Jenny V.

Boclares Humanities 12

Secrets of the Mona Lisa

“Mona Lisa isn’t just as Mona Lisa. It is something more than that. It is a painting
of life itself whose Leonardo da Vinci has come to think of it, his ways of painting his own”,
stated by Andrew Dixon. And I agree with this statement. As a painter or simply as a
person, expressing his own views or opinions on different mediums of communication,
we have our own different ways for it to express. And this is what Leonardo done in
painting Mona Lisa.

Upon watching the documentary of Secrets of the Mona Lisa, I discovered a lot
and I found myself being focus on what Andrew Dixon is saying. The secrets behind the
smile of Mona Lisa and the two painting of Mona Lisa caught my attention. With the
phases of discovering the story behind those mysteries which was revealed by different
experts, the documentary became more interesting. According to the documentary, Mona
Lisa is a true person. She is the wife of Francesco del Giocondo, Lisa del Giocondo.
Moreover there are two versions of Mona Lisa. It turns out that there are many discoveries
found by the experts. With all of those forensic examination, there is one discovery that
really made me astonished. This is the findings of a scientist in Paris named as Pascal. I
found his examination amazing because his multispectral camera revealed different
layers of the painting and showed that there is 3 different faces inside the Mona Lisa.
There is a big face, the other face turns to left and another face. There is also a head
dress discovered in the painting but Leonardo erased it. And what’s more interesting is
that one layer of the Mona Lisa revealed that Mona Lisa have eyebrows. According to
Pascal, Mona Lisa was done by phase.

With all of the emerging discoveries and findings that is revealing right now, I think
that everything about this painting is richly worked. It is an artistic work that its meaning
lies in his imagination and his ideas. Leonardo da Vinci's 16th Century work, Mona Lisa
is probably the most recognizable piece of art in the world. As I reflect with this, I realized
that this proves the desire of an artist. Even each of us could make such history. It proves
that every piece of an artist has stories behind it. Stories that could be expressed through
those artworks. The documentary movie influences us to build our curiosity with different
pieces. In this way we could discover a lot of things, appreciate works and apply what we
have learned.