There are many legends regarding the origin of the Great Leonardo's Painting - "Mona Lisa", however, everything is usually noisy gossip designed to increase the rating of a given Picture and improve business based on image of this work- instant recognition and box office revenue are guaranteed to you :)
However, let's return to the source and the main version of who is depicted on Da Vinci's Canvas.
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Mona Lisa (Ritratto di Monna Lisa del Giocondo) - this is Lisa Giocondo,
née Girardini Lisa Gherardini
Portrait Mons Lisa(also known as the painting Gioconda, or La Joconde, or Portrait of Lisa Gherardini, wife of Francesco del Giocondo) is a portrait by the great Florentine artist Leonardo da Vinci.
The painting is done in oil on a poplar base and was completed around 1503-1519.
The portrait is on permanent display at the Louvre in Paris.
A copy of the 16th century painting is also exhibited in the Hermitage in St. Petersburg.
Identification of the painting.
The traditional work was originally called "Lisa Gherardini".
And the prefix “Mona” (from Monikue - “The Only One”, and the diminutive of Madonna (“Mother of God”) - the Catholic analogue of “The One” in Orthodoxy) today in Italian this abbreviation has the same meaning as “lady”.
Thus the expression "Monna Lisa" is literally understood as " Lisa, wife of Francesco del Giocondo", hence the name in Russian - " Mona Lisa". ***
Lisa del Giocondo
Lisa del Giocondo Italian. Lisa del Giocondo (June 15, 1479 - July 15, 1542, according to other sources c. 1551), also known as Lisa Gherardini, Gioconda and Mona Lisa- a noble Florentine woman, supposedly depicted in the famous painting by Leonardo da Vinci.
Little is known about Lisa del Giocondo. Born in Florence into a noble family. She married a cloth merchant at an early age, gave birth to six children, and, in all likelihood, led a quiet, middle-class Renaissance life.
Several centuries after her death, her portrait, Mona Lisa, I bought global recognition and is currently considered one of the greatest works art in history.
The picture arouses the interest of researchers and amateurs and has become the subject of a wide variety of speculation.
Speculation by scholars and amateurs has made this work of art an internationally recognized icon and object of commercialization.
The final correspondence between Lisa del Giocondo and Mona Lisa was installed in 2005.
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Lisa del Giocondo -
Lisa del Giocondo -
Fragment Mona Lisa (1503-06) Leonardo da Vinci, Louvre
Place of Birth: Florence, Italy
Citizenship: Italy
Date of death: 15 July 1542 (age 63)
A place of death: Florence, Italy
Spouse: Francesco del Giocondo
Children: Pierrot, Camilla, Andrea, Gioconda and Marietta
BiographyChildhood
During the Quattrocento era, Florence was one of the largest and richest cities in Europe. Of course, life was not equally good for everyone - at that time there was a huge social inequality. Lisa belonged to an ancient aristocratic family, which lost influence over time.
Her mother, Lucrezia del Caccia, was Italy's third wife. Antonmaria di Noldo Gherardini. The other two died during childbirth. Gherardini owned six farms in Chianti, where they grew wheat, produced wine and olive oil and kept livestock.
Lisa was born on June 15, 1479 on Via Maggio. However, for a long time the place of her birth was considered to be the estate of Villa Vignamaggio (Italian: Villa Vignamaggio), not far from Italy. Greve. The girl was named Lisa in honor of her paternal grandmother. Lisa had three sisters and three brothers, she was the eldest child in the family.
The family lived in Florence, first near Santa Trinita, later moving to a rented house near Santo Spirito, most likely due to financial problems that did not allow them to maintain the previous house in good condition.
Marriage and later years
On March 5, 1495, at the age of 15, Lisa married Francesco di Bartolomeo di Zanobi del Giocondo, a relatively successful textile merchant, and became his third wife. Lisa's dowry amounted to 170 florins and the San Silvestro farm not far from the family home. Based on these data, we can conclude that, firstly, the Gherardinis were not rich, and, secondly, that the marriage was based on love.
It can be argued that the couple belonged to the middle class. Marriage could increase social status Lisa, since her husband’s family could be richer than her own. On the other hand, the marriage was also beneficial for Francesco, since he became related to an “old family.”
Mona Lisa
Like many other Florentines, Francesco was a connoisseur of art and patronized artists. His son, Bartolomeo, commissioned Antonio di Donnino Mazzieri to decorate the family crypt in the Basilica of Santissima Annunziata with fresco. Andrea del Sarto, commissioned by another family member, painted Madonna. Francesco ordered ital from Domenico Puligo. Domenico Puligo painting depicting Saint Francis of Assisi.
The generally accepted version is that the portrait of Lisa del Giocondo was painted by Leonardo, and in this case, it could have been commissioned from the artist by her husband, probably to celebrate the birth of his son and the purchase of the house. (For a detailed discussion of the versions, as well as a description of the painting, see the corresponding article ***.
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grave Mons Lisa Russian descendants are looking for her
Monu Lisa excavated.
In May 20011 Italian archaeologists began excavations in the Florentine monastery of St. Ursula. It is there, according to scientists, that the body of Lisa Gherardini, the girl who posed for Leonardo da Vinci for his famous “La Gioconda,” may be buried. Today, archaeologists have dug into the first of several underground tombs, but so far have only found a few medallions.
The first piece of evidence in the case Mons Lisa appeared on the first day of excavation. The bone lay on top, under a layer of concrete. Archaeologists doubt the value of the find, but will conduct an examination of any object, even of suspicious origin.
“It looks like a human bone. It could be a humerus. But it is unlikely that it belongs to someone who lived 500 years ago; it lay too shallow,” says anthropologist Giorgio Gruppioni.
A week later, archaeologists were already at a depth of 2 meters 60 centimeters. But in the bag of finds there is no change - the same bone and several ceramic fragments.
The first crypt, which took so long to excavate, turned out to be empty. According to one version, fearing a fire, the monks hid the contents in a more secure place, leaving only a few medallions on the shelves.
But to descendants Mons Lisa everything is interesting. Having abandoned the theater and the family wine business, Princesses Irina and Natalia Strozzi closely monitor the excavations.
They also believe the archives - Lisa Gherardini was buried here, in the monastery of St. Ursula.
A family historian has calculated: to explain how Lisa Gherardini relates to the Tuscan princesses, the prefix “great-” before the word grandmother must be pronounced 15 times.
Ira and Natasha speak Russian (in descendants Mons Lisa Russian blood flows), they adore Russian ballet and even danced at the Mariinsky Theater.
Having abandoned the theater and the family wine business, princesses Irina and Natalia Strozzi have been monitoring the excavations for a week."
Unlike historians, who have every year a new version, the girls are absolutely sure that Leonardo’s painting depicts exactly Mona Lisa.
And there is convincing evidence: when the sisters stand next to the painting, everyone thinks that if they put on a veil and don’t smile so widely...
“Dad has the same half-smile, but we smile broadly, in Russian,” the sisters say.
What their great-great-great-grandmother really was, the computer will tell you. As soon as Mona's grave is found.
Lisa and DNA analysis will confirm that it is her, the machine will draw its own version of Mona Lisa. If it suddenly turns out that the model does not look like Leonardo’s, this could be the beginning of a new search and new excavations.
The list of versions of who is depicted in the portrait is long, and it does not only include women’s names.
One bone and several medallions is not the greatest success yet.
But Mona Lisa somewhere nearby, archaeologists are sure. The ground penetrating radar agrees with them. Research has shown that somewhere in the center of the church there is a crypt - 15 square meters.
www.vesti.ru
"Mona Lisa" (La Gioconda) by Leonardo da Vinci is still one of the most famous paintings Western European art.
Its great fame is associated both with its high artistic merits and with the atmosphere of mystery surrounding this work. This mystery began to be attributed to the painting not during the artist’s life, but in subsequent centuries, fueling interest in it with sensational reports and the results of research on the painting.
We believe it is correct to have a calm and balanced analysis of the merits of this painting and the history of its creation.
First, about the picture itself.
Description of the picture
Leonardo da Vinci “Portrait of Madame Lisa Giocondo. Mona Lisa" (1503-1519). Board (poplar), oil. 76x53 cm. Louvre (Paris)
The painting depicts a woman (half-length portrait). She sits in a chair with her hands clasped together, one hand resting on its armrest and the other resting on top. She turned in her chair almost to face the viewer.
Her smooth, parted hair is visible through a transparent veil draped over it. They fall onto the shoulders in two thin, slightly wavy strands. Yellow dress, dark green cape...
Some researchers (in particular, Boris Vipper - Russian, Latvian, Soviet art historian, teacher and museum worker, one of the creators national school historians of Western European art) indicate that traces of Quattrocento fashion are noticeable in the face of Mona Lisa: her eyebrows and hair on the top of her forehead are shaved.
Mona Lisa sits in a chair on a balcony or loggia. It is believed that earlier picture could be wider and accommodate two side columns of the loggia. Perhaps the author himself narrowed it down.
Behind Mona Lisa is a deserted area with winding streams and a lake surrounded by snowy mountains; the terrain extends towards the high horizon line. This landscape gives the very image of a woman majesty and spirituality.
V. N. Grashchenkov, a Russian art critic who specialized in the art of the Italian Renaissance, believed that Leonardo, including thanks to the landscape, managed to create not a portrait of a specific person, but a universal image: "In this mysterious picture he created something more than a portrait of the unknown Florentine Mona Lisa, the third wife of Francesco del Giocondo. The appearance and mental structure of a particular person are conveyed by him with unprecedented syntheticity... “La Gioconda” is not a portrait. This is a visible symbol of the very life of man and nature, united into one whole and presented abstractly from its individual concrete form. But behind the barely noticeable movement, which, like light ripples, runs across the motionless surface of this harmonious world, one can discern all the richness of the possibilities of physical and spiritual existence.”
The famous smile of Gioconda
Mona Lisa's smile is considered one of the most important mysteries of the painting. But is this really so?
Smile of Mona Lisa (detail of the painting) by Leonardo da Vinci
This slight wandering smile is found in many of the works of the master himself and in the Leonardesques (artists whose style was strongly influenced by the manner of Leonardo of the Milanese period, who were among his students or simply adopted his style). Of course, in the Mona Lisa she achieved her perfection.
Let's look at some pictures.
F. Melzi (student of Leonardo da Vinci) “Flora”
The same slight wandering smile.
Painting " Holy family" Previously, it was attributed to Leonardo, but now even the Hermitage has recognized that it is the work of his student Cesare da Sesto
The same slight wandering smile on the face of the Virgin Mary.
Leonardo da Vinci "John the Baptist" (1513-1516). Louvre (Paris)
The smile of John the Baptist is also considered mysterious: why does this stern Forerunner smile and point upward?
Who was the prototype of La Gioconda?
There is information from the anonymous author of the first biography of Leonardo da Vinci, which Vasari refers to. It is this anonymous author who writes about the silk merchant Francesco Giocondo, who ordered a portrait of his third wife from the artist.
But there were so many opinions regarding the identification of the model! There were many assumptions: this is a self-portrait of Leonardo himself, a portrait of the artist’s mother Katerina, called different names contemporaries and contemporaries of the artist...
But in 2005, scientists from the University of Heidelberg, studying notes in the margins of a Florentine official’s tome, found a note: “...da Vinci is now working on three paintings, one of which is a portrait of Lisa Gherardini.” The wife of the Florentine merchant Francesco del Giocondo was Lisa Gherardini. The painting was commissioned by Leonardo for the young family's new home and to commemorate the birth of their second son. This mystery is almost solved.
The history of the painting and its adventures
The full title of the painting is “ Ritratto di Monna Lisa del Giocondo"(Italian) - "Portrait of Mrs. Lisa Giocondo." In Italian ma donna Means " my lady", in an abbreviated version this expression was transformed into monna or mona.
This painting occupied a special place in the work of Leonardo da Vinci. Having spent 4 years on it and leaving Italy in adulthood, the artist took it with him to France. It is possible that he did not finish the painting in Florence, but took it with him when he left in 1516. If so, he completed it shortly before his death in 1519.
The painting then became the property of his student and assistant Salai.
Salai in Leonardo's drawing
Salai (died 1525) left the painting to his sisters who lived in Milan. It is unknown how the portrait got from Milan back to France. King Francis I bought the painting from Salai's heirs and kept it in his castle of Fontainebleau, where it remained until Louis XIV. He transported her to the Palace of Versailles, after French Revolution in 1793 the painting ended up in the Louvre. Napoleon admired La Gioconda in his bedroom at the Tuileries Palace, and then she returned to the museum.
During World War II, the painting was transported from the Louvre to the Castle of Amboise (where Leonardo died and was buried), then to Loc-Dieu Abbey, then to the Ingres Museum in Montauban. After the end of the war, La Gioconda returned to its place.
In the 20th century the painting remained in the Louvre. Only in 1963 did she visit the USA, and in 1974 – in Japan. On the way from Japan to France, La Gioconda was exhibited at the Museum. A. S. Pushkin in Moscow. These trips increased her success and fame.
Since 2005, it has been located in a separate room in the Louvre.
"Mona Lisa" behind bulletproof glass in the Louvre
On August 21, 1911, the painting was stolen by an employee of the Louvre, Italian Vincenzo Perugia. Perhaps Perugia wanted to return La Gioconda to its historical homeland. The painting was found only two years later in Italy. It was exhibited in several Italian cities and then returned to Paris.
“La Gioconda” also experienced acts of vandalism: they poured acid on it (1956), threw a stone at it, after which they hid it behind bulletproof glass (1956), as well as a clay cup (2009), they tried to spray red paint on the painting from a can ( 1974).
Leonardo's students and followers created numerous replicas of the Mona Lisa, and avant-garde artists of the 20th century. began to mercilessly exploit the image of Mona Lisa. But that's a completely different story.
"La Gioconda" is one of the best examples of the portrait genre of the Italian High Renaissance.
Leonardo da Vinci's painting "Mona Lisa" is the first thing tourists from any country associate with the Louvre. This is the most famous and mysterious work of painting in the history of world art. Her mysterious smile still makes people think and charm people who do not like or are not interested in painting. And the story of her abduction at the beginning of the 20th century turned the picture into living legend. But first things first.
The history of the painting
“Mona Lisa” is just an abbreviated name for the painting. In the original it sounds like “Portrait of Mrs. Lisa Giocondo” (Ritratto di Monna Lisa del Giocondo). From Italian the word ma donna translates as “my lady.” Over time, it turned into simply mona, from which the well-known name of the painting came.
Contemporary biographers of the artist wrote that he rarely took orders, but with the Mona Lisa there was initially special story. He devoted himself to the work with particular passion, spent almost all his time painting it and took it with him to France (Leonardo was leaving Italy forever) along with other selected paintings.
It is known that the artist began the painting in 1503-1505 and only applied the last stroke in 1516, shortly before his death. According to the will, the painting was given to Leonardo's student, Salai. It remains unknown how the painting migrated back to France (most likely Francis I acquired it from the heirs of Salai). During the time of Louis XIV, the painting moved to the Palace of Versailles, and after the French Revolution, the Louvre became its permanent home.
There is nothing special in the creation story; the lady with the mysterious smile in the picture is of greater interest. Who is she?
According to the official version, this is a portrait of Lisa del Giocondo, the young wife of the prominent Florentine silk merchant Francesco del Giocondo. Very little is known about Lisa: she was born in Florence into a family of nobility. She got married early and led a calm, measured life. Francesco del Giocondo was a great admirer of art and painting and patronized artists. It was his idea to order a portrait of his wife in honor of the birth of their first child. There is a hypothesis that Leonardo was in love with Lisa. This can explain his special attachment to the painting and long time work on it.
This is surprising, practically nothing is known about the life of Lisa herself, and her portrait is the main work of world painting.
But Leonardo’s contemporary historians are not so clear. According to Giorgio Vasari, the model could have been Caterina Sforza (a representative of the ruling dynasty Italian Renaissance, was considered the main woman of that era), Cecilia Gallerani (the beloved of Duke Louis Sforza, the model of another portrait of a genius - “Lady with an Ermine”), the artist’s mother, Leonardo himself, a young man in women’s clothing and simply a portrait of a woman who was the standard of beauty of the Renaissance.
Description of the picture
The small-sized canvas depicts a woman of average size, wearing a dark cape (according to historians, a sign of widowhood), sitting half-turned. Like other Italian Renaissance portraits, Mona Lisa has no eyebrows and the hair on the top of her forehead is shaved. Most likely, the model posed on the balcony, as the parapet line is visible. It is believed that the painting was slightly cropped; the columns visible behind were fully included in the original size.
It is believed that the composition of the painting is the standard of the portrait genre. It is painted according to all the laws of harmony and rhythm: the model is inscribed in a proportional rectangle, the wavy strand of hair is in tune with the translucent veil, and folded hands give the picture a special compositional completeness.
Mona Lisa Smile
This phrase has long lived separately from the picture, having turned into a literary cliche. This is the main mystery and charm of the canvas. It attracts the attention of not only ordinary viewers and art critics, but also psychologists. For example, Sigmund Freud calls her smile “flirting.” And the special look is “fleeting.”
Current state
Due to the fact that the artist loved to experiment with paints and painting techniques, the painting has become very dark by now. And strong cracks form on its surface. One of them is located a millimeter above Gioconda's head. In the middle of the last century, the canvas went on “tour” to museums in the USA and Japan. to the museum fine arts them. A.S. Pushkin was lucky enough to host the masterpiece during the exhibition.
Fame of Gioconda
The painting was very highly regarded among Leonardo's contemporaries, but over the decades it became forgotten. Until the 19th century, it was not remembered until the moment when the romantic writer Théophile Gautier spoke about the “Gioconda smile” in one of his literary works. It’s strange, but until that moment this feature of the picture was simply called “pleasant” and there was no secret in it.
The painting gained real popularity among the general public in connection with its mysterious abduction in 1911. The newspaper hype surrounding this story gained enormous popularity for the film. She was only found in 1914, where she was all this time remains a mystery. Her kidnapper was Vincezo Perugio, an employee of the Louvre, an Italian by nationality. The exact motives for the theft are unknown; he probably wanted to take the painting to Leonardo’s historical homeland, Italy.
Mona Lisa today
“Mona Lisa” still “lives” in the Louvre; as the main artistic figure, she is given a separate room in the museum. She suffered from vandalism several times, after which in 1956 she was placed in bulletproof glass. Because of this, it glares a lot, so seeing it can sometimes be problematic. Nevertheless, it is she who attracts the majority of visitors to the Louvre with her smile and fleeting glance.
Portrait of a lady Lisa del Giocondo(Ritratto di Monna Lisa del Giocondo) was written by Leonardo da Vinci around 1503-1519. It is believed that this is a portrait of Lisa Gherardini, the wife of Francesco del Giocondo, a silk merchant from Florence. del Giocondo translated from Italian sounds like cheerful or playful. According to the writings of biographer Giorgio Vasari, Leonardo da Vinci painted this portrait for 4 years, but left it unfinished (however, modern researchers claim that the work is completely finished and even carefully completed). The portrait is made on a poplar board measuring 76.8x53 cm. Currently hanging in the Louvre Museum in Paris.
Mona Lisa or Mona Lisa - the canvas of the great artist is the most mysterious work of painting today. There are so many mysteries and secrets associated with it that even the most experienced art critics sometimes do not know what is actually drawn in this picture. Who is Gioconda, what goals did da Vinci pursue when he created this painting? If you believe the same biographers, Leonardo, at the time he painted this picture kept around him various musicians and jesters who entertained the model and created a special atmosphere, which is why the canvas turned out to be so exquisite and unlike all other creations of this author.
One of the mysteries is that under ultraviolet and infrared radiation this picture looks completely different. The original Mona Lisa, which was dug up under a layer of paint using a special camera, was different from the one that visitors now see in the museum. She had a wider face, a more emphatic smile and different eyes.
Another secret is that Mona Lisa has no eyebrows and eyelashes. There is an assumption that during the Renaissance, most women looked like this and this was a tribute to the fashion of that time. Women of the 15th and 16th centuries got rid of any facial hair. Others claim that the eyebrows and eyelashes were actually there, but faded over time. A certain researcher Cott, who is studying and thoroughly researching this work of the great master, has debunked many myths about Mona Lisa. For example, the question once arose about the hand of Mona Lisa. From the outside, even an inexperienced person can see that the hand is bent in a very bizarre way. However, Cott discovered the smoothed features of a cape on his hand, the colors of which faded over time and it began to seem that the hand itself had a strange unnatural shape. Thus, we can safely say that Gioconda at the time of her writing was very different from what we see now. Time has mercilessly distorted the picture to such an extent that many are still looking for secrets of the Mona Lisa that simply do not exist.
It is also interesting that after painting the portrait of Mona Lisa, da Vinci kept it with him, and then it went into the collection of the French king Francis I. Why, after completing the work, the artist did not give it to the customer remains unknown. Besides, in different time Various assumptions have been put forward as to whether Lisa del Giocondo is correctly considered the Mona Lisa. The following women are still vying for her role: Caterina Sforza, the daughter of the Duke of Milan; Isabella of Aragon, Duchess of Milan; Cecilia Gallerani aka Lady with an Ermine; Constanza d'Avalos, also called the Merry or La Gioconda; Pacifica Brandano is the mistress of Giuliano de' Medici; Isabela Galanda; A young man in women's clothing; Self-portrait of Leonardo da Vinci himself. In the end, many are inclined to believe that the artist simply depicted the image ideal woman what she is in his opinion. As you can see, there are a lot of assumptions and they all have the right to life. And yet, researchers are almost one hundred percent sure that the Mona Lisa is Lisa del Giocondo, as they found a recording of one Florentine official who wrote: “Now da Vinci is working on three paintings, one of which is a portrait of Lisa Gherardini.”
The greatness of the painting, which is conveyed to the viewer, is also the result of the fact that the artist first painted the landscape and then the model itself on top of it. As a result (whether it was planned or happened by chance, it is unknown) the figure of Gioconda was very close to the viewer, which emphasizes its significance. The perception is also influenced by the existing contrast between the gentle curves and colors of the woman and the bizarre landscape behind, as if fabulous, spiritual, with the sfumato inherent to the master. Thus, he combined reality and fairy tale, reality and dream into one whole, which creates an incredible feeling for everyone who looks at the canvas. By the time of painting this painting, Leonardo da Vinci had achieved such skill that he created a masterpiece. The painting acts as hypnosis, the secrets of painting elusive to the eye, mysterious transitions from light to shadow, attracting demonic smile, act on a person like a boa constrictor looking at a rabbit.
The secret of Gioconda is connected in the most precise mathematical calculation Leonardo, who by that time had developed the secret of the painting formula. With the help of this formula and precise mathematical calculations, a work of terrifying power came out of the master’s brush. The power of her charm is comparable to something alive and animate, and not drawn on a board. There is a feeling that the artist painted Gioconda in an instant, as if clicking a camera, and did not draw her for 4 years. In an instant, he caught her sly glance, a fleeting smile, one single movement that was embodied in the picture. How the great master of painting managed to figure this out is not destined to be revealed to anyone and will remain a secret forever.
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Italian researchers are searching for the tomb of Lisa Gherardini del Giocondo, believed by many to be the model for Leonardo da Vinci's famous Mona Lisa portrait. They began excavations on the site of the former Catholic convent of St. Ursula (Sant Orsola) in Florence.Having recreated Lisa’s appearance, they want to compare it with the work of the brilliant Renaissance painter.
A team of Italian experts has discovered an underground burial site believed to contain the remains of Lisa Gherardini, who died aged 63. Excavations were carried out on the territory of the former Catholic convent of St. Ursula in Florence, in which the wife of the Florentine merchant Francesco del Giocondo rested in God on July 15, 1542. This woman entered the history of painting under two names at once - Gioconda or Mona Lisa. By the name of her husband and by his address to her, because Mona ( Mona or Monna comes from the Italian word Madonna- spouse or wife) Lisa posed for the famous portrait by Leonardo da Vinci.
Art historians are determined to recreate the appearance of Lisa del Giocondo in order to compare her with the famous portrait kept in the Louvre Museum in Paris. The authenticity of the remains will be confirmed after comparing the deceased's DNA with genetic code our contemporaries - the descendants of the Renaissance Mona Lisa. If successful, they plan to turn the tomb of an ordinary wife of an ordinary businessman who once traded silk into another tourist attraction. Read also: Is Lefty a Loser or a Winner? The insatiable appetite of archaeologists caused a protest from the actress and the manager of a Tuscan wine company Fattoria Cusona Guicciardini Strozzi Natalia Strozzi, who calls herself the 15th generation heiress of the famous model who posed for Leonardo himself. Nowadays, a certain Florentine scientist spends his precious time convincing the cream of society there that Irina Strozzi and her eldest daughter Natalia is the last of the heirs of Mona Lisa through her father, Prince Gerolamo Strozzi. Both, by the way, have some Russian blood flowing in them. Their family speaks Russian; in the last decade, this clan tried to trade its wine products in Russia, and during the Cold War, the family hosted famous Soviet dissidents and emigrants: Academician Sakharov’s wife Elena Bonner, the Rostropovich-Vishnevskaya couple. Anatoly Sobchak lived for some time in the Paris apartment of Natalya’s rich uncle Vladimir Ren. "I am sure that this is her final resting place. The desire to dig up the remains is blasphemous and inappropriate. Especially just to compare her facial features with the charm of Leonardo's painting. The secret of Mona Lisa and her mysterious smile must remain a secret,” Natalia Strozzi expressed her opinion on the pages of the British Mirror. Several years ago, a specialist from Florence, Giuseppe Pallanti, found in the archives the house where Lisa Gherardini was born, the dates of her life and the fact that she was the third wife of the Florentine merchant Francesco del Giocondo. Lisa was born into the family of wool merchant Antonio de Gherardini and Caterina Rucellai. Her birthday is June 15, 1479. It turned out that the families of Lisa Gherardini and Leonardo da Vinci lived next door. On March 5, 1495, at the age of 15, she was married to Francesco di Bartolomeo di Zanobi del Giocondo. After his death last years The elderly woman spent her life in the monastery of St. Ursula, in whose cemetery she was buried. For the first time, Lisa was identified with Gioconda in the second half of the 16th century by Giorgio Vasari in his book “Lives of the Most Beautiful”, translated into many languages of the world. famous painters, sculptors and architects": "Leonardo undertook to paint for Francesco del Giocondo a portrait of his wife, Mona Lisa, and, after working on it for four years, he left it unfinished." It was Vasari, who highly appreciated the art of the Quattrocento, who spoke about one "trick" an artist who captured for subsequent generations a smile, often called mysterious: “since Madonna Lisa was very beautiful, while painting the portrait he kept singers, musicians and jesters with her constantly, who kept her cheerful in order to avoid the dullness that painting usually gives to portraits, while in this portrait of Leonardo there was a smile so pleasant that it seemed something more divine than human, and was considered a wonderful work, for life itself could not be different." Leonardo's biographer wrote that the master created his masterpiece in 1503. Subsequently, art critics and historians found out that the portrait was painted in 1514-1515. They questioned not only the date of creation, but also the identity of the person depicted in the portrait. For some time now there have been several versions. Leonardo allegedly painted a portrait of the Duchess of Mantua, Isabella d'Este. Others claim that the face was copied from the mistress of Giuliano Medici, the Duchess Constanza d'Avalos. Other names were also mentioned: a certain widow of Federigo del Belza, and the widow of Giovanni Antonio Brandan, named Pacifica. They said that this was a self-portrait of the artist in a female form. Not long ago, a theory was put forward that the portrait depicts a student and assistant, and possibly the lover of the master Gian Giacomo Caprotti, to whom Leonardo left this painting as an inheritance. Finally, according to some versions, the portrait depicts the artist’s mother or is simply some kind of image of an ideal woman. Japanese engineer Matsumi Suzuki created a model of Mona Lisa's skull, on the basis of which specialists from the acoustic laboratory were able to use a computer program to record the estimated timbre of Mona Lisa's voice. By the way, this should help current researchers; the Japanese calculated her height - 168 cm. Specialists from the Center for Research and Restoration of Museums of France and the European Center for Synchrotron Research found out the secret of the sfumato technique with which it was created famous portrait. An image created using sfumato consists of the thinnest transparent layers of liquid paint, which the artist applied in stages, layer by layer, thus creating a smooth transition from light to shadow, so outlines and contours are not noticeable in the picture. X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy made it possible to study the composition of the paint layer without damaging the painting. Read also: The Americans drove the computer crazy Leonardo da Vinci applied about forty very thin layers of paint to the picture (presumably with his fingers), the thickness of each layer does not exceed two microns, which is fifty times less than a human hair. In different places, the total number of layers varied: in light places the layers are the thinnest and in smaller quantities, and in dark areas it was applied many times and its total thickness reaches 55 microns. Scientists have stated interesting feature, the reason for which is not yet clear - Leonardo da Vinci used paints with a very high manganese content. In August 1911, the painting was stolen from the Louvre, but three years later it was returned safely to Paris. From now on it begins new era Mona Lisa - this canvas is recognized as the most famous portrait in the history of painting. Read the most exciting things in the section "