Leonardo da Vinci may have painted his famous Mona Lisa in a number of styles — including nude. This painting, which features many parallels to the original Mona Lisa, was attributed to Leonardo da Vinci at purchase in 1845. But it may just be based on one of the artist’s now-lost works.
A 16th-century painting of a nude Mona Lisa once attributed to Leonardo Da Vinci will go on show for the first time on Saturday as part of a sweeping new exhibition opening near Florence.
Over 5,000 works inspired by the original Mona Lisa including paintings, sculptures, etchings and new media images spanning five centuries will be on display at the Museo Ideale in Leonardo’s hometown of Vinci for the show, the largest ever held on the mysterious muse.
Experts have succeeded in establishing that the nude Mona Lisa once belonged to Napoleon Bonaparte’s uncle, Cardinal Joseph Fesch (1763-1839) – a major collector who also owned Leonardo’s painting of St Jerome now in the Vatican Museums.
Another nude will also go on show but investigations into its history are continuing.
Curated by Agnese Sabato and Alessandro Vezzosi under the supervision of the world’s top Leonardo expert Carlo Pedretti, the exhibition will also reveal the latest spectacular scientific data from experts researching the original Mona Lisa housed in the Louvre in Paris.
The show is divided into two sections.
The first explores the history of the Mona Lisa, including dating problems and the identity of the smiling model, but also displays sculptures and etchings inspired by the painting from the 16th to the 20th centuries.
The second section is dedicated to so-called Leonardismo and highlights how the Mona Lisa became an icon in literature, graphic design and on the internet.
ENDLESS THEORIES.
Unlike most Renaissance portraits, Leonardo’s original Mona Lisa (mona is the standard Italian contraction for madonna, or ”my lady,”) bears no date or signature, nor is the name of the sitter given.
These omissions, coupled with the sitter’s mysterious close-lipped smile, have helped spawn endless theories about the woman’s identity.
Various contemporary court beauties and noblewomen have been put forward, including Isabella d’Este and Isabella Gualanda, while some have concluded that she was Leonardo’s mother.
Other academics argue that the sitter was one of his favourite young lovers disguised as a woman.
Such theorists note that da Vinci never relinquished the painting, keeping it with him up until his death in Amboise, France in 1519.
There is in fact no evidence that da Vinci was paid for the portrait or that it was ever delivered.
The Mona Lisa’s strange smile has also led to endless speculation and theories, some of the most curious provided by medical experts-cum-art lovers.
One group of medical researchers has maintained that the sitter’s mouth is so firmly shut because she was undergoing mercury treatment for syphilis which turned her teeth black.
An American dentist has claimed that the tight-lipped expression was typical of people who have lost their front teeth, while a Danish doctor was convinced she suffered from congenital palsy which affected the left side of her face and this is why her hands are overly large.
A French surgeon has also put forth his view that she was semi-paralysed, perhaps as the result of a stroke, and that this explained why one hand looks relaxed and the other tense.
An Italian doctor has pointed to an alleged puffy cheek and swollen hand to claim she was suffering from a ‘fatty blood’ disorder.
‘Joconde. From the Mona Lisa to the nude Gioconda’ runs at the Museo Ideale in Vinci from June 13 to September 30.
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Full article: http://www.ansa.it/site/notizie/awnplus/english/news/2009-06-12_112398646.html
Photo: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31320879
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Nude, Mona Lisa-like painting surfaces
Leonardo da Vinci, in a Renaissance version of Mad Magazine, may have painted his famous Mona Lisa in a number of ways, including nude. Now, a painting has surfaced that looks much like the original, sparking debate over just how far the master took his iconic painting.
The newly revealed painting, hidden for almost a century within the wood wall of a private library, shows a portrait of a half-naked woman with clear links to the famous (and clothed) Mona Lisa.
The work, which documents suggest was at least based on never-seen similar work by da Vinci, is now on exhibit at the Museo Ideale in the Tuscan town of Vinci, where da Vinci was born in 1452.
The lady in the portrait does not exactly resemble the original Mona Lisa, but there is little doubt it has parallels with the painting hanging at the Louvre museum in Paris.
“The frontal look, the position of the hands, the spatial conception of the landscape, with columns at the sides, show a clear link with the Mona Lisa’s iconographic theme,” Alessandro Vezzosi, director of the museum, told Discovery News.
The naked portrait once belonged to Napoleon’s uncle, Cardinal Joseph Fesch (1763-1839) and was ensconced within the wood walls of Fesch’s private library for nearly a century, before trading more hands within the Napoleon family.
An art lover, the Cardinal owned an impressive collection of artworks, including da Vinci’s “St. Jerome” (now in the Vatican gallery), which he discovered in pieces in the Roman shops of a second-hand dealer.
A note dating to 1845 records that the Cardinal bought “the portrait of the Mona Lisa, mistress of Francis I, by Leonardo da Vinci,” from the Rospigliosis, a rich aristocratic Roman family.
After changing hands at the death of the Cardinal, the portrait was possibly bought by Napoleon III, and finally landed in the private collection of Count Giuseppe Primoli, a descendant of Luciano Bonaparte, Napoleon’s brother.
The documentation from the painting’s original purchase is not enough to verify the work is by da Vinci, himself. The nude portrait will now undergo scientific and artistic investigations in an attempt to date the work and determine its author. Even if it is not by da Vinci (and it likely isn’t, experts say), it may be based on a lost original by the artist himself.
“I think it is very likely that Leonardo da Vinci conceived a naked Mona Lisa,” leading da Vinci scholar Carlo Pedretti, director of the Armand Hammer Center for Leonardo Studies at the University of California at Los Angeles, told Discovery News.
Indeed, several other claims of unclothed Mona Lisa’s have been made over the years, pointing to the theory that da Vinci might have had fun with the famous image he had created around 1503-1506.
“There are at least six nude versions which are very close to da Vinci’s hand. All are attributed to the da Vinci school. The most likely scenario is that his followers got inspired by a now-lost original,” Vezzosi said.
According to Vezzosi, the original naked Mona might have been part of a series of erotic portraits by da Vinci and his pupils, which were never really shown because they were considered inappropriate.
Called “Monna Vanna,” the topless versions of the Mona Lisa are indeed often considered the portraits of a court mistress or prostitute.
Nevertheless, these paintings inspired nudes by other artists, including Raphaello’s 1518 portrait of his mistress, “The Baker Girl.”
“Our quest for naked Mona Lisa’s continues. We are now on the tracks of another interesting version in Las Vegas,” Vezzosi said.
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Full article: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31320879
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See also: http://www.museoleonardo.com/
