Mona Lisa: The invention of an icon

It may be a world-class masterpiece, but does anyone actually truly love the Mona Lisa? As recently as two centuries ago, this question might have been met with a shrug—no one thought much of this enigmatic portrait. But since then it’s gone from just-another-da-Vinci to an art world titan. Nowadays, she’s a Paris must-do. Every day, per Louvre estimates, 30,000 people wait in line, file into a room, and gaze upon her for approximately 30 seconds. The painting is almost always smaller than they anticipate. Some will snap a photo—perhaps in an over-the-shoulder selfie, [like Eminem]( or a blurry shot to be posted, captionless, to social media. Why bother labeling what everyone already recognizes? The Mona Lisa is not a bad painting. But its pervasiveness has made it hard for us to see it for what it is—a good portrait of a pretty lady. Even its so-called mysteries are fairly tame—we know with some confidence who painted it, who the subject is, and when it was painted. (Even that inscrutable half-smile is hardly a puzzle: Open grins were considered [the preserve of the uncouth](. In 1703, the French writer Jean-Baptiste De La Salle [lamented the indecorousness]( of those “who raise their upper lip so high… that their teeth are almost entirely visible”—especially as “nature gave us lips to conceal them.”) Let’s look closer. 🐦 [Tweet this!]( 🌐 [View this email on the web]( Sponsored by [Quartz Daily Obsession] Mona Lisa January 22, 2020 The lady with the mystic smile --------------------------------------------------------------- It may be a world-class masterpiece, but does anyone actually truly love the Mona Lisa? As recently as two centuries ago, this question might have been met with a shrug—no one thought much of this enigmatic portrait. But since then it’s gone from just-another-da-Vinci to an art world titan. Nowadays, she’s a Paris must-do. Every day, per Louvre estimates, 30,000 people wait in line, file into a room, and gaze upon her for approximately 30 seconds. The painting is almost always smaller than they anticipate. Some will snap a photo—perhaps in an over-the-shoulder selfie, [like Eminem]( or a blurry shot to be posted, captionless, to social media. Why bother labeling what everyone already recognizes? The Mona Lisa is not a bad painting. But its pervasiveness has made it hard for us to see it for what it is—a good portrait of a pretty lady. Even its so-called mysteries are fairly tame—we know with some confidence who painted it, who the subject is, and when it was painted. (Even that inscrutable half-smile is hardly a puzzle: Open grins were considered [the preserve of the uncouth](. In 1703, the French writer Jean-Baptiste De La Salle [lamented the indecorousness]( of those “who raise their upper lip so high… that their teeth are almost entirely visible”—especially as “nature gave us lips to conceal them.”) Let’s look closer. 🐦 [Tweet this!]( 🌐 [View this email on the web]( By the digits [30 inches (0.8 m):]( The painting’s height—roughly twice as tall a bowling pin [$100 million:]( Insurance valuation in 1962 prior to a US tour, equivalent to approximately $857 million today [4,000:]( Gold ducats paid by King François I for the work in 1518 (about $575,000 today) [15:]( Total number of authenticated paintings by Leonardo da Vinci still in existence, though some argue that the true number is even smaller [10 million:]( Visitors to the Louvre in 2018 (per museum estimates, around 80% are there for a glimpse this famous lady) [711:]( Its room number at the Louvre. You can’t miss it—just follow the hordes. Wikimedia Commons Origin Story A world-changing heist --------------------------------------------------------------- In the early hours of Aug. 21, 1911, while the Louvre was closed for cleaning, Vincenzo Peruggia and two of his compatriots, brothers Vincenzo and Michele Lancelotti, emerged from the doors of the museum. They had spent the night in a supply closet before stealing out into the gallery. There, they took the Mona Lisa from the wall, cut it from its frame, and wrapped the canvas in a blanket. The frame was abandoned on a staircase. By 7:47 am, they were aboard the express train out of Paris. At first, no one noticed. But days later, after an eagle-eyed visitor noticed the painting was missing, pandemonium set in. As [news broke across the world]( the Mona Lisa quickly went from a [moderately famous painting]( to an icon—sparking a global manhunt for her captors. For them, it was about the worst possible thing that could have happened. The painting became so famous as to be unsellable. For the next two years, it languished in Peruggia’s garrett. It might have remained there for good, had he not attempted to hawk it to an art dealer in Florence. Naturally, the painting was recognized immediately. Police arrested Peruggia, who served just eight months’ jail time for his high-profile robbery. The painting had been growing in popularity since the 1870s, fueled by the Romantics’ [obsession with femmes fatales]( and passionate fans like [Walter Pater and Theophile Gautier]( but this worldwide attention upped the ante. By the time the Mona Lisa was restored to the Louvre, its star had never been brighter. [Read the Quartz Obsession on “Salvator Mundi”]( Sponsored by CommonBond Simplify your student loans. --------------------------------------------------------------- When you refinance with CommonBond, they’ll pay off your old, expensive loans and replace them with a new one that better fits your budget and goals.[See what you could save in just two minutes.]( Giphy Membership Don’t hate the player --------------------------------------------------------------- “When you play a game you are taking on a problem that doesn’t exist and trying to solve it,” professor and game designer Ian Bogost shares his thoughts on the problems gaming can help solve—and the problems the gaming industry itself faces—[in an interview with Quartz contributor Mary Pilon](. quotable “She looked as though she had just been sick, or was about to be.” —[Playwright Noel Coward on the Mona Lisa, in Nude with Violin]( Giphy Explain it like I’m 5! “Controlled majesty” --------------------------------------------------------------- What makes the Mona Lisa so good? Cécile Scailliérez, [writing on behalf of the Louvre]( has taken a reasonable swing at this seemingly unanswerable question. To begin with, she writes, the painting breaks new ground. “The Mona Lisa is the earliest Italian portrait to focus so closely on the sitter in a half-length portrait,” explains Scailliérez. This new structure proved immediately appealing, sparking a trend of similar portraits in other early 16th-century Florentine and Lombard art. In the picture, Da Vinci riffs on certain Flemish portraiture conventions, including the setting, the three-quarter view of a person against a landscape, and “hands joined in the foreground.” But he also takes a few risks—though these are a little harder to elucidate. ”The spatial coherence, the atmospheric illusionism, the monumentality, and the sheer equilibrium of the work were all new,” she writes. “In fact, these aspects were also new to Leonardo’s work, as none of his earlier portraits display such controlled majesty.” Have a friend who would enjoy our Obsession with Mona Lisa? [ [Forward link to a friend](mailto:?subject=Thought you'd enjoy.&body=Read this Quartz Daily Obsession email – to the email – Giphy pop quiz Which of these is NOT a definition of Mona, in Italian? An idiot A vulgar term for female genitaliaA beautiful womanMy lady (from ma + donna) Correct. Due to its more colorful definitions, it is sometimes spelled “monna” instead. Incorrect. If your inbox doesn’t support this quiz, find the solution at bottom of email. Brief history [1503:]( Da Vinci begins painting the portrait of Lisa Gherardini, the wife of a wealthy Florentine cloth merchant. [1518:]( It’s acquired by François I, the French king and [da Vinci’s final patron]( who is said to have hung it in his bathroom. It becomes national property following the French Revolution. [1907:]( Art lovers are horrified when the painting is first placed under glass after a nearby Ingres is slashed by a marauding vandal. [1919:]( French American painter Marcel Duchamp produces his Mona Lisa-based satirical work LHOOQ (Said aloud, it sounds like “Elle a chaud au cul”—French for “She has a hot ass.”) [1963:]( Pop artist Andy Warhol produces a series of seven screen-printed canvases inspired by the painting. Dozens of others follow. The same year, the Mona Lisa [goes on tour]( to the US, and is seen by 250,000 people in its first week at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. [2003:]( Julia Roberts earns $25 million for her role in the film Mona Lisa Smile, then the highest for any actress. Critics loathe the movie. [2007:]( High-tech scanning reveals that the painting did indeed originally have eyebrows and eyelashes—they’ve simply worn off over time. [2009:]( An angry Russian woman throws a teacup at the painting, but bulletproof glass protects it. [2019:]( In a poll, Britons vote the Mona Lisa the world’s most disappointing tourist attraction. fun fact! No one’s quite sure why the Mona Lisa is wearing a veil. Some argue that this delicate piece of dark fabric was worn to cover her hair, as a mark of virtue; others have suggested that it may have been a sign that she was mourning. [Recent analysis]( suggests that she may have worn it as a sign of her pregnancy–adding weight to the “secret” behind that enigmatic smile. Watch this! Uncanny valley --------------------------------------------------------------- In May 2019, the Mona Lisa came to life—via researchers from Samsung’s AI Center and the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology in Moscow. Using the same technology behind “deepfakes,” they generated moving images from static pictures, including the Mona Lisa. Watch La Joconde—her French nickname—come to life in terrifying 3D detail. Those eyebrows have never looked so absent. Wikimedia Commons Million-dollar question Is there another Mona Lisa? --------------------------------------------------------------- Perhaps she’s not so singular after all. A private collection in Switzerland is home to a painting which many believe to be the Mona Lisa’s older sister: a portrait of the same subject, seemingly completed around a decade earlier. For decades, the work hung unobtrusively in a manor house in Somerset, England, before being spotted by English art connoisseur Hugh Blaker in 1913. He bought the painting, kicking off [a scholarly argument]( that continues to this day. Is this a genuine Leonardo, a collaboration between the master himself and some less talented student, or simply a copy? Judge for yourself—or, if you feel especially inspired, dive into the [floods of ink]( spilled on this mystery. take me down this 🐰 hole! Part of the painting’s brilliance is behind the scenes. Da Vinci created “the first known anatomical drawing of the human smile,” part of detailed explorations of the muscles that make our expressions. He also gave her an “interactive smile,” using his knowledge of optics to make her look happier if you meet her gaze indirectly. Walter Isaacson [explains its subtle mysteries](. Giphy poll Have you seen the Mona Lisa in person? [Click here to vote]( Yes, and it was beautifulYes, but it was underwhelmingIt’s on my bucket listNot interested 💬let's talk! In yesterday’s poll about [mannequins]( 40% of you said you’re “sometimes” more likely to buy clothing if you see it on one, while 39% said “not at all.” 🤔 [What did you think of today’s email?](mailto:obsession%2Bfeedback@qz.com?cc=&subject=Thoughts%20about%20Mona%20Lisa%20&body=) 💡 [What should we obsess over next?](mailto:obsession%2Bideas@qz.com?cc=&subject=Obsess%20over%20this%20next.&body=) [🎲]( [Show me a random Obsession]( Today’s email was written by [Natasha Frost]( edited by [Annaliese Griffin]( and produced by [Tori Smith](. The correct answer to the quiz is A beautiful woman. Enjoying the Quartz Daily Obsession? [Send this link]( to a friend! Want to advertise in the Quartz Daily Obsession? Send us an email at ads@qz.com. Not enjoying it? No worries. [Click here]( to unsubscribe. 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