The Real Leonardo Continued

Brown begins with the Mona Lisa, admittedly one of Leonardo’s more enigmatic works. Brown’s Egyptian fertility reference and male/female principle however, were unknown in any of the most experimental intellectual circles of the Renaissance. Nor is she Leonardo dressed as a woman, as Brown asserts. The slightly androgynous look comes from the fifteenth-century style among women to shave their hairlines back and pluck out their eyebrows so as to achieve a highbrowed intellectual look.

Simply put, Mona Lisa is a painter’s painting. The artistic mastery which Brown is at a loss to describe is exactly what renders the painting so extraordinary. Leonardo’s decision to keep the panel for himself probably stemmed from the realization that the Florentine merchant who commissioned the portrait, Francesco del Giocondo, would never have been able to appreciate the complexity of the work.

The art of portraiture had flourished with the rise of Florence and her remarkable citizens. While princes commissioned their images in sharp profile, similar to the imperial coins of ancient Rome, the wealthy Florentine bourgeois wanted more realistic-looking portrayals. Renaissance artists responded by turning the figure three-quarters towards the viewer and including the hands and landscape to provide further insight into the sitter’s personality.

Leonardo’s Mona Lisa expresses the painter’s attempt to reveal the character as well as the likeness of the model. The questions inherent in the work, best exemplified by the famous query, “Is she smiling?” reflect Leonardo’s desire to capture not just the likeness but the spirit. The use of sfumato, the technique of blurring the corners of the eyes and mouth, render her expression mobile and mysterious. Adding to the enigma, Leonardo painted the panel dark, drawing out the light where he chose, to create this masterpiece of Renaissance portraiture.

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