Mona Lisa Images for the Modern World, or
a Giocondophiliac's Delight:
Resources and Web
Links to Monalisiana
and related subjects
(This page is corollary to the main MONA LISA site.)
Select this to go to MONA home page.
(last modified 6/12/203
compiled by
Robert Baron's Home Page | Monalisiana Paper
Contents:
To the Reader
To the Collector
Monalisiana Kitsch, Commercial Products & Advertisements, Non-Scholarly Web Pages, and Popular Arts
--Mona Lisa in Advertisements
--Mona Lisa Emblems, Trademarks, Symbols of Corporate and Product Identity
--Mona Lisa on Clothing and Apparel
--Mona in Parody
Monalisiana in Technology
Monalisiana in the News
Mona Lisa in Contemporary Fine Arts and Computer Arts
Mona Lisa in Early Education
Mona Lisa and Monalisiana Compendia & Studies Including Quack Theories
--On the nude Mona Lisa
Libraries, Bibliographies and related Resources, including Bookcovers
Monalisiana Collections and Collectors
Popular Biographies and Leonardo Fiction
--Mona Lisa in Children's and Juvenile Literature
Mona Lisa in the Movies, Music, Stage and Television
--Mona Lisa as a theme or reference in Music
Miscellaneous Monalisany
Leonardo Surveys
Mona Lisa Symposia and Conferences
Links to Links
To the reader: This page of links and references to the Mona Lisa concentrates on how Leonardo's Mona Lisa has been used and formed by modern society and by commerce. While some of the links provided will undoubtedly lead to scholarly material on Leonardo and about his role during the Renaissance, no effort has been made to provide access to this kind of information, except inasmuch as the history of scholarship reveals changing attitudes toward the image of Mona Lisa. There are no direct references to Leonardo as a scientist. Searches for the term "Mona Lisa" in web search engines will reveal a wide variety of sexual services indexed under that name. This phenomena should be considered as much of the afterlife of Leonardo's Mona Lisa as anything else, I suppose, but that notwithstanding, I have not included any references to these links, under the assumption that once they are known to exist, their content can be imagined without difficulty. Also omitted are references to restaurants and pizza houses -- unless they publish an emblem with a unique variation of the Mona Lisa.
Further, at this time, while I have defined rough divisions to separate links and references by topic, I have made little effort to place items within topics in any order. Many of the links provided will prove to be rather ephemeral and will eventually go dead. I'd be grateful if anyone finding such a dead link will go to the trouble to write me so I can mark it as unusable. Naturally, I welcome the submission of any and all additions to this material. Finally, some items are not links at all, but just records of information I've found that seems inappropriate to include in my paper discussing the manifestations of Mona Lisa in the Modern World that can be accessed on this site. -- .
To monalisiana collectors: There is a section in this list devoted to collectors of Mona Lisa products (monalisiana, monabilia, etc.). If you have such a collection and wish to list yourself as a collector, kindly send me a message describing the nature of your collection, its history -- if that is significant -- and how you became interested in this topic. Also let me know if I have permission to provide readers with you e-mail (or other) address so that people can reach you. -- .
| Monalisiana Kitsch, Commercial Products & Advertisements, Non-Scholarly Web Pages, and Popular Arts | Table of Contents |
Door Screen: Chris Steiner, cbste@oak.conncoll.edu, reports (8/17/98) that he purchased from Craft Caravan in New York City, a Mona Lisa door screen -- the kind that is made of hanging beads -- which is handpainted in Vietnam. (See below.)
Hillside: Mark Pelham, bioslug@earthlink.net, informs us (5/27/98) that probably 15-20 years ago, a hillside in Alamo, CA was turned into the Mona Lisa. The artist used different grasses and flowers to create a gigantic Mona Lisa that was exquisite in its detail when viewed from the nearby freeway. I have been looking for a record of it for sometime but have had no luck. A recent change of ownership of the local newspaper has delayed my ability to research their archives as they are modernized.
| -- | Mona Lisa in Advertisements | Table of Contents |
| -- | Mona Lisa Emblems, Trademarks, Symbols of Corporate and Product Identity | Table of Contents |
| -- | Mona Lisa on Clothing and Apparel | Table of Contents |
| -- | Mona Lisa in Parody of Art | Table of Contents |
| Monalisiana in Technology | Table of Contents |
| Monalisiana in the News | Table of Contents |
In an article on using College Spring
Break to recruit new employees, business editor Matt
Moore in the Panama City, Florida News Herald
(Monday, March 16, 1998) writes (http://www.newsherald.com/archive/business/sb031698.htm):
"International Business Machines, familiarly known
as IBM, also will be in attendance. Ralph Mobley, the
company's manager of national recruiting for field
operations, said recruiting through Spring Break is a new
strategy. "It's just one example of many new and
innovative initiatives, designed to recruit college
students for numerous positions across the country,"
Mobley said. To wit, IBM not only will have people
pitching the company, but a banner-towing airplane and a
giant sand sculpture of the company's flagship laptop
computer, the IBM ThinkPad. The message on the screen
will include the company's corporate recruiting address
on the World Wide Web (www.cybrblu.ibm.com). Mobley said
the company's "booth display" will go even
further, showing a holographic image of Leonardo Da Vinci
talking to Mona Lisa, extollingt he virtues of working
for the technology giant. Pressman said it's all part of
a way to entice new workers through different means.
Mobley said the company hasn't abandoned its traditional
methods of recruiting, just enhanced them. The Expo, he
said, is "a unique way for students to catch a
glimpse of the dynamic nature ofour company." (Site
active 10/98.)
From the Datona Beach, Florida News-Journal Online (11/7/97) in an article by Michael Laff on the "Biketoberfest" at the Motorcycle Expo it is reported that "In Leonardo Da Vinci's painting, Mona Lisa is cold, enigmatic and distant. At Biketoberfest she rides topless on a Harley. That's how she was caricatured on a bike competing in Karl "Big Daddy Rat" Smith's chopper show Saturday during the Motorcycle Expo. Unfortunately, Mona Lisa lost out in her category. Brigitte Bardot did emerge a winner, however." [ed. Could the reporter have misidentified the subject? Was it Lady Godiva and not the Mona Lisa?] (Site active 10/98.)
From Art Talk, a fine-arts newspaper from Scottsdale Arizona (http://www.scultura.com/arttalk/art.html) on the location of the landscape behind the Mona Lisa (http://www.scultura.com/arttalk/arttalk,mar3.html#monalisa). (Site active 10/16/98.)
From the
Los Angeles Times, probably in 9/98: Court Files: by Ann
W. O'Neill. "Book Cover Brings a Frown to MONA's
Lips.
" A deal's a deal ... Putting the kibosh on
Enquiring minds ... Litigation.com ... Kato wins one ...
Plaintiffs' hit parade."
For more than a year, the neon Mona Lisa smiled
serenely over Universal's City Walk. Then it found a
permanent home, becoming the logo for downtown Los
Angeles' Museum of Neon Art, fortuitously known by the
acronym MONA.
MONA wasn't smiling, however, when Mona showed up on the
cover of a book written by Pulitzer Prize-winning author
and architecture critic Ada Louise Huxtable.
The museum and Lili Lakich, the artist who created Mona,
are seeking #85,000 in damages in a copyright
infringement suit in (U.S. District Court in Los Angeles.
Named as defendants were Huxtable, publisher New Press
and distributor W.W. Norton & Co.
Lakich says she discovered that her artwork had been used
for the cover of Huxtable's 1997 book, "The Unreal
America: Architecture and Illusion," when she
spotted it on a bookstore shelf.
Lakich says she never would have given permission for
here Mona to appear on the cover Huxtable's book because
it criticizes faux-themed urban development like City
Walk.
An attorney for the publisher and distributor has denied
the allegations in court papers. Huxtable could not be
reached.
Said Lakich: "It's ironic that the book's theme is
an attack on anything 'fake' yet she has infringed on
[my] copyright."
What would Leonardo da Vinci say? [ed. See: http://php.indiana.edu/~ldadamow/home.html.]
The New York Times. Wednesday, December 23, 1998; Sam Howe Verhovek. "The Mountain as Muse, Glacial, Menacing or Not So." (Arts in America). Article on the inspiration of Mount Rainier with illustration by Andrew Keating: Mount Rainier Mona Lisa, 1974. (Not illustrated in on-line version.)
The New York Times. Tuesday, March 16, 1999. "The Arts: Footlights," p. E1. Quick-change artist and commedian Ennio Marchetto, whose cast of 140 characters in paper costumes, includes the Mona Lisa, Mae West, Lou Reed, Elton John, Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, Maria Callas, Elvis Presley and Celine Dion, plus the three Tenors, is to appear at the McGinn-Cazale Theater in Manhattan. [Small color illustration: Ennio as the Mona Lisa.]
The New York Times. Friday, April 2, 1999. "Weekend Section: Critics Notebook: 'No Matter How Far Out, Comics Still Cross Paths.'." by Peter Marks, p. E1. Illustrated: Ennio Marchetto as Mona Lisa, in "Ennio," at the McGinn-Cazale Theater. [Color illustration is larger than that cited above. Not used in NYTimes electronic version.] [On Ennio, see: http://www.gilded-balloon.co.uk/f65.htm (active 10/25/99)
New York Times, Saturday, May 20, 1999 (Arts & Ideas: Joyce Jenson, "Think Tank: Mapping Thoughts and Even Feelings."), page B9.
From the Gloval Museum (e-zine). Thursday, November 18, 1999. PARIS (Reuters) - The Mona Lisa will move from a crowded gallery to a room of her own in Paris's Louvre within three years, the museum said on Wednesday. http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/19991118/od/mona_1.html (active 11/20/99).
From the Los Angeles Times, Saturday, August 29, 1998 (Our World, p. B1): Marilyn August reports that a French art magazine has created a view of what the Mona Lisa might look like were it to be restored by conservators to its original condition. The article contains two photos, one as the Mona Lisa currently appears, and the other as it might appear restored, with the yellowing layors of varnish removed. There is a debate among art historians, the public and museum officials as to whether the Mona Lisa should be restored or not. The Louvre is in the middle of creating a new environment for it ("a room of its own") and some would like to see the work placed in that room with the face that Leonardo, not the ages, painted. The Louvre refuses to entertain the notion that the work will be restored: Jean Pierre Cuzin, chief curator of the department of paintings notes that the idea is "absolutely out of the question to restore the Mona Lisa in any way."
From the New York Times, Tuesday November 21, 2000, p. F3 (Science Times). "What is it with Mona Lisa's Smile? It's You." Harvard neuroscientist Margaret Livingstone claims that the mysterious way the Mona Lisa's smile seems to change as you look at it may be attributed to the physiology of the human visual system. Claiming that the Mona Lisa engages both "central vision" and "periphery vision," the former which focuses on details and the latter on shadows. "These shadows suggest and enhance the curvature of a smile. But when the viewer's eyes go directly to Mona Lisa's mouth, his central vision does not see the shadows, she said." Consequently the viewer sees Mona Lisa's face as constantly changing, it has a "flickering quality -- with smile present and smile gone -- [which] occurs as people move their eyes around Mona Lisa's face." "The actress Geena Davis also shows the Mona Lisa effect..." http//www.nytimes.com/2000/11/21/science/21MONA.html (link active 11/24/2000) Also see: http://www.skfriends.com/mona-lisa-smile.htm (link active 2/17/03)
From the Los Angeles Times, Sunday, August 23, 1998. Dave Barry."The French are trying to kill all of the tourists." ...I think the reason why the Mona Lisa is so famous is that she's just about the only artistic subject in the Louvre who's wearing clothes. On any given day, every tourist in Europe who is not onl top of the Eiffel Tower is gathered in front of the Mona Lisa, who gazes out at the crowd with the enigmatic expression of a person who is pondering the timeless question: "How come they keep taking flash photographs, even though the signs specifically prohibit this?"
| Mona Lisa in Contemporary Fine Arts and Computer Arts | Table of Contents |
John Lennon as the Mona Lisa: http://portal.jumpgate.net/~imagine/john/art/mona.htm (Site active 10/19/98.)
ASCII Art Mona Lisa: http://www.sfo.com/~nwalker/etcetera/secretsmile/smileresults.html (Site active 10/12/98.)
Animated GIFs: http://www.tower.net.au/~donny/animatedmona2.html (Site active 10/12/98.) In the mode of Kai's Power Goo.
Animated GIF: Mona Mail Art Show: Blinking, kissing Mona (http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/7022/index.html). (Site active 10/11/98.)
Warped Mona Lisa in style of Kai's Power Goo: http://www.flinet.com/~verveman/home.html (Site active 10/15/98.)
Do it yourself warped Mona Lisa: http://kultur-online.com/eyecandy/warp/warp-mona.htm (site active 2/23/99).
Leonardo's Studio Cartoon with Burt & Ernie. Simplistic and visually repulsive. The concept: What did Mona Lisa see?: http://www.frankandernest.com/sound/auction/mona.html (Site active 10/19/98.) Start here: http://www.frankandernest.com/sound/auction/qtvr5nn.html. (Active 2/18/99.)
| Mona Lisa in Early Education | Table of Contents |
Getty Education Program: http://www.artsednet.getty.edu/ArtsEdNet/Resources/Aeia/interp-lp.html by Art Teacher: Debra Barrett-Hayes, The Florida State University High School, Tallahassee, Florida, Grades 9-12. 3 class sessions: "Mona Lisa: What's Behind Her Smile?" (Available as a videotape.) Excerpt: "Focus: Contemporary artists sometimes appropriate well-known artworks from the past. Contextual knowledge of the original can contribute to interpretation of works that borrow from the past." (Site active 10/26/98.) "This material originally appeared in Art Education in Action: Art History and Art Criticism, © 1995, the J. Paul Getty Trust." See also: http://www.artsednet.getty.edu/ArtsEdNet/Resources/Aeia/interp-vf.html.
Sixth graders at Scarsdale, New York middle schools create images based on the Mona Lisa: http://www.scarsdaleschools.k12.ny.us/mona.html (Link active on 10/10/98.)
From ArtsEdNet: http://www.artsednet.getty.edu/ArtsEdNet/hm/Apr96/0093.html:
From: Ruth Voyles (The University of Toledo, The Toledo
Museum of Art (RVOYLES@UOFT02.UTOLEDO.EDU):
... In class we discuss the significance of the Mona Lisa
in terms of its' impact during Leonardo's own time, and
the impact the image has had throughout the ensuing years
on art, artists, etc. It is during this discussion that I
introduce the many different appropriations of the Mona
Lisa. I begin with copies done by students in the
traditional manner (student copyign the work of the
master), famous forgeries, contemporary artist's
interpretations (such as those by Duchamp and Warhol),
and the many images created by what I term the popular
medi (graphics arts, advertising media, etc). ¶ After
discussing the many uses and misuses of the image of the
Mona Lisa,
I introduce the next component of the project. Students
are to choose a contemporary artist whose work interests
them. ... Once the written work is completetd, students
are to create a studio response to their research. In
other words, they are to recreate the Mona Lisa as they
think the contemporary artist they chose might. ... In
addition, I added the part where I require students to
evaluate why the Mona Lisa is considered to be 1) one of
the greatest works of the Renaissance and prehaps all
time, 2) representative of da Vinci, ...
Why is the Mona Lisa Smiling? A project of J.F.K. High School, Bronx, New York. See below.
Mona Lisa invitational. La Gioconda /
Mona Lisa or, the secret of the smile... Exhibition,
September 15 - November 15, 1998 :
Galerie Vromans, gebouw atrium - strawinskylaan 3101 -
1077 zx amsterdam, tel +31 20 6427295 fax +31 20 6614058
http://www.vromansgallery.com/exhibitions/MonaLisa/index.html
(Active 2/17/99.)
| Mona Lisa and Monalisiana Compendia & Studies Including Quack Theories | Table of Contents |
Lillian Schwartz: Computer study asserting Leonardo used himself as the model for the Mona Lisa: http://www.lillian.com/. See also: http://library.advanced.org/13681/data/lillians.htm.(Site dead 9/2/04.) Here is the new link http://wave.prohosting.com/artpower/lillians.htm
Lillian Schwartz and Laurens R. Schwartz. The Computer Artist's Handbook, W.W. Norton, Inc. 1992. More on above study.
More on the Leonardo/Mona Lisa identity: http://www.biu.ac.il/NAT/microscopy/mona1.htm (active 10/12/98). Amateurish and quaint.
Trevor Fairbrother on Leonardo's Legasy in Leonardo Lives: The Codex Leicester and Leonardo da Vinci's Legacy of Art and Science. By Trevor Fairbrother and Chiyo Ishikawa, published by the Seattle Art Museum in association with the University of Washington Press. See http://www.seattle-pi.com/pi/leonardo/legacy.html.
A Richard Turner. Inventing
Leonardo, Berkeley, U. of California Press,
1992 (Paperback, 1994). On the changing reception of
Leonardo through the ages.
Why is the Mona
Lisa Smiling. Award winning site is part
of the Getty Museum's Digital Experience. Why is the Mona
Lisa Smiling Internet inquiry explores the mystery behind
the smile. The url is http://library.advanced.org/13681. (Site dead
9/2/04) Use:
http://wave.prohosting.com/artpower/ Site
created by students from the John F. Kennedy High School, Bronx, New York
under the guidance of Steve Feld. Also try:
http://wave.prohosting.com/artpower/davin2.shtml, A Think Quest
application.
Site created by students from the John F.
Kennedy High School, Bronx, New York under the guidance
of Steve Feld. Also try: http://library.advanced.org/13681/data/davin2.shtml, and http://ns2.con2.com/chalkboard/messages/17.html .
(Above links inactive 9/2/04) A Think Quest application. See: http://www.advanced.org/thinkquest/index.html.
"The Return of Leonardo," by Matthew Kangas. http://www.artguidenw.com/LeoEd.html. An essay discussing Leonardo's influence in modern times. From Art Guide Northwest: http://www.artguidenw.com.
Leonardo Lives: "Leonardo in the Modern World." Part of the Leonardo Lives exhibit at the Seattle Museum of Art, October 23, 1997 through January 11, 1998.
Robert Rosenblum, "Warhol, Leonardo, and the Art of Quotation." A lecture at the Seattle Art Museum, Friday, November 21, 7 p.m. Robert Rosenblum, Professor of Fine Arts, New York University and curator at the Guggenheim Museum, begins by considering Andy Warhol's borrowings from Leonardo. He also discusses Warhol's quotations from art history, ranging from other Italian Renaissance painters to Munch, Picasso, de Chirico, and Pollock. See: http://www.leonardolives.org/samev.htm.(Site active 10/21/98.)
"Leonardo's portrait of Mona Lisa del Giocondo," Gazette des Beaux-Arts, Ser. 6., vol. 121 (March 1993) pp. 115-38.
For Mona Lisa on Postage Stamps see: Bernard Seckler, 19 Ramsey Road, Great Neck NY 11023. He is the author-compiler of Paintings on Stamps (an encyclopedic handbook arranged by artist and covering paintings, prints, etc., as the title page says), published by Fine Arts Philatelists, a stamp collector group. Seckler is its president. (Submitted by Michael Schreiber, Linn's Stamp News, 4/15/97.)
Mona Lisa Postage Stamps, selected and arranged by Victor Manta: http://www.values.ch/monalisa.htm. Active 7/4/99.
Mary Rose Storey, David Bourdon, ed. Mona Lisas. Abrams, New York, 1980. One of the best guides to the use of the Mona Lisa in modern times. Filled with interesting and varied works. Perhaps the classic accumulation of Mona fine and popular arts.
Sigmund Freud. Leonardo da Vinci: a study in psychosexuality. A.A. Brill, tr., Vintage Books, New York, 1947.
Walter Pater. "Leonardo da Vinci," in The Renaissance. Lawrence Evens, introd. Pandora Books, Academy Chicago. 1978. See: http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/fnart/fa257/pater_mona.html (active 11/15/99) [with thanks to Rickard Parker rparker@infolibria.com for locating the link.]
From an (unidentified collection of articles): Gerard-Georges Lemaire, "Les Reincarnations de la Joconde." It includes works by Andy Warhol, Marcel Duchamp, Enrico Baj, and a host of others. It also has three dimesional interpretations of the Mona Lisa. (from ArtsEdNet, http://www.artsednet.getty.edu/ArtsEdNet/hm/Apr96/0040.html, by Ruth Voyles, The University of Toledo, The Toledo Museum of Art (RVOYLES@uoft02.utoledo.edu) Sun, 07 Apr 1996.) (Site active 10/26/98.)
1989 Art News: ... has several articles on Mona Lisa rip-offs and other related stuff. Also, Hope White wrote an article on this sometime back in Art Education journal... (from ArtsEdNet, http://www.artsednet.getty.edu/ArtsEdNet/hm/Apr96/0035.html. Craig Roland (rol1851@NERVM.NERDC.UFL.EDU) Fri, 5 Apr 1996.) (Site active 10/26/98.)
Danto, G., "Taking Mona Lisa's Temperature." ARTnews, September 1991, pp. 98-101.
Danto, G., "What Becomes a Legend Most?" ARTnews, Summer 1989, pp. 148-51.
Shepard, R.F., "Why and How They Stole the Mona Lisa." ARTnews, February 1981, pp. 125-27.
Robbin Murphy, "INTELLECTUAL PROPERTIES: Topic #3: Has Mona Lisa Lost Her Head? in Intelligent Agent, October 1996: http://www.artnetweb.com/artnetweb/views/intelligent_agent/oct96.html. (Site active 10/26/98.) On the Mona Lisa as intellectual property in the age of the internet.
One minute Web audio lecture on the Mona Lisa: http://sunsite.queensu.ca/memorypalace/parlour/davinci/index.html. (Active 1/18/99.)
E.H. Gombrich. The Story of Art. on Leonardo's Mona Lisa: http://www.artchive.com/artchive/L/leonardo/monalisa.jpg.html (active 2/18/99).
Mona Lisa's smile used as an example of the use of sfumato to express "motion:" http://pete.pomona.edu/visual-lit/motion/motion.html (active 2/23/99).
Joseph A. Harriss. "Seeking Mona Lisa" in Smithsonian, Vol. 30, no. 2 (May 1999), p. 54 ff. Article discussed the fame of the Mona Lisa and the aura around its fame, illustrated with examples of monalisaiana but does not disucss them. Illustrations include a Mona Lisa Clock, Garly Larson's The Far Side Gallery 3, Monica Lewinsky as the Mona Lisa on the cover of The New Yorker (Feb 8, 1999), Miss Piggy as the Mona Lisa, an Andy Warhol silkscreen, works by Gauguin, Picasso, Modigliani and Léger, and the collector Jean Margat wearing Mona Lisa pince-nez against a Vietnameze screen with the Mona Lisa. See: http://www.smithsonianmag.si.edu/smithsonian/issues99/may99/mona.html (active 11/16/99). Letters to the editor regarding this article: http://www.smithsonianmag.si.edu/smithsonian/issues99/jul99/letters_jul99.html,
Serge Bramly. Mona Lisa, London, Thames and Hudson, 1996. (First published, Paris, Editions Assouline, 1995.)
Robert A. Baron. "From Romance to Ritual: Mona Lisa Images for the Modern World," in Visual Resources: An International Journal of Documentation, Harwood Academic Publishers. Special Issue: The Culture of the Copy. Vol. XV, No. 2 (ISSN 0197-3762), p. 217. This article is a portion and refined version of the on-line article found at http://www.studiolo.org/Mona//MONALIST.htm. (Citation added 11/3/99.)
Dr. Tina Yarborough, Asst. Professor of Art History & Interdisciplinary Studies (Georgia College & State University). Art as Commercial Propaganda: Mona Lisa Through the Ages. (http://www.faculty.de.gcsu.edu/~dvess/ids/fap/mona.htm) Active 11/11/99. A brief history of the afterlife of the Mona Lisa. Interesting illustrations and bibliography.
Mona Lisa: The Picture and the Myth by Roy McMullen, Houghton Mifflin, 1975
Mona Lisas by Mary Rose Storey, Abrams, 1980
Le Mythe de la Joconde by Jean Margat, Favre (Switzerland), 1997
L'illustre incomprise by André Chastel, Gallimard (Paris), 1998
John Windsor, "Enigma Variations" (Sketchbook: 'Mona Lisa' Makeovers, from Miss Piggy to Monica Lewinski), in The Independent Magazine, 5 February 2000, p. 19. [It was two years ago that John Windsor first noticed how the Mona Lisa "kept popping up everywhere" in our cultural landscape. Since then he has been collecting everything from Mona Lisa curtains and watches to fine art reproductions. Some of his discoveries are featured in this issue. Windsor is also planning to compile a book of "1,000 Mona appropriations". (from Table of Contents)] (added 4/26/2000)
Nicholas Pelczar. "Mona Lisa: Saviour of Modern Thought" (http://www.engl.virginia.edu/~enwr1013/Nicholas/nrp3e2.html) active 10/4/2000.
Dr. Mark Lawrence, a dental surgeon, sees profile of Turin drawing (reputed self portrait of Leonardo) in profile of the Mona Lisa's hair. http://www.monalisaprofile.com/ Site active 11/28/2000. (Author's son, in his separate page, wonders why Renaissance depictions of Adam and Eve shows navels.)
From the New York Times, Tuesday November 21, 2000, p. F3 (Science Times). "What is it with Mona Lisa's Smile? It's You." Harvard neuroscientist Margaret Livingstone claims that the mysterious way the Mona Lisa's smile seems to change as you look at it may be attributed to the physiology of the human visual system. Claiming that the Mona Lisa engages both "central vision" and "periphery vision," the former which focuses on details and the latter on shadows. "These shadows suggest and enhance the curvature of a smile. But when the viewer's eyes go directly to Mona Lisa's mouth, his central vision does not see the shadows, she said." Consequently the viewer sees Mona Lisa's face as constantly changing, it has a "flickering quality -- with smile present and smile gone -- [which] occurs as people move their eyes around Mona Lisa's face." "The actress Geena Davis also shows the Mona Lisa effect..." http//www.nytimes.com/2000/11/21/science/21MONA.html (link active 11/24/2000) Ed. If this theory is true, one must still ask if Leonardo intended the effect to occur.
Probably from the Los Angeles Times (n.d.). "Secret of the Secret Smile:" An Italian doctor claims to have discovered the secret to the Mona Lisa's enigmatic smile: a compulsive gnashing of teeth. Dr. Filippo Surano said he believes the noblewoman in Leonardo Da Vinci's famous portrait suffered from bruxism, an unconscious habit of grinding the teeth during sleep or periods of mental stress. Surano says the strain of posing for the painting could have triggered an attack of teenth grinding. He has sent a summary of his thesis to the Da Vinci Museum in Florence, where the artist was born. (Reported by the newspaper: La Repubblica.)
Kenneth Clark. "Mona Lisa," in Burlington Magazine (1973), pp. 144-150.
| -- | On the Nude Mona Lisa | Table of Contents |
Leanna Loomer (loomer@ecsuc.ctstateu.edu), in a post to the art historian's listserv, CAAH, on 2/17/1995 indicates that the Time-Life book The World of Leonardo "includes, at the end, a broad cross-section of Mona Lisa wannaabees (one or two of which have fairly plausible credentials) including at least one nude Mona Lisa. I don't think the authors believed it to be by Leonardo at the time the book was published," she says.
On CAAH, 2/16/95 Lawrence O. Goedde (log@FARADAY.CLAS.VIRGINIA.EDU) refers to Walter Friedlander, Early Netherlandish Painting, new edition, Vol. IXA, pl. 118, no. 114 for Northern versions of the nude Mona Lisa type.
Sheryl E. Reiss ser1@POSTOFFICE.MAIL.CORNELL.EDU (CAAH, 2/17/95) says that the nude version of the Mona Lisa is discussed in D. Brown and K. Oberhuber: Leonardo and Raphael in Rome," in Essays Presented to Myron P. Gilmore, Florence, 1978, vol. II, p. 25 ff.
See the catalog of the exhibit: "La Collection de Francois I" by Janet Cox-Rearick and Sylvie Beguin (Paris, 1972). No. 16 (p. 18) reports on the nude Mona Lisa at Chantilly. This drawing, well known by the artists of the school of Fontainebleau, was motive for Pere Dan, writing in 1642 (Le Tresor des Merveilles de la Maison Royale de Fontainebleau), to state that the Mona Lisa was a portrait "d'une vertueuse Dame italienne" and not a portrait of a [French] courtesan. Earlier, in 1517, Antonio de Beatis (Recit de la Visite du Cardinal Louis d'Aragon a Leonard de Vinci...) mentions that the Mona Lisa is "una certa donna fiorentina, facta de naturale." (From a post by Robert Baron rabaron@pipeline.com to CAAH 3/11/96.)
| Libraries, Bibliographies and related Resources | Table of Contents |
From Seattle Post-Intelligencer, in conjunction with exhibit of the Codex Leicester: http://www.seattle-pi.com/pi/leonardo/weblink.html. Links to resources.
Web page of Vinci, Leonardo's "home town." http://www.leonet.it/comuni/vinci/. Contains links to other Leonardo sites (e.g. Museum and Library) at Vinci. ISP for Vinciana: http://www.leonet.it/.
Belt Library of Vinciana (UCLA): http://www.library.ucla.edu/libraries/arts/info/belt.htm. One of the important holdings of Vinciana in the United States. Web site contains links to other important scholarly and popular Leonardo web sites.
Bibliographical Catalogue of the Leib Memorial Collection of Vinciana, Stevens Institute of Technology: http://www.lib.stevens-tech.edu/collections/DAVINCI/davinci.htm.
Leonardo da Vinci Museum: http://www.leonet.it/comuni/vincimus/invinmus.html.
Leonardo da Vinci Library: http://www.leonet.it/comuni/vincibib/in_vibib.html.
Bookcover:
The Penguin Concise Dictionary of Art History by Nancy
Frazier. Hardcover - 816 pages (December 1999)
Viking Pr; ISBN: 0670100153 ; Dimensions (in inches):
1.22 x 8.61 x 5.48. Cover illustrated with Photomosaic of
the Mona Lisa by Robert Silver. (Thanks for the reference
to Nancy Frazier.)
Bookcover: Rauschenberg : Art and Life by Mary Lynn Kotz. Hardcover (May 1991) Harry N Abrams; ISBN: 0810937522 ; Dimensions (in inches): 1.45 x 10.87 x 10.44. Available through Amazon.com (accessed 1/2000).
| Monalisiana Collections and Collectors | Table of Contents |
Archive of Mona Lisa adaptations at the Elmer Belt Library of Vinciana at UCLA. See above.
Institute of Fine Arts (New York University), Visual Resources Collection, Jenni Rodda, curator. Collection of about two hundered monalisiana images (as of 1998). See: http://www.nyu.edu/gsas/dept/fineart/html/visnf.htm.
A. Richard Turner, former Director of the Institute of Fine Arts (NYU), and author of Inventing Leonardo, is reputed to have a large collection of monalisiana.
Steve Winters Collection.
See Mary Rose Storey, Mona Lisas,
New York, Abrams, 1980.
Collection
of Frederik
Miehlisch,
Auf dem Büchel 13, D-52428 Jülich, Germany: http://kunst.freepage.de/monalisa/
Started as a postcard collection. Now an extensive
website of Mona Lisa images.
Collection of Monalisiana from State
University of New York at Cortland, now in custody of Jo
Schaffer SCHAFFERJ@SNYCORVA.CORTLAND.EDU,
former Visual Resources Curator at SUNY Cortland.
The "Slide Collection here amuses and abuses the
users with the world's largest collection of appropriated
images of, you know who, Mona Lisa, all of them are
aesthetically arranged in a for-real exhibition glass
case. After all, this is an extension of the art and art
history department.
In addition to the ubiquitous pair of Mona socks, we have
salt and peper shakers, cheese plates, LP record albums,
Italian bread wrappers, Frank Zappa posters, earrings,
shall I go on? I even have the box that my set of demi
tasse Mona cups arrived in. Not to say that there are
more than 60 postcards ( just a few duplicates )
ranging from the sweet face with the silver braces on the
teeth, to the Francois Mitterand look-alike to the porno
cards tucked in the back behind the Met baseball player
(aka Mona Lisa). There are so many cards that I have set
up a bulletin board outside the slide collection for the
overflow and to my delight, have never had one ripped
off. Appreciation extends to the casual passer-by.
Friends keep their eyes open for new examples and I have
gotten samples from Japan (the paper cover from a tape of
pop music) to weird comics from Cuba.
The collection does stimulate laughs, giggles and
sometimes even a sly smile worthy of the lady
herself. I have a rubber stamp of the ML just to seal off
real mail.
Collection of Lisa C. D'Adamo-Weinstein: See above.
Collection of Robert A. Baron: robert.baron@pipeline.com.
Approximately 50 items. Collection begun 1992. Many items
illustrated at http://www.studiolo.org/Mona/MONALIST.htm.
Collection of Robert Midura midura@northeast.net.
I am an artist who has been collecting Mona Lisa images
since 1969. I have painted, retouched, illustrated and
made many reproductions myself . My company name is Mona
Lisa Graphics International. I became interested in
the Mona Lisa & what started out as an exercise in
doing some art turned into a lifetime collection. My
collection numbers in the thousands. Many of the images
you list, I have, including the Mona Lisa book. I
have jewelry, clothes, prints, posters, banners, cards,
carvings, paintings, books, pottery, photos & more.
Many of the items I have are one of a kind. To me
the Mona Lisa represented the most recognized & most
famous painting in the world. No other painting
comes close to being as recognized. The Mona Lisa I
believe is the most reproduced image in history & is
constantly being used for advertising purposes etc. I
usually find a new variation Mona Lisa once a week.
Thanks again for your site & if you need any more
info or other images etc. for your site, feel free to
write to me. I would also love to correspond with other
collectors.
Debra Barrett-Hayes, The Florida State University High School, Tallahassee, Florida. See: http://www.artsednet.getty.edu/ArtsEdNet/Resources/Aeia/interp-lp.html. And refer to Early Education Section.
Jean Margat (a geologist Orleans, France). See exhibit: Le Myth de la Gioconde at http://www.webdo.ch/salon_97/expos_joconde.html (Active 7/28/99).
Pierre Rosenberg (director of the Louvre)
Diane DeCillis, The Print Gallery. http://www.monalisamania.com. It is still under construction and will be ready in about a week. I have created a poster for the exhibit and a number of other items. My e-mail is ChezPG@aol.com Website active 10/27/99.
| Popular Biographies and Leonardo Fiction | Table of Contents |
1996. Rina
De'Firenze, Mystery of the Mona Lisa. Hastings House,
ISBN 0803893817.
Review from Midwest Book Review, as quoted at http://www.amazon.com:
"Mystery of the Mona Lisa is billed as a novel here
because many will read it like fiction; but some may
actually believe the psychic roots of this story of
Leonardo da Vinci's roots. The author's visions of
Leonardo's real story provide the plot and foundation for
an unusual examination of the Mona Lisa's origins."
See also: http://library.advanced.org/13681/data/rinadf.htm.
