Mona Lisa

The majority of Leonardo scholars consider the sitter to be Lisa del Giocondo. All the arguments that support this thesis are now listed.

Lisa di Antonmaria Noldo Gherardini is a historically documented person and was a Florentine noblewoman. Despite extensive research on her, little is known about her life today.

The Gherardini Family

The Gherardini family was an established Florentine family. Much of their once extensive land holdings were lost due to political missteps. Their ancestral castle was destroyed around 1300, leaving only the foundations. Nevertheless, they were not impoverished. They moved to the Villa Gherardini, a castle-like vineyard, which they developed into the family seat over the following centuries.

The Villa, located about 20 km southeast of Florence in the Chianti region, is now known as Villa Vignamaggio, a popular tourist attraction. It houses a restaurant ('Monna Lisa') and hosts wine tastings and weddings. Leonardo may have been inspired by a loggia of the Villa and used it as a reference for the background in the portrait of the Mona Lisa. A loggia is an open balcony, usually with small columns supporting a roof.

Despite political setbacks, the Gherardini family remained influential, maintaining close ties with Florence's most important families. Lisa's father, Antonmaria Gherardini, was wealthy and owned a centrally located townhouse in Florence and an estate in San Donato in Poggio, near the Villa Gherardini. He had married Camilla, a daughter of the significant Ruccelai family, creating ties to the influential Medici family through marriage.

Who was Lisa Gherardini?

Lisa Gherardini was born in 1479. At the age of sixteen, in 1495, she married Francesco del Giocondo, a wealthy cloth merchant from Florence. Francesco, 30 years old at the time, had previously been married to Camilla, Lisa's stepmother's sister, who died young. Francesco and Lisa had six children, with one daughter dying shortly after birth in 1499.

After the birth of their second child on December 12, 1502, they moved into a townhouse on Via della Stufa in Florence in March 1503. The house, located near the Medici Palace, showcased Francesco's economic success. Because such a move was a typical reason for commissioning a portrait at the time, most researchers believe that the portrait of the Mona Lisa began around 1503. Given that Leonardo's father knew Francesco del Giocondo since 1497, it is likely that he facilitated the commission to Leonardo.

During that period, it was common for affluent city dwellers to retreat to the countryside in the hot summer months. The del Giocondos also owned the Villa Antinori, a magnificent property on the outskirts of Florence. A loggia from this building is also considered as a possible background for Leonardo's portrait of the Mona Lisa.

After her husband's death in 1538, Lisa Gherardini entered the convent of Saint Ursula in Florence. She passed away there on July 15, 1542, at the age of 63.

Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574) was a renowned architect and painter in Florence. Thanks to his artist biographies published in 1550, he is also considered the first art historian. The work includes a much-quoted account of the life of Leonardo da Vinci, who had passed away 30 years prior. Vasari mentions the Mona Lisa:

"Leonardo also began to paint the portrait of Mona Lisa, the wife of Francesco del Giocondo. He spent four years on it, then left it unfinished, and it is now in the possession of King Francis of France at Fontainebleau.

Anyone who wanted to see how far art could imitate nature recognized it in this beautiful head. Every small detail was depicted in the finest manner, the eyes had brightness and moisture, as we see in life, all around one noticed the reddish-blue circles and veins, which can only be executed with the greatest delicacy. At the brows, you could see where they were fullest, where they were sparse, how they emerged from the pores of the skin and arched, as naturally as one can think. On the nose, the delicate openings were rosy and faithfully reproduced. The mouth, where the lips close and the red blends with the color of the face, had a perfection that made it appear not painted, but truly like flesh and blood. Whoever looked closely at the hollow of the neck believed to see the pulsating of the veins.

In short, one can say that this painting was executed in a way that made every excellent artist and everyone who saw it tremble. Mona Lisa was very beautiful, and Leonardo needed the precaution that, while he was painting, there always had to be someone present who sang, played, and made jokes so that she would remain cheerful and not acquire a sad look, as often happens when one sits to have their portrait painted. Above this face, however, hovers such a lovely smile that it seemed to be more from a heavenly than a human hand; and it was considered admirable because it was completely lifelike."

Vasari refers to Lisa del Giocondo as "Mona Lisa." "Mona" is an Old Italian abbreviation for the address Madonna ('My Lady'). Vasari's praise for the painting of the Mona Lisa's eyebrows indicates that he did not see the painting himself, as the Mona Lisa does not have eyebrows.

Historians Kemp and Zöllner have been able to demonstrate that Vasari was acquainted with two cousins of Francesco del Giocondo. Therefore, it is likely that Vasari could have personally met the older couple del Giocondo, as Lisa del Giocondo lived until 1542. Additionally, Vasari grew up under the care of the Medici family and was educated alongside their children. The Medicis were well-connected in Florence, familiar with Leonardo, and, moreover, distantly related to Mona Lisa's mother. It is likely that Vasari knew that Leonardo created a portrait of Lisa del Giocondo. However, Vasari tends to create legends, and his statements do not always align with the findings of art historians. It is also often unclear which of his statements are based on hearsay, meaning he lacked sufficient sources.

Although the portrait of the Mona Lisa is said to have been commissioned by her husband Francesco, the painting was never in the possession of the del Giocondos. It is possible that it was not Francesco but Giuliano de Medici who commissioned the painting, as reported by a contemporary source.

During Leonardo's last three years, when he lived at the French royal court in Amboise, he was visited in 1517 by a delegation from Cardinal Luigi d'Aragona. The cardinal's scribe, Antonio de Beatis, wrote a report on the visit. This last eyewitness account is of great importance in Leonardo research as it mentions other paintings that de Beatis saw in Leonardo's workshop.

"In one of the districts, my lord and the rest of us went to see the Florentine Leonardo da Vinci, more than 70 years old [Here the scribe is mistaken; Leonardo was only 65 at the time], an outstanding painter of our time, who showed his illustrious lordship three paintings: one of a certain Florentine lady, a very beautiful painting made at the request of the Magnificent Giuliano de Medici; the second of a young John the Baptist, and one of the Madonna and her son, who are placed in the lap of Saint Anne, all very perfect, ..."

The "certain Florentine lady" most likely refers to the Mona Lisa. Lisa Gherardini's family was indirectly connected to the Medicis through marriage. The Florentine youths Giuliano de Medici and Lisa Gherardini were of the same age and grew up in close proximity. Due to the familial connection, it is highly likely that they knew each other, and there is speculation that Giuliano fell in love with Lisa.

However, the Medicis were expelled from Florence in 1494 and could only return in 1512. The 15-year-old Giuliano had to leave the city and spent many years in exile at the court of the Duke of Urbino. One year after the Medicis' expulsion from Florence, Lisa Gherardini married the wealthy merchant Francesco del Giocondo.

Leonardo had been living in Milan since around 1482 and returned to Florence only in 1503 for a few years. According to the theory, the exiled Giuliano de' Medici asked Leonardo to create a portrait of the now-married Lisa del Giocondo for sentimental reasons. This would explain why the painting was never in the possession of the del Giocondos.

Giuliano de Medici was the brother of Pope Leo X (1513-1521) and an admirer of Leonardo. At Giuliano's request, Leonardo stayed at the papal court in Rome from 1513 to 1516. When Giuliano unexpectedly died in 1516, Leonardo left Rome and went to France. De Beatis's report indicates that he had the portrait of a certain Florentine lady with him, made at the request of Giuliano de Medici. Therefore, Leonardo may not have been able to hand over the Mona Lisa to Giuliano because the painting was still unfinished, or he took back the completed work after Giuliano's death.

This theory is speculative, and the only evidence is Beatis's mention of the certain Florentine lady commissioned by Giuliano de Medici.

A source published in 2005 proves that Leonardo worked on the portrait of Lisa del Giocondo.

A book about the ancient politician and writer Cicero, which was printed in 1477, was found in the Heidelberg University Archive (shelfmark D 7620 qt. INC). It has been proven that the book belonged to one Agostino Vespucci. Vespucci was a scribe and close collaborator of the famous Florentine politician Niccolo Macchiavelli. At the time, Macchiavelli supported Leonardo with commissions from the Florentine city government. It was probably at his instigation that Leonardo was commissioned to paint the huge mural "Battle of Anghiari". For this purpose, Vespucci translated a description of the battle from Latin, which is still preserved today, and gave it to Leonardo. Vespucci and Leonardo therefore knew each other well, which increases the credibility of the source.

Agostino Vespucci left a short handwritten note in the book in which he praised Leonardo's painting and mentioned that he was currently working on a portrait of Lisa del Giocondo. The note also confirms Leonardo's work on the paintings "Anna Selbdritt" and "Battle of Anghiari" for the Council Chamber of Palazzo Vecchio. This note is considered an important document in the history of the Mona Lisa's creation, even if the authenticity of the note can hardly be proven.

In the Renaissance, wordplay was very popular, and Leonardo da Vinci had a particular fondness for it.

His famous portrait of the lady with an ermine features Cecilia Gallerani. The ermine belongs to the weasel family, and the Ancient Greek word for weasel is "galê" or "galéē."

Another portrait depicts the lady Ginevra de' Benci. She is seated in front of a juniper tree. "Juniper" translates to "Ginepro" in Italian.

Leonardo's preference for wordplay also supports the identification of the lady as Lisa del Giocondo. The most noticeable feature of the painting is her cheerful expression. "Gioconda" is the Italian word for "the Cheerful," and it is assumed that her joyous smile alludes to her surname "del Giocondo."

Salai's Estate

Salai was one of Leonardo's longest-serving collaborators and was named as one of Leonardo's heirs in his will. A few years after Leonardo's death in 1519, Salai died unexpectedly in a duel in 1524. Following his death, his wife and sisters disputed his estate. A document has been preserved, revealing that Salai owned a painting referred to as "La Joconda," described briefly as "a woman turned backward."

Even today, the Mona Lisa is referred to as "La Joconda" or "La Joconde" in France. "La Joconde" was originally not a French term but is derived from the Italian "Gioconda." This designation from Salai's estate links that particular portrait with the surname of the Florentine lady Lisa del Giocondo.

The value of Salai's "La Joconda" was set by the notary at 100 Scudi (= 175 Florins = 612.5 Gold). For the time, this was a considerable sum, strongly suggesting that Salai's "La Joconda" was an original painting by Leonardo. If so, it could only be Leonardo's portrait of Lisa del Giocondo.

The result of Pascal Cotte's examination clarifies significant open questions related to the Mona Lisa. Vasari describes the finely painted eyebrows of the Mona Lisa, even though she obviously has none. He must have relied on accounts he heard about the first version of the Mona Lisa. He likely never saw the original painting himself, as it was at the French court in Fontainebleau during his lifetime, as he himself reports.

Pascal Cotte's findings also explain the striking similarity of three portraits by Raphael to that of the Mona Lisa. They undoubtedly originated around the same time. Raphael was in Florence between 1504 and 1505, the period when the Mona Lisa was started. The younger Raphael knew Leonardo personally and imitated his style in many of his works. It is very likely that Raphael saw the portrait of Lisa del Giocondo in Leonardo's workshop. It must have been the version revealed in Pascal Cotte's examination because that's the only way to explain why Raphael's portraits closely resemble Leonardo's Mona Lisa but differ significantly from the present version. Raphael must have seen an earlier version of the Mona Lisa, precisely the one Pascal Cotte identified.

In the summer of 1502 until spring 1503, Leonardo accompanied Cesare Borgia, the son of the Pope, as a military engineer. Upon his return to Florence, he started the portrait of the Mona Lisa. In 1504, his father died, and Leonardo's illegitimate son was excluded from the inheritance. In the same year, he received the commission for his second major fresco, the "Battle of Anghiari," for the city parliament of Florence. The younger painter Michelangelo was to create an equally large painting on the opposite wall simultaneously, initiating a competition between the two artists. However, due to wet walls, the work progressed slowly and was eventually abandoned. In 1504, Raphael also came to Florence and painted portraits in the style of the Mona Lisa, inspired by Leonardo's painting.

Leonardo undertook flight experiments on the Schwanenberg near Florence around 1505. They coincide with the time when the Mona Lisa was painted.

From 1506, he commuted between Florence and Milan, and by 1508, he was living in Milan again. The portrait of Mona Lisa likely had less significance until then, as Leonardo focused on more prestigious commissions. Vasari claims it was still unfinished in 1508, and it probably received its final form after that year. According to de Beatis, the painting accompanied Leonardo to France in 1516 and remained there until his death in 1519 at Château du Clos Lucé.

It is unclear what happened to the paintings that de Beatis saw with Leonardo. Leonardo's will does not mention any paintings, but it does include bequests to two of his pupils. Francesco Melzi received Leonardo's significant notebooks, other books, equipment, clothes, and gold. On the other hand, Salai received a property in Milan, which he had already leased from Leonardo. Salai's will indicates that he likely owned some of Leonardo's paintings.

Salai's Will

Salai died in 1524 at the age of about 44 in a duel, just a few years after Leonardo's death. His sisters and his widow subsequently contested the inheritance, which mainly consisted of valuable paintings. The notarial records list a painting titled "La Joconda," and since it is relatively highly valued in the document at 100 Scudo (175 Florin = 612.5 Gold), it is likely the Mona Lisa. Shortly thereafter, the French King Francis I must have acquired the painting.

Salai's Sale of Paintings

In 1999, French art historian Bertrand Jestaz published an essay about a rediscovered sales contract. He explains that the painting currently housed in the Louvre ended up in the royal collections in 1518 as part of a sale of some of Salai's paintings to King Francis I. The king paid Salai about 2604 Livres (approximately 651 Florin = 2.3 kg Gold), "for certain panel paintings that he gave to the king." Therefore, it is widely believed today that Leonardo gave the still unfinished paintings, including the Mona Lisa, to Salai about a year before he died. The paintings listed in Salai's will are presumed to be copies made by Salai.

In the Possession of French Kings

The exact circumstances of how the painting came into the possession of the French king remain uncertain to this day. However, Vasari reported in 1550 that the Mona Lisa was now at Fontainebleau Castle, an important hunting lodge of Francis I. The painting remained there until Louis XIV had it moved to Versailles around 1682.

The French Revolution and Napoleon's Bedroom

During the French Revolution in 1789, all paintings from the royal collection were transferred to the Louvre, and in 1793, the Mona Lisa was publicly exhibited for the first time.

The painting may have remained there for only a few years because there is a legend that Napoleon had the painting brought to his bedroom in the Tuileries Palace around 1799. According to the legend, the portrait hung there until his exile in 1815. The Mona Lisa has been publicly displayed in the Louvre since at least 1815.

The Mona Lisa was stolen on August 21, 1911, by the Italian Vincenzo Peruggia in a sensational act from the Louvre.

The Louvre Museum, fearing vandalism, had decided to secure all paintings behind a glass barrier by 1911. Peruggia was one of the glaziers involved in this project. Due to his work at the museum, he was well-known to the staff and familiar with the premises.

On the day of the theft, a Monday when the Louvre was closed to the public, Peruggia entered the building in his work clothes, blending in with the staff. He went to the Mona Lisa and took advantage of an unobserved moment to remove the painting, initially placing it in a staircase where he took it out of the frame. The Mona Lisa, painted on a wooden panel, is relatively small (53 × 77cm), making it easy for Peruggia to conceal. He might have hidden it under his smock or wrapped it up, carrying it like a sheet of glass. Then he left the Louvre. The theft was only noticed the following day when a painter, who had been copying the Mona Lisa for some time, inquired about the painting.

Peruggia viewed the theft as a patriotic act, intending to bring the painting to Italy, Leonardo da Vinci's homeland. The theft remained unsolved for two years. It was only when Peruggia attempted to sell the painting to the Uffizi Gallery in Florence that he was arrested during the planned handover. The painting was exhibited in several Italian cities for a few months before returning to the Louvre on December 31, 1913.

Picasso and the Theft of the Mona Lisa

For a while, the Spanish painter Pablo Picasso and his circle were suspected of being involved in the theft. Picasso lived in Paris at the time and was acquainted with Géry Pieret through his friend, the poet Apollinaire. Apollinaire and Pieret were friends, sometimes living together. Pieret was an occasional thief who stole valuable sculptures from the then barely secured Louvre and sold at least two of them to Apollinaire in 1907, who then passed them on to Picasso. Shortly after the theft of the Mona Lisa, Picasso returned the two sculptures and was questioned by the police, while Apollinaire was even arrested for two days. They were accused of being part of an international theft ring. Picasso was not charged further after the interrogation, and Apollinaire was acquitted in a subsequent trial due to a lack of evidence.

World War II

During World War II, France was occupied by Germany. Before the Germans took Paris, the Louvre, fearing theft or damage, conducted an elaborate operation to transport almost the entire art collection anonymously and sealed to Château de Chambord. The Mona Lisa was in an inconspicuous crate. During the war, the valuable painting was moved several times to different locations in France without falling into the possession of the German occupiers.

With the end of the war, the Mona Lisa was able to return to the Louvre, where it was publicly displayed again from October 1947.

Vandalism

In 1956, an unknown individual poured acid on the painting, causing severe damage to the lower part of the image. In the same year, a visitor threw a stone at the painting, damaging the left elbow of the figure. Since then, the Mona Lisa has been behind bulletproof glass.

The Mona Lisa in the USA

In 1961, Jacqueline Kennedy, the wife of U.S. President John F. Kennedy, persuaded the then French President Charles de Gaulle to exhibit the painting in the United States. In an elaborate operation, the painting was transported across the Atlantic in January 1963 under tight security and exhibited at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and shortly afterward at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

The then-director of the museum, Thomas Hoving, wrote in his memoirs that the Mona Lisa was exposed to flowing water from an accidentally triggered sprinkler system overnight during the exhibition. However, since the painting was behind water-resistant bulletproof glass, the Mona Lisa remained undamaged.

The Mona Lisa in Japan and Russia

In 1974, there was a second international exhibition in Tokyo and Moscow.

Vandalism

In 2022, a visitor attempted to shatter the bulletproof glass of the Mona Lisa. As expected, he failed, but he smeared the glass with a cream pie. To approach the painting, he had disguised himself as a woman and sat in a wheelchair. He claimed that his motive was to draw attention to the environment.

Public exhibition at the Louvre in Paris

The painting is currently displayed in the largest hall of the Louvre in Paris, the Salle des États.

A lady in a three-quarter portrait is seated on a chair. The chair's back forms a semicircle, connected to the seat through small balusters, with five balusters visible.

The chair is oriented to the left, and the lady, through a slight rotation of hip, shoulder, and head, faces left towards the viewer. While doing so, she looks slightly past the viewer to something behind them, smiling.

Her hands are clasped one over the other on the left chairback. The left hand holds a brown blanket, draped over her legs. The index and middle fingers of the right hand are slightly spread.

She wears a dark green dress with orange sleeves, finely gathered into folds. The dark green part of the dress is turned up at the sleeves and fastened at the shoulder. The seam at the neckline is intricately embroidered with orange stitches. The dress falls in fine waves due to the gathered seam. Her neck and neckline are uncovered, and she wears no jewelry.

Her brown open hair cascades in fine curls from a center part down to her shoulders on both sides. Her hair is covered by a very long, nearly transparent veil. The veil is rolled down towards the bottom and hangs loosely over her left shoulder.

Directly behind her is a waist-high wall. At the left and right edges of the painting, the bases of two columns can be seen, placed on the wall.

In the background, a mountainous landscape with paths and waterways. In the right half of the painting, a bridge over a river.

The lower part of the painting (ceiling, chair, and wall), as well as large sections of the landscape, are unfinished.

Additional subdivisions of the resulting segments in the golden ratio are possible (mouseover). However, they all miss significant elements in the painting: the upper end of the head is narrowly missed, the upper end of the shoulder is not precisely hit, and so on. Even when, for example, the tip of the nose or the end of the headscarf is hit below its central part, it is unclear whether this was Leonardo's intention. When Leonardo wants to clearly demonstrate the golden ratio, he does so very precisely, as evident in the feet of the columns and the eyes. Further subdivisions in the golden ratio according to the principle of continuous division appear to be merely coincidentally close to significant elements in the painting.

The edges of the column bases at the left and right edges of the painting form the borders of a golden rectangle, suggesting a golden spiral. Unlike the Grotto Madonna, Leonardo did not clearly position elements along the golden spiral.

Formally, the painting, with a aspect ratio of 2:3, can be divided into six squares. The vertical division of the painting is emphasized by the perpendicular bisector, which passes through the left eye of the Mona Lisa. The landscape is situated in two quadrants on the left and right sides of the Mona Lisa. The landscape exhibits different characteristics on the left and right sides.

Let's first consider the right landscape in isolation. To do this, the left half of the image and the silhouette of the Mona Lisa are colored IV. In the less detailed landscape, two accents are highlighted. The first accent is a bridge, located just below the first third of the two squares. The bridge acts as the visual centerpiece of a calm and idyllic area with orange and light tones.

Above this, in complementary contrast to the lower orange, a massive blue area rises. It begins or ends at the level of the Golden Ratio of the two squares (orange horizontal). In the context of the landscape, it is supposed to represent mountains with a large lake on top. However, the rock wall appears too blue for mountains, and the water is not level. Even though the painting has undergone slight color changes over the centuries, it did not result in the mountains appearing bluer today than painted by Leonardo. A well-preserved copy created parallel to the Mona Lisa by Francesco Melzi also shows this unnatural color scheme for mountains. The harsh transition from orange to blue cannot be explained by the use of aerial perspective discovered by Leonardo (distant objects appear bluish), as the orange foreground should gradually transition into the blue background.

Therefore, the blue area cannot represent mountains. Instead, it seems to depict masses of water. It gives the impression of a gigantic surging tidal wave, as noted by Leonardo expert Martin Kemp. It appears to rush down into the valley, threatening to destroy everything in its path. To estimate its enormous size, a bridge was placed in front of it. The bridge is the only man-made structure in the background landscape.

Martin Kemp was a professor of art history at the University of Oxford, with guest professorships at Harvard and Princeton, and is considered the world's most renowned Leonardo expert. He formulates the depiction of the flood in Leonardo's Mona Lisa as follows:

"The landscape of the Mona Lisa, situated on two levels - the higher water surface on the right side [of the painting] is above its natural position - is the quintessence of what Leonardo had learned when contemplating high and low places in Tuscany. The instability of one of the mountains to the left of the head [i.e., from her perspective, on the left], which has an extremely pronounced rock ledge and is deeply incised below, suggests that things will change radically at some unknown time in the future. A tremendous transformation is imminent, where the gently meandering rivers in the lowland under the Mona Lisa's balcony, with the neatly crafted bridge, will be surprised and reshaped by a force majeure against which any human engineer is powerless." (Kemp, Martin [2005]: Leonardo. Munich: Verlag C.H. Beck oHG, pp. 176 f.)

According to Kemp, Leonardo aimed to depict the immense power of the water rushing into the valley. Kemp presents these observations in the chapter 'Master of Water,' specifically in the context of Leonardo's attempts to harness the uncontrollable power of water.

These intuitive and approximate impressions find justification in the concrete proportions in the lower part of the painting. The geometric relationships there correspond to the dimensions of Noah's Ark mentioned in the Bible:

"Make yourself an ark of cypress wood. Make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high. Make a roof for it, leaving below the roof an opening one cubit high all around. Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle, and upper decks." (Genesis 6:14-16)

Accordingly, the ark had the dimensions of the golden ratio:

• It was 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide, and 30 cubits high.
• The ratio of the side lengths was thus (divided by 10) 30:5:3.
• The ratio of width to height was 3:5 (0.6), pointing to the golden ratio, as 3 and 5 are Fibonacci numbers.
• The roof was to be raised by an additional cubit, making the highest point of the ark 30+1 cubits high.
• The ratio of 31:50 (height of the roof and width of the ark) was therefore 0.62, close to the golden ratio, which is 0.618.
• An ark with a width of 1 thus had a raised roof with a height between 0.6 and 0.62.

Additionally, the entrance to the ark was to be on the side.

Leonardo uses the dimensions of Noah's Ark mentioned in the Bible for the geometric relationships in the lower third of the painting V.

• If the height of the wall is extended to the lower edge of the railing (upper green line) by 1/30, it leads to the height of the column bases, i.e., the golden ratio of the image height (orange line). The roof of Noah's Ark was to be raised by 1/30. The height of the Ark itself is in the golden ratio to its width (30:50 or 31:50)
• When the height of the wall is divided into thirds, it runs along the upper edge of the chair back (mouseover, green lines). It takes little imagination to recognize the entrance of the Ark in the gap between the first two columns of Mona Lisa's chair, even if it is formed by a semicircular chair back and is therefore not entirely horizontal. Overall, however, the impression of an entrance area is confirmed, thus forming the first floor of Noah's Ark. The entrance is exactly in the middle of the painting. The Ark would thus be depicted from the side

The geometric symbolism used clearly refers to the dimensions of Noah's Ark, confirming the overly blue-painted mountains in the right background as the masses of water of a biblical flood that destroys all life.

• At half the height of the wall, an isosceles triangle with interior angles of 30°, 30°, and 120° can be constructed (white-transparent area). Such a triangle is formed by the angle bisectors in an equilateral triangle. The apex of the triangle touches the golden ratio of the image height (orange horizontal line)
• From the left eye of the Mona Lisa, which is already emphasized by the perpendicular bisector, two lines can be drawn to the base of the isosceles triangle. This creates an equilateral triangle, meaning the interior angles are 60° (white diagonals)
• The distance from the eye to the apex of the isosceles triangle corresponds to the distance from the column bases to the lower edge of the image, i.e., the golden ratio of the image height (white central vertical line)

These relationships may not be exact in terms of the fundamental aspect ratio of 2:3, but the points are so close together visually that chance is conceivable, yet a geometric-constructive intention is more likely. It is unlikely that the image composition was randomly chosen so that the marking of the triangle base appears exactly at the midpoint of the height of a wall in the background. Leonardo must have consciously divided the wall at that point.

Collaboration with Luca Pacioli

Leonardo and the significant mathematician Luca Pacioli were in close contact since at least 1498 when Pacioli began working for the Milanese court. In this period, Pacioli completed his book "Divina proportione" (around 1498), which deals with the golden ratio in nature and its application in art and architecture. Leonardo created numerous illustrations for this work, including drawings of the Platonic solids, such as the tetrahedron. These geometric shapes were depicted in a novel skeletal structure that highlighted the spatial relationships of the bodies. The intensive exploration of geometric studies continued with Leonardo from 1501, as evident from his notebooks and contemporary letters. Leonardo then commenced work on the portrait of the Mona Lisa in 1503. Due to financial constraints, Pacioli's book was only published in 1509.

The Mona Lisa is often described with maternal qualities: gentle, warm-hearted, and caring. Few people are aware that Leonardo emphasizes this indistinct feeling through hidden images, among other things.

The Paternal

On the right side of the painting, the outline of an unnaturally falling, almost transparent veil can be discerned VII. In conjunction with her reddish-brown, wavy falling locks, the facial shape of a bearded, older man can be recognized, gazing reverently towards the lower left in the direction of the left pillar base (Mouseover). The head is smaller than that of the Mona Lisa, so it must be positioned behind her.

The Child

The hair of the Mona Lisa appears to fall down to her elbow over her right shoulder. Upon closer inspection, it becomes clear that the hair-like structure on her right shoulder is the heavily compressed transparent veil covering her head and shoulders. Nevertheless, the area of the right shoulder appears like a part of her hairstyle. There is an impression that the Mona Lisa is embraced by a younger child coming from the left edge of the painting, burying its face into her right side. Particularly impressive is the depiction of the right arm of the Mona Lisa, which now becomes the right arm of the child.

Leonardo's painting started two years earlier but still unfinished in 1503, The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne, also plays with a distorted variation of the theme of father, mother, and child. Leonardo probably continued working on it around the same time as the Mona Lisa from 1508 onwards when he returned to Milan after eight tumultuous years.

The younger Raphael may have depicted Leonardo as Plato out of a general sense of respect, or it could also express a teacher-student relationship, where Leonardo's workshop was understood as an academy in the Platonic sense. Around 1500, during a brief stay in Venice, Leonardo himself created several drawings with geometric interlace patterns. In their center, Leonardo wrote "Leonardo Academia," surrounded by the word "Vici" (Latin for 'I have won'), drawing inspiration from Plato's Academy.

The Platonic solids are the tetrahedron, octahedron, cube, dodecahedron and icosahedron.

All five Platonic solids consist of just three basic shapes: equilateral triangle, square and regular pentagon. Each of these shapes has specific angles. Sorted according to their size, these are
30°, 45°, 54°, 60°, 72°, 90°, 108° and 120°.

Leonardo's pictorial constructions are strongly geometrical. Geometry was the predominant form of mathematics until Leonardo's time. Arithmetic, i.e. calculating with numbers, only gained importance in the course of the Renaissance (see Adam Ries).

Leonardo's pictorial designs are based on proportions, angles and shapes. For the angles, he mainly used those resulting from the two-dimensional basic forms of the Platonic solids. In terms of proportions, he mainly used halves, thirds, quarters, eighths and the golden ratio. Since Leonardo as a painter recognized vision as the most important sense, eyes have an important function in the system of geometric relationships in his paintings. Some examples:

The bridge in the right background of the Mona Lisa consists of 3, 4 or 5 arches, which can no longer be determined beyond doubt due to a light line through four arches that may have been added later. It is interesting to note that the bridge is tilted almost exactly 5° to the top right (blue line). This is the same angle as that from the left column base to the tip on the left sleeve of Mona Lisa VIII. Both lines therefore run parallel.

In connection with Leonardo's inventions, people today mostly talk about his fascination with flying. Less well known is Leonardo's holistic endeavor to explore his environment. Leonardo designed a functional submarine and a leather diving suit with glass eye openings and a snorkeling system. He thus anticipated developments that were not developed again until 250 years later (first submarine: "Turtle", 1776, first functional diving suit with helmet diving device: around 1800, e.g. Augustus Siebe). The studies shown here are taken from a notebook written by Leonardo around 1480, around 25 years before the work on the Mona Lisa.

• Between the fingers of the Mona Lisa runs the perpendicular bisector of the painting, which intersects, among other things, her left eye (mouseover, red line). Above the crab lies the triangle with the 120° angle, which now acts like a net hanging in the water. It seems to be suspended on the perpendicular bisector.
• It is in the nature of a crab to use its pincers as such. If the crab intersects the perpendicular bisector, the 120° triangle has a reason to rise upward. Without changing its shape, this triangle fits precisely at the upper edge of the painting, so that the 60° angle that initiated the construction of the crab in the lower triangle now exactly tangents its right half of the head.
• From the center of the base of the triangle, now located at the upper edge of the screen (white area), a triangle leads to the two lower corners of the painting (yellow lines). The upper angle of this triangle is above the left eye of the Mona Lisa and is 45°. It also lies exactly on the right side of the triangle recognized in VIII (mouseover, white lines). The geometric construction is extremely skillful here as well.

The triangle above the eye of the Mona Lisa

The relationship between the 120° and 45° angles (upper and lower triangles) is computationally traceable: In a rectangle with dimensions of 2:3 (proportion of the painting), the base of a triangle aligned with the upper edge of 30°, 120°, and 30° marks a 45° angle to the left and right corners of the rectangle. However, the agreement is only exact in terms of drawing. Computationally, there is a very slight deviation of 0.3%:

Height of the white triangle (30°, 120°, 30°): 0.577
Height of the yellow triangle (67.5°, 45°, 67.5°): 2.414
Total height of both triangles: 2.991 (instead of 3, due to the proportion of 2:3. This corresponds to a deviation of
2.991/3 = 99.7%
100% - 99.7% = 0.3%

The painting is 79.4 cm high. A deviation of 0.3% would be 2.382 mm. The deviation is very small in relation. It corresponds to about two stroke widths and is therefore negligible. Especially since the painting does not exactly have a proportion of 2:3, but deviates very slightly (~0.672 instead of ~0.666 (2/3), a deviation of ~0.784%).