The REAL DaVinci Code

Posted by Mary Rayme May 23, 2006

Let me tell you the real secret of Leonardo da Vinci and The Mona Lisa! Okay, here it is...

Leonardo was an insatiably curious person and one of the greatest artists whoever lived. It's hard for us as 21st-century humans to even imagine the genius of Leonardo, a man obssesed with figuring out how everything worked and who also succeeded in leaving evidence of his explorations both scientific and artistic.

It's interesting to me that historians, scientists, artists and writers are always pondering the greatness of artists and the uniquenness of their visions. For example, there are many theories as to the agreed-upon greatness of the Mona Lisa. Some have supposed that the secret of Mona Lisa's smile is that she is pregnant. Others have speculated, rather wildly, that she is really Leonardo dressed as a woman.

The Mona Lisa was painted between 1503 and 1506, and is generally accepted to be a portrait of the Florentine wife of Francesco del Giocondo. There are a few reasons why this is one of the greatest paintings ever in the history of the world. First and foremost, there is the smile. The beautiful La Gioconda looks directly at us from 500 years ago and... smiles.

Second, in 1911, the Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre Museum in Paris. The thief was an Italian named Vincenzo Perugia, who claimed to have stolen the painting out of patriotism. He just didn't think it was right that one of the masterpieces of Italy should reside in France. (The irony here is that it was Leonardo himself who took the painting to France and sold it to King Francis I.) The painting was recovered and returned to the Louvre, but this is just one dramatic incident in the life of the Mona Lisa that has given her more fame and legend.

My supposition is that what makes The Mona Lisa great is that it is a great painting made by an exceptional human being and artist. No conspiracy theories, no transvestite Da Vinci, just the very transcendental painting of one of the greatest artists who ever lived.