Portrait of Lisa Gherardini, wife of Francesco del Giocondo, called La Joconde or Monna Lisa

La Gioconda, or Portrait of Mona Lisa, is a painting by the Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci, probably of the Florentine Lisa Gherardini, wife of Francesco del Giocondo. Acquired by the French king Francis I, the Mona Lisa is one of the few paintings definitely attributed to Leonardo da Vinci.

Protected by this large glass case, did you know that the Mona Lisa was stolen? Listen to the audio guide to discover this amazing story.

A painting that became mythical
The Mona Lisa is an eminently famous painting because, since its creation, many artists have taken it as a reference. During the Romantic period, artists were fascinated by this woman and helped develop the myth surrounding her, making this portrait one of the most famous works of art in the world, if not the most famous. Today, it is the most visited work of art in the world, with 20,000 visitors coming to admire and photograph it daily.

There is also a slightly more erotic version of the Mona Lisa, created by Leonardo da Vinci... To learn more about it, listen to the audio-guide!

A portrait made of details and mysteries
The Mona Lisa is a portrait of a young woman, against a mountainous landscape with distant and misty horizons. She is turned three-quarters and represented up to her waist, with her arms and hands. This position was not common at that time, the bust was usually cut off at chest level and entirely in profile. She is looking at the viewer, something that was also relatively new at the time.

This woman is wearing a dark green silk dress pleated in the front with yellow sleeves. It is adorned with gold interlacing and embroidery at the neckline. A transparent black veil covers the hair and is clearly visible on the top of the forehead. This kind of mantilla covers the crimped or finely curled hair that falls on the shoulders. Because it is perpendicular to the picture plane, the gaze seems to follow the viewer even when he moves. The low-cut bodice clears the throat and chest to the birth of the breasts and the outline of the left shoulder, softening the severity of her veil.

In 2004, the identity of the Mona Lisa was finaly revealed. Since that day, art historians agree on her identity. Listen to the audio guide to hear about this revelation!

It is from this discovery that a tenacious legend was deduced: the presence of this veil and the absence of jewels would mean that Mona is mourning her daughter Camilla who died in 1499.

The "sfumato" or Leonardo's technique
Leonardo da Vinci developed the theory of "sfumato", which he described as follows: "see to it that your shadows and lights merge without lines or features, like smoke." To create these imprecise, blurred contours, it is necessary to work with glaze, an oil painting technique that consists in applying a thin, transparent, smooth layer of color over an already dry layer.

If the clothes are dark, it is due to the darkening of the successive varnishes. The black veil is a traditional hairstyle at that time and the absence of jewels is the result of the choice of the painter as well as the model not to give in to vanity or fashion, even though Mona Lisa was a wealthy woman. The portrait thus aims to underline the timelessness of her psychological expression. The area of the heart, with the light color of the skin contrasting with the dark clothing, is in the center of the painting, at the intersection of its two diagonals.

A particular fashion
The face is completely hairless, with neither eyelashes nor eyebrows. According to Daniel Arasse's hypothesis, confirmed by a spectrographic analysis in 2004, the eyebrows and eyelashes of Mona Lisa were removed in the mid-sixteenth century by an unknown person, because the women of good society had adopted at that time the practice of prostitutes of the previous decades and now plucked their faces.

Despite the removal of her eyebrows and eyelashes, the Mona Lisa remains expressive with her enigmatic smile.

The posture and the decor
Mona Lisa is seated in a semi-circular wooden armchair in profile. This seat has armrests and a spalliera, a semicircular balustrade supported by bars. Her arms are bent and her hands crossed, her left arm resting firmly on an arm of the chair and her right hand resting on her left wrist. She is probably on the terrace of an arcaded loggia: a parapet can be seen just behind her in the first third of the painting, as well as the beginning of the bulging base of two columns.

The Mona Lisa is standing in front of a parapet, which traditionally formed a boundary between the figure depicted and the viewer, so she fits into the viewer's space.
In the background is a mountainous landscape in which a sinuous path stands out.