La Mona Lisa Madrileña
It was the year 2019 (with most of us ignoring the presence of the bug, the imminent confinement and the subsequent mandatory use of gels and masks), when the UNESCO made official the proposal of the International Association of Fine Arts so that, each April 15th, was celebrated on World Art Day.
This celebration, with which we want to give to "to know the importance of art and especially creative thinking for the evolution of human thought and the resolution of the problems that afflict us” (breathe!) will take place every year, on this specific date, because it is the same day that one of the greatest exponents of art in the entire history of humanity was born: the enormous, creative, multifaceted and effective in the management of his time, Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci!
And no, this post is not to talk about the artist but about his most famous lady, but digging into his biography to find his 7 Tuscan surnames, we discovered that he was the illegitimate son of Piero Fruosino di Antonio, a nobleman and ambassador of the Republic of Florence, and a young peasant girl named Caterina di Meo Lippi… entonces, ¿de dónde el Da Vinci, único apellido en épocas de nombres kilométricos? Porque nació y vivió en Vinci, Florencia, la Toscana, Italia y por eso, traducido al español más coloquial, era “Leo el de Vinci”!
By the way, his father married 4 times and had another 12 children, all recognized, but he denied the surname (although not the care) to the son of the peasant woman and the only one who went down in history for his genius... if there is a room of regrets in heaven, it is surely shared by Leonardo's father, the Casting director who ignored him. Marilyn Monroe because she looked like a secretary, the editors who turned their backs on J. K. Rowling and his wizard boy and the one who rejected The Beatles because 4 guys playing guitar wouldn't be successful at all!
Now, let's get to the point, I get sidetracked very easily!
In the inventory of the Prado Museum y desde hace 200 años, figura un retrato anónimo que reproduce el cuadro más famoso del pintor florentino: El Retrato de Lisa Gherardini, esposa de Francesco del Giocondo, mejor conocido como La Gioconda or La Mona Lisa.
No se tiene información acerca de cómo llegó la «copia» a España, pero ya en 1666 aparece catalogada como parte de las Colecciones Reales y se registra ubicada en la Galería del Mediodía del Alcázar de Madrid, como “Mujer de mano de Leonardo Abince…” que pronunciado rapidito, suena como el original!
En un principio, esta Mona Lisa was shown on a black background, but just over 10 years ago, the Louvre Museum in Paris, requested the Madrid copy to be part of an exhibition at the well-known French museum, current home of the original Mona Lisa, which is why the Prado decided to restore it and lend it in the best condition.
When the process of cleaning the canvas began, surprise, surprise! The colours emerged, giving way to a beautiful landscape in the background, similar to that of the original painting, and a more exhaustive study showed that both paintings had been painted at the same time, in the same place and using the same model!
What was the conclusion of the experts? Well, it is very likely that it was painted by a disciple of Da Vinci himself with the artist's help and in his workshop!
Do you want to know what the most important differences are between the Louvre resident and the Prado resident?
Here they are:
The traditional Lisa after its restoration and its points of difference with the Italian one
1. The Italian woman's forehead is narrower.
2. The Madrid woman has eyebrows and eyelashes.
3. The mountain in the background is higher in the Prado painting.
4. The sleeves of the Prado's Gioconda are red.
5. The inner sleeves of the Madrid woman are transparent.
6. The veil of the Madrid resident is white and that of the Parisian resident is black.
7. And finally, it is believed that the landscape of the painting Prado, it's unfinished!
The Italian-French and its twin, the Italian-Spanish
If you want to enjoy the one in our city, stop by Room 056B, on the 0th floor, in the Prado Museum and detail it, which in addition to being a wonderful work, which survived the fire at the Alcázar, does not have hundreds of tourists from a specific place on the planet, acting as uncomfortable obstacles!
