Da Vinci's "Mona Lisa"

Paper Summary:

This paper examines Da Vinci's painting "La Gioconda" aka "Mona Lisa" to understand more about the artist and the painting than just the woman's smile. The author points out that the background of dark, jagged rocks is a recurring motif in many of Da Vinci's paintings, which demonstrates his use of metaphorical representation. The paper analyzes Da Vinci's concept of beauty, the use of the chiaroscuro style and the woman's androgynous persona. The author reveals the identity of the woman known as Mona Lisa. The paper includes color illustrations.

From the Paper:

"Others have drawn even more esoteric connections between the subject and the landscape of this portrait. In a review of Da Vinci's journals we find that he was certainly an aficionado of Ovid and the classic Metamorphosis. The recurring theme in that work, and others he read, is that beauty is ephemeral and over time shall fade. Even here, this smile of the Mona Lisa is just a passing moment and would be gone in an instance. If viewing the background as chaos the overriding them may be that from chaos we have come, existed in beauty for a brief moment, but to chaos we will return."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Adams, Laurie. Art and Psychoanalysis. New York: IconEditions, 1993.
• Arasse, Daniel. "The Gioconda Code." Queen's Quarterly Summer 2006: 180-187
• Elgood, Giles (Ed.) "'Mona Lisa' Model Identified, Experts Say" Reuters Berlin 01-14-2008
• Gentleman, Amelia. "How She Got Her Smile." The Wilson Quarterly Wntr 2005: 102.
• Jung, C. G. Symbols of transformation. Collected Works (Vol. 5). Princeton. NJ: Bollingen Foundation.1959.

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