Mona Lisa: Framing an Icon
Mona Lisa, Louvre, Paris. Photo: Mark Playle.
Before we dive into the nitty gritty of what lies behind the painting, it never hurts to point out that the first people to see Mona Lisa outside Italy lived in Amboise in the beautiful Loire Valley.
She was on Leonardo's easel at Château Clos Lucé for three years for anyone and everyone to see. Francis I encouraged his artists to study it.
I first 'met' Leonardo in Florence studying the Renaissance for my degree in the history of art and have kept tabs on him ever since. I even moved to Amboise to walk in his footsteps.
How cool is that?
Have you ever wondered how Mona Lisa has survived so many attacks and over five hundred years of being shoved around from pillar to post?
I have.
She's had more homes than I have had hot dinners.
Leonardo painted her in Florence.
He took her to Rome.
Accepting the King of France's invitation to live near him in Amboise, he put her in his saddle bag, mounted a mule and trekked over the Alps.
On the road for three months, he covered twelve hundred miles with his devoted student Francesco Melzi at his side.
Francis I took her to Fontainebleau, a hundred and fifty miles away. It's possible that it was here that Mona Lisa was first framed.
Louis XIV took her to Versailles.
Napoleon took her in the Tuileries.
Then it was on to the Louvre until that chap stole her and took her back to Florence where she was born. She was there for just two weeks before she took the long journey back to Paris. Round trip was fourteen hundred miles.
During WWII she was shunted between Château Chambord, Château de Louvigny, Abbaye de Loc-Dieu, Musée Ingres Montauban and Château de Montal before going home to Paris. This added another nine hundred miles.
When she was on Exhibition in Montauban one man threw acid at her, another hurled a rock.
1951 Because of war damage, Mona Lisa was fitted with a specially designed flexible oak frame with beech cross braces.
1963 She travelled four thousand miles by sea to Washington D.C. then on to New York City where she nearly lost her life.
A sprinkler malfunctioned in the storeroom where she was kept overnight. Water sprayed her for hours.
1970 Due to insect infestation, the beech braces were replaced with maple.
1974 Mona Lisa travelled to Japan where she was sprayed with red paint.
Then it was on to Moscow.
2004 Maple was swapped for sycamore. A metal crosspiece was added before Mona Lisa was put in a sealed climate-controlled case which regulates humidity, temperature and light.
A virtual replica of the panel was simulated to monitor how it reacts to environmental changes in real time.
2009 A visitor threw a mug at her.
2019 She was relocated to the Galerie Médicis while the Salle des États was being renovated.
2020 Before she went back, the room was painted dark blue, the lighting was changed and a new high-tech glass panel protected her.
2022 A man disguised as an old woman smeared cake on her.
2024 Someone tried to throw soup at her.
You do wonder how people can take acid, red paint, mugs, cake and soup into Exhibitions.
After all she has been subjected to over the years, plans are afoot to give Mona Lisa her due. A proper home. As she is now surely too fragile to travel, let's hope that this is her last.
An international contest is underway to find an architect to design a New Gallery dedicated to her beneath the Louvre's Square Courtyard. The winner will be announced in 2026 but Mona Lisa will need to be patient.
Although she will not move in until 2031, she will reign supreme in her very own Gallery of two thousand square metres, triple the size of her present home.
She will be the only one there.
The Mona Lisa Exhibition will have timed entry tickets but the Gallery will have long opening hours.
Her devoted fans will enter through a new separate entrance.
If you can't get to Paris to see the Lady, fret not. Visit Château Clos Lucé instead where a replica pays homage to the genius who happily spent the last three years of his life under its roof.
Mona Lisa's famous enigmatic smile may seem serene one moment, sly the next.
Her gaze appears to track you.
It was Leonardo's dream to be immortal. He achieved it with this portrait.
How did The Master pull it off?
I'll tell you next time.
Post by Pamela (BA History of Art). Photography by Mark.
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