The famous smile of Mona Lisa

Dr Irengbam Mohendra Singh
Almost all the educated people in Manipur must have heard of and seen the painting of Mona Lisa. I heard about it in school, in those ancient days. Mona Lisa is the most famous, most reproduced and most parodied portrait of all time.
It has been in the news this month of August 2010 as scientists have discovered the secret of her smile. Mona Lisa was made very popular by Nat King Cole who sang the theme song Mona Lisa in the 1950 Hollywood film ‘Captain Carey’ that won the Academic Award for the Best Original Song. A bit of the lyrics of the song: “Do you smile to tempt a lover, Mona Lisa? Or is this your way to hide a broken heart? I sometimes listen to this music while driving in my car. Mona Lisa received a fresh burst of public interest with the publication of the book, The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown in 2003.

Mona Lisa is widely considered the greatest portrait of all time. It is a woman’s face whose facial expression is frequently described as enigmatic. Others believe that the slight smile is an indication that the subject is hiding a secret. The painting in 1503 is by Leonardo da Vinci (Leonardo from the town of Vinci), an Italian from Florence. It took him seven years to paint it. The painting was an artistic and scientific exercise, with perfect hands because of his understanding of human anatomy. It has no facial hairs including eyebrows and eyelashes. The ambiguities of the woman’s expression, the monumentality of the composition, and subtle modelling of forms and atmospheric illisionism have contributed to the continuing fascination of the painting.
Leonardo’s equally famous painting is The Last Supper (1495-97), one of the world’s best loved religious paintings. It depicts the next few seconds in the story after Christ dropped the bombshell that one disciple would betray him before sunrise, and all 12 disciples reacted to the news with different degrees of horror, anger and shock. It depicts real people acting like real people. The original mural is on the wall of the refectory (dining hall) in the Convent of Santa Maria dell Grazie in Milan, Italy.
Mona Lisa means “Madam Lisa” in modern Italian. It was named after the name of the woman in the portrait, Lisa Gherardini, the wife of a wealthy Italian businessman in Florence. In 1516 the King of France, King Francois, bought the painting. It is thought that after Leonardo’s death the painting was cut down in size. It had been housed at different places. Napoleon had it moved to his bedroom in the Tuileries Palace.
As I am long retired and quite old, my wife and I revisited Paris for our 40th wedding anniversary in June 2010, for a romantic evening boat ride from Notre Dame (Ref. Hunchback of Notre Dame) past the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower and the replica of the Statute of Liberty (the one in New York harbour was gifted by France). Paris has not changed. The painting of Mona Lisa is quite small, 30”x 21”. It is on display at The Louvre museum in Paris (French pronounce it as “Pari”).
The museum lies in the centre of Paris on the right bank of the Seine River. It is housed in the Louvre Palace, which began as a fortress by Phillip II in the 12 century. The Louvre is the largest and most visited museum in the world. It is also the most famous because of the Mona Lisa. There are so many crowds that you can have only a walking glimpse of the portrait. Pausing and photography are not allowed.
The mystery of the puzzling smile is what makes the painting so engaging. Now scientists after 500 years have discovered how the artist managed to achieve his trademark smoky effect, known as sfumato (blending), on the painting by applying up to 40 layers of extremely thin glaze thought to have been smeared on with his fingers. The glaze, mixed with subtly different pigments, creates the slight blurring and shadows around the mouth that give the Mona Lisa her barely noticeable smile that seems to disappear when looked at directly.
Using x-rays to study the painting, the researchers were able to see how the layers of glaze and paint had been built up to varying levels on different areas of the face. The discoveries have been made by scientists at Laboratoire du Centre de Recherché et de Restauration des Musees de France and the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility.
The scientists used a technique known as X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy to study the painting as it allowed them to examine the layers of glaze and paint without having to take samples that would damage the masterpiece. As well as the Mona Lisa, the team studies six other Leonardos, including Virgin of the Rocks, Madonna of the Carnation, Saint John the Baptist and The Virgin and Child. It is safe to say that Leonardo’s masterpiece will likely remain as one of the greatest portraits of all time.
The writer is based in the UK.
e-mail: imsingh@onetel.com
or visit website: drimsingh.co.uk