research paper

7 December 2011

Research Report

1. Research Question Why “Mona Lisa” is so popular? 2. Bibliographic Information Tucker, Rebecca, and Paul Crenshaw. The Art Lover’s Guide to Understanding Leonardo da Vinci’s Masterpieces. Ed. Mary Ellen Wilson. New York: Universe publishing, 2011. Print. 3. Summary The Mona Lisa is the most recognized works in the history of art, is also one of the most widely reproduced works ever. This portrait was made by Leonardo da Vinci, one of the outstanding painter and architect, in 1503 in Italy. This world’s most famous portrait embodied all the Renaissance discoveries of perspective, anatomy, and composition. This masterpiece has been moved to Louvre, in Paris since 1804 and stands in there to date.

4. Answer to Research Question This book explains why this paining is so famous in the whole world in three ways: the use of perspective, the potential of the new oil medium, and the famous smile, in which Leonardo engaged musicians and jesters to amuse his subject, and it differed from the solemnity of most formal portraits at that time.

The portrait set the standard for High Renaissance painting in many important ways. The use of perspective, with all lines converging on a single vanishing point behind Mona Lisa’s head, and triangular composition established the importance of geometry in painting. It diverged from the stiff, profile portraits that had been the norm by displaying the subject in a relaxed, natural, three-quarter pose.

One of the first easel paintings intended to be framed and hung on a wall, the “Mona Lisa” fully realized the potential of the new oil medium. Instead of proceeding from outlined figures, as painters did before, Leonardo used chiaroscuro to model features through light and shadow. Starting with dark undertones, he built the illusion of three-dimensional features through layers and layers of thin, semi-transparent glazes. This “sfumato” technique rendered the whole, as Leonardo said, “without lines or borders, in the manner of smoke.” His colors ranged from light to dark in a continuous gradation of subtle tones, without crisp separating edges. The forms seemed to emerge from, and melt into, shadows.

And then there’s that famous smile. To avoid the solemnity of most formal portraits, Leonardo engaged musicians and jesters to amuse his subject. Although he frequently left his works incomplete because of frustration when his and could not match his imagination, this work was

instantly hailed as a masterpiece, influencing generations of artists.

What sets this painting ahead of all others is Leonardo’s precision in rendering complex details with a geometrically balanced underpinning, and his soft layering of light that creates an ambient atmosphere that he called sumato, or “smokiness”.