paintings, the Mona Lisa has been the subject of many theories made eternal in books, films, songs, Mad Magazine, even The Far Side. I suppose millions of fans can't be wrong, she is a pretty girl.

In his book The Da Vinci Code, author Dan Brown says Mona is androgynous, symbolising the unorthodox belief in feminine and masculine principles. The Mona Lisa has also been said to be a self-potrait of Leonardo. Perhaps Da Vinci was the first famous closet cross-dresser. The real identity of the Mona Lisa is believed by many scholars to be Lisa Gherardini, the wife of a wealthy silk trader Francesco del Giocondo, said to be a friend of Da Vinci's.

And since her completion in 1507, the lady has been everywhere. Louis the XVI had her in his palace in Versailles. The Louvre again, when Napoleon took her into his bedroom. But she now resides peacefully at the Louvre, Paris, gawked by millions. I have not had the chance to see the painting up close but from what I've heard, your first sight of the Mona Lisa could be a slight disappointment simply because of its actual size. Which is bijou and not as big as you have imagined. A small moue at first but then I can imagine the awe you feel after.

So this evening the BBC on Astro ran a story about the possible reason behind Mona Lisa's smile. Aside from reasoning that her smile is only truly visible when one is looking at other parts of the painting, the Canadian scientists reported that she could have been pregnant or had recently given birth, occasions that could have led to her beatific smile.

Or, because she could just be posing, BML (buat muka lawa - make a pretty face), in my part of the world.

Comments

[EmmaGoodEgg]

DeeT, hey girl, your description of the Mona Lisa was the inspiration behind the bijou paragraph :) xx

[EmmaGoodEgg]

Hi Maurina, I had thought of putting a picture of a Javanese Permaisuri we had taken during a visit to one of the Keratons in Central Java, but unfortunately I seem to have misplaced it. I would love to see the Mona Lisa one day. Was it a it eerie, the whole eye-effect thing? With the Javanese painting it was a bit eerie! xx

[T]

I had the chance to see Mona at the Lourve back in 2003. B1 adores Mona, so he insisted that we actually go to the Lourve. I agreed as I had to see what all the hullaballoo was all about.

First, we had to queue to get tickets, then we had to queue to get into the Lourve, then we had to queue to get into the area where Mona was residing, then we had to queue to see Mona. (All that queuing lasted for more than 2 hours, I kid you not!!).

We passed by quite a number of huge (almost floor to very high ceiling height) paintings of Napoleon and Josephine and many others.

At last, we arrived at Mona's portrait and my world crashed. I was by then sweaty, exhausted, thirsty and sleepy. First of all, Mona was SMALL!!! Maybe only 22'' x 18'', I don't know, maybe she shrunk as I got more and more upset. Emma, please let me know what the actual size is.

Not was she just small, she was cordoned off and the nearest that I could get was around 8 feet from her.

To make things worse, she was enclosed in a wooden box with a glass cover!! And the lighting was so terrible, you could see lots of other peoples reflections on the glass. Maybe the Lourve caretakers could speak to Alley Frame Maker and order a non-reflective glass cover!!

That was when T the Mega Bitch surfaced BIG TIME. This is roughly how it went:

T (in a loud voice): "What's the big deal about Mona Lisa huh? Its so bloody small and so far away, you can't see anything!"
B1: "Shhhhhhhh"
T (even louder): "What do you mean Shhhhh? You made me queue for so long and this is what I get?"
B1: "Shhhhhh, people can hear you"
T (loud voice again): "What the $@*& do I care about other people? Such a bloody waste of my time, I could have gone shopping".

At that, I walked off and left B1 gazing or drooling or whatever at his beloved Mona. I am very sure that if looks could kill, I would be 6 feet under because I felt daggers coming at my back from the other Mona fans.

I swear, that to this day, B1 has not forgiven me for my outburst. Oh well, he has added another item to his unforgivable list: Angkor Wat, and that my dears is another story in itself hahaha.....

BTW, I did discover some shops at the Lourve, very nice ones in fact. As a compromise, I let B1 spend a few more hours viewing other paintings, while I went for retail therapy.

[Maurina H]

yes and its wonderful also because it has that eye effect where it will follow you no matter which angle you are looking from :)