4º joel & agustín la gioconda

THE GIOCONDA

by:Joel Mirad & Agustin Suaréz

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Table of contents:

1.Presentation about The Gioconda 2.Biography of the author 3.Personal opinion.

4.Story of the painter 5. Analyzing the painting 6.Curiosities of the box.

7. Bibliographical references.

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Presenation about The Gioconda The Gioconda is a half­length portrait of a woman by the Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci, which has been acclaimed as "the best known, the most visited, the most written about, the most sung about, the most parodied work of art in the world.

The painting, thought to be a portrait of Lisa Gherardini, the wife of Francesco del Giocondo, is in oil on a white Lombardy poplar panel, and is believed to have been painted between 1503 and 1506, although Leonardo may have continued working on it as late as 1517. It was acquired by King Francis I of France and is now the property of the French Republic, on permanent display at The Louvre museum in Paris since 1797

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Biography of author: Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci, born in Vinci (1452), died in Amboise, France (1519) He was an Italian Renaissance Polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist, and writer.

Probably he is the person with the most talent in multiple disciplines that has ever existed.

As an engineer and inventor, Leonardo developed ideas, very ahead of his their time, such as the helicopter, battle tank, the submarine and the car. Very few of his projects were constructed in his age.

He first worked in Milan, later in Rome, Bologna and Venice. He lived his last years of life in France working for the king Francis I. Leonardo da Vinci is considered one of the greatest painters of all time. His two most notable works are “The Mona Lisa”, the most parodied portrait and “The Last Supper”, the most reproduced religious painting of all time.

Personal Opinion 4

My opinion Agus: I think that this picture is trying to express a woman who is between two ways .

At the background we had two differents scenes, at the left we had the “good” scene with a lake, the sea, one cliff and vegetation. I think that this scene represent the good way.

The right scene had one bridge, mountains and rocks. I think that scene represent the bad way because it hasn’t got vegetation or water.

My opinion Joel: I think that this table is very hard to explain. The face of the model indicates a smile but it is not intended to indicate that sentiment.

The eyes I try to follow his gaze. As to landscape the rear to the model is complicated to understand and which is divided into two parts that have nothing to do.

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Analyzing the painting Description The Gioconda is a painting by Leonardo Da Vinci. He painted this painting in oil. Was painted in Florence . 77x53cm.

Leonardo used a pyramid design to place the woman simply and calmly in the space of the painting. Her folded hands form the front corner of the pyramid. Her breast, neck and face glow in the same light that models her hands. the viewer.mona­lisa.jpg The woman sits markedly upright with her arms folded, which is also a sign of her reserved posture. Only her gaze is fixed on the observer and seems to welcome them to this silent communication.

Detail of Lisa's hands, her right hand resting on her left. Leonardo chose this gesture rather than a wedding ring to depict Lisa as a virtuous woman and faithful wife.

The painting was among the first portraits to depict the sitter before an imaginary landscape and Leonardo was one of the first painters to use aerial perspective. The enigmatic woman is portrayed seated in what appears to be an open loggia with dark pillar bases on either side. Behind her a vast landscape recedes to icy mountains.

Winding paths and a distant bridge give only the slightest indications of human presence. The sensuous curves of the woman's hair and clothing are echoed in the undulating imaginary valleys and rivers behind her. The blurred outlines, graceful figure, dramatic contrasts of light and dark, and overall feeling of calm are characteristic of Leonardo's style. Owing to the expressive synthesis that Leonardo achieved between sitter and landscape it is arguable whether Mona Lisa should be considered as a 6

traditional portrait, for it represents an ideal rather than a real woman. The sense of overall harmony achieved in the painting especially apparent in the sitter's faint smile reflects the idea of a link connecting humanity and nature.

Mona Lisa has no clearly visible eyebrows or eyelashes. Some researchers claim that it was common at this time for genteel women to pluck these hairs, as they were considered unsightly. In 2007, French engineer Pascal Cotte announced that his ultra high resolution scans of the painting provide evidence that Mona Lisa was originally painted with eyelashes and with better visible eyebrows, but that these had gradually disappeared over time, perhaps as a result of overcleaning.] For modern viewers the nearly missing eyebrows add to the slightly abstract quality of the face.

Colour and Light The light gives the variety of living surfaces an underlying geometry of spheres and circles. Leonardo referred to a seemingly simple formula for seated female figure: the images of seated Madonna, which were widespread at the time. He effectively modified this formula in order to create the visual impression of distance between the sitter and the observer. The armrest of the chair functions as a dividing element between Mona Lisa and the viewer.

Since the brightly lit face is practically framed with various much darker elements (hair, veil, shadows), the observer's attraction to it is brought to even greater extent. The woman appears alive to an unusual measure, which Leonardo achieved by his new method not to draw the outlines, "mainly in two features: the corners of the 7

mouth, and the corners of the eyes" , as firmly as that had been the use, before (sfumato). There is no indication of an intimate dialogue between the woman and the observer as is the case in the Portrait of Baldassare Castiglione (Louvre) painted by Raphael about ten years later, and undoubtedly influenced by the work.

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CURIOSITIES The frame: Because the Mona Lisa's poplar support expands and contracts with changes in humidity, the picture has experienced some warping. In response to warping and swelling experienced during its storage during World War II, and to prepare the picture for an exhibit to honor the anniversary of Leonardo's 500th birthday, the Mona Lisa was fitted in 1951 with a flexible oak frame with beech crosspieces. This flexible frame, which is used in addition to the decorative frame described below, exerts pressure on the panel to keep it from warping further. In 1970, the beech crosspieces were switched to maple after it was found that the beechwood had been infested with insects. In 2004–2005, a conservation and study team replaced the maple crosspieces with sycamore ones, and an additional metal crosspiece was added for scientific measurement of the panel's warp.

The Mona Lisa has had many different decorative frames in its history, owing to changes in taste over the centuries. In 1909, the Comtesse de Béhague gave the portrait its current frame, a Renaissance­era work consistent with the historical period of the Mona Lisa. The edges of the painting have been trimmed at least once in its history to fit the picture into various frames, but no part of the original paint layer has been trimmed.

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Cleaning the box : The first and most extensive recorded cleaning, revarnishing, and touch­up of the Mona Lisa was an 1809 wash and revarnishing undertaken by Jean­Marie Hooghstoel, who was responsible for restoration of paintings for the galleries of the Museé Napoleon.

The work involved cleaning with spirits, touch­up of colour, and revarnishing the painting. In 1906, Louvre restorer Eugène Denizard performed watercolour retouches on areas of the paint layer disturbed by the crack in the panel. Denizard also retouched the edges of the picture with varnish, to mask areas that had been covered initially by an older frame. In 1913, when the painting was recovered after its theft, Denizard was again called upon to work on the Mona Lisa. Denizard was directed to clean the picture without solvent , and to lightly touch up several scratches to the painting with watercolour. In 1952, the varnish layer over the background in the painting was evened out. After the second 1956 attack, restorer Jean­Gabriel Goulinat was directed to touch up the damage to Mona Lisa's left elbow with watercolour.

In 1977, a new insect infestation was discovered in the back of the panel as a result of crosspieces installed to keep the painting from warping. This was treated on the spot withcarbon tetrachloride , and later with an ethylene oxide treatment. In 1985, the spot was again treated with carbon tetrachloride as a preventive measure.

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Bibliographical references Information: http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Gioconda[consulted 6­2­2014] http://www.portaleureka.com/accesible/portada­revista/311­la­mona ­lisa [consulted 2­3­2014] http://www.louvre.fr/en/oeuvre­notices/mona­lisa­%E2%80%93­port rait­lisa­gherardini­wife­francesco­del­giocondo [consulted 20­2­2014] Images : http://www.minutoaldia.com/wp­content/uploads/2012/10/mona­lisa. jpg [consulted 25­2­1014] http://www.kingsgalleries.com/wp­content/uploads/2010/07/Leonar do­Da­Vinci.jpg [consulted 24­2­2014] http://viajerosblog.com/wp­content/uploads/2012/09/museo­louvre­ mona­lisa­gioconda.jpg [consulted 27­2­2014] http://2.bp.blogspot.com/­lRKtYvm9afA/TzKXx8V0tJI/AAAAAAAAB8 M/­u­Cm7ADScg/s1600/Mona­Lisa.jpg [consulted 2­3­2014]

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