DISCOVERART

Leonardo da Vinci

Italian, Vinci 1452–1519 Amboise · 13 works on DiscoverArt

From the blog: Why Is the Mona Lisa So Famous? · The 10 Most Famous Paintings in the World (and Where to See Them) · What Makes a Painting Famous?

Highlights from the discussion

Unpopular opinion after seeing her in person: the crowd is the artwork. Three hundred phones in the air and she just sits there, unbothered, behind the glass.

Brian Kelly · ♥ 6 · on Mona Lisa →

My daughter asked why she has no eyebrows and now I cannot unsee it. Apparently plucking them was the fashion — or five centuries of cleaning wore them away, nobody seems sure. Either way she has been…

Margaux Dubois · ♥ 4 · on Mona Lisa →

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Same experience, but here is the tip nobody gives you: turn around. The enormous Veronese wedding feast hangs on the opposite wall, completely ignored by three hundred people facing the other way. You…

Kenji Nakamura · ♥ 3 · on Mona Lisa →

Everyone talks about the smile, but look at the landscape behind her — two horizons that do not line up. The mystery is not only in her face.

Priya Raghavan · ♥ 3 · on Mona Lisa →

Ha! I had the same experience. But go early on a weekday and you get ninety seconds almost alone with her. The smile really does follow you.

Carmen Reyes · on Mona Lisa →

Works

Ginevra de' Benci [obverse]
Ginevra de' Benci [obverse]c. 1474/1478
The Last Supper
The Last Supper1490
Mona Lisa
Mona Lisa1503
Virgin and Child
Virgin and Childc. 1500
The Head of the Virgin in Three-Quarter View Facing Right
The Head of the Virgin in Three-Quarter View Facing Right1510–13
Wreath of Laurel, Palm, and Juniper with a Scroll inscribed Virtutem Forma Decorat [reverse]
Wreath of Laurel, Palm, and Juniper with a Scroll inscribed Virtutem Forma Decorat [reverse]c. 1474/1478
Portrait of Leonardo da Vinci (from Characaturas by Leonardo da Vinci, from Drawings by Wincelslaus Hollar, out of the Portland Museum)
Portrait of Leonardo da Vinci (from Characaturas by Leonardo da Vinci, from Drawings by Wincelslaus Hollar, out of the Portland Museum)1786
Allegory on the Fidelity of the Lizard (recto); Design for a Stage Setting (verso)
Allegory on the Fidelity of the Lizard (recto); Design for a Stage Setting (verso)1496
A Bear Walking
A Bear Walkingca. 1482–85
The Head of a Grotesque Man in Profile Facing Right
The Head of a Grotesque Man in Profile Facing Rightafter 1500
Drapery Study for a Standing Figure in Profile to the Right
Drapery Study for a Standing Figure in Profile to the Right
Head of a Man in Profile Facing to the Left
Head of a Man in Profile Facing to the Left1490–94
Compositional Sketches for the Virgin Adoring the Christ Child, with and without the Infant St. John the Baptist; Diagram of a Perspectival Projection (recto); Slight Doodles (verso)
Compositional Sketches for the Virgin Adoring the Christ Child, with and without the Infant St. John the Baptist; Diagram of a Perspectival Projection (recto); Slight Doodles (verso)● On view · Gallery 899

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