Allison Lenselink Assignment 1A Rhetorical Reflection Section HA - McGough September 9, 2013 The Mona Lisa Leonardo Da Vincis Mona

Lisa, currently housed in a bulletproof glass box in the Louvre in Paris, France, is one of the most popular works of art of all time. It has been reproduced all over the world, both seriously and humorously. Each time it is reproduced, its purpose changes based on the person creating the copy. The reproduction in Convergences is quite unsuccessful at showing the original purpose because the actual beauty of the painting is in the method of creating it, not the actual picture itself. The most commonly accepted theory of Da Vincis purpose is that he was commissioned by a merchant to paint a picture of his third wife; the merchants name was del Giocondo, giving the painting its Italian and French names (La Gioconda and La Joconde, respectively). Art can be much more than simply what the artist is commissioned to create. Da Vincis method in creating this painting truly gives an idea of what his purpose could be. He used a technique called sfumato, creating up to 30 layers of glaze in films as thin as a cell. This way, he created a smoky effect that blurred the piece so that there were no lines to be seen. In this way, Da Vinci could have been saying something about the state of women in early 16th century Italy, such as that they were simply a part of the background, with nothing to make them stand out beyond nature. Unfortunately, Da Vinci left behind no evidence as to why he created this world-renowned masterpiece. Presumably the thousands of people in todays world do not and cannot understand the original message of the Mona Lisa painting. The meaning of art changes over generations, as well as from person to person. Especially when a piece of artwork that is so valued because of its method of creation is reprinted in something such as a textbook, the original value and meaning of the work is lost. When it is reproduced in a textbook, it is simply there to be studied for what historians believe the original intent was. There is no idea of the layers of glaze or the effect of the sfumato; there is no individual thought as there should be for each art piece. Even if a modern day person visits the painting in the Louvre, he will not understand it in the same way that the original audience would. Virtually nothing from 16th century Italy remains in the 21st century. All cultural norms and beliefs of the time have changed, as well as any persons views on artwork such as the Mona Lisa. College students viewing this work of art in a textbook cant possibly have any concept of what its original intent was simply for the fact that they did not live in the same environment as Da Vinci, and they cannot see the true nature of the piece, only a useless reproduction.

Work Cited Da Vinci, Leonardo. Mona Lisa. 1506. Convergences: Themes, Texts, and Images for Composition. Ed. Robert Atwan. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2009. 145. Print.