HandoutMona Lisa still smiles
For centuries her smile has fascinated and intrigued. And the real identity of the "Mona Lisa" in Leonardo da Vinci's famous painting has also been a mystery -- as art historians have wondered whether she could even have been the artist's mother, or his lover.
But German academics at the University of Heidelberg say they have cracked the code.
Armin Schlechter, a manuscript expert, discovered some notes scribbled in the margin of this book that once belonged to an acquaintance of da Vinci. These notes were made in an edition of letters by Cicero in October 1503 -- and say the artist was working on three paintings at the time, including a a portrait of Lisa del Giocondo.
"This is the earliest mention of the fact that Leonardo da Vinci painted a picture which portrays a certain woman called Lisa del Giocondo. People have guessed that he was working on this picture in 1503," says Armin Schlechter, manuscript expert.
The suggestion that Lisa Gherardini, the wife of Francesco del Giocondo, a wealthy merchant from Florence, could be the smiling woman is nothing new. The painting -- which hangs in the Louvre in Paris -- is also known as "La Gioconda" which refers to her name but also means happy, or smiling, woman in Italian. Art experts, who have already dated the painting to the start of the sixteenth century, have described the Heidelberg discovery as a breakthrough. Schlechter actually found the notes two years ago and although they were printed in Heidelberg library's public catalogue, they hadn't received much attention until recently.
But while the Mona Lisa's identity may have been solved, the mystery behind that smile is unlikely to be cracked any time soon.
I think that this article is really interesting because the painting of The Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci is really unique and is a mistery, the face and the hands the hole painting is extrodirnary and i think that the people how like to draw like me or likes to buy paintings are realy interesting about this type of articles, they found some thing important about The Mona Lisa, who she realy is, it's not truly sure and true but it's the most close thing they could find I thing.
In my point of view thi article is very important because we all know who and what da Vinci do he no only paint things , he was more than that he was a smart person , he invented many things he was an important person for our society and culture and studying his work is such a good thing to kno more about him.