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Date: Thu, 23 Apr 1998 19:27:39 -0500 (CDT)
From: midas2@ix.netcom.com (Stephen E. Levenson)
Subject: mona lisa

We very much enjoyed your Mona Lisa web site and your discussion of Mona Lisa as a vessel in the form of a cookie jar. That Leonardo da Vinci's favorite baked delicacy was the chocolate chip cookie is a fact only recently uncovered. This startling discovery also involves another Leonardo and a vessel -- namely di Caprio and Titanic. During the research and filming of the movie, a safe from a passenger's cabin was actually discovered and brought to the surface. Inside the safe, which apparently had a watertight seal, was a leather bound document -- an unknown da Vinci codex! Spectrographic analysis of the faded leather revealed the cover and what appeared to be a drawing of the earth in a spherical form. Scholars were brought in to decipher the language inside the codex but it was not written in Leonardo's native Italian. The codex contained what appeared to be a series of formulae. Even the greatest Nobel laureates could not unravel its secrets. Finally, the renowned professor of semiotics from the University of Bologna, Umberto Eco, was brought in. Eco needed only a few minutes to illuminate the others with his translation. It was the Cucina Codex of Mamma da Vinci containing the recipe for and picture of her son's favorite food -- biscotti di cioccolatte. This cookie always brought such a smile to Leonardo's face. The best explanation, therefore, of the mysterious smile of the Mona Lisa is that Leonardo gave her one of Mamma's cookies, and when asked how it tasted, all she could say was "mmmmmmmmmmmm." ...

Response from Robert Baron

Steve,

As far as I can tell, it is all sfumato and mirrors in these da Vinci apocrypha. Chocolate, as you well know, was only brought to the new world after Columbus, [1] so those specks on the "cookie" cannot possibly be chocolate. Recent conjecture suggests that either the disk is a miniature tondo, like the deschi di parti (birth trays) that were popular at the time, and the spots represent flies, indicating some kind of moral outrage, perhaps because of a parto before nozze. The other, much more probable explanation, much closer to yours, by the way, is that the disk represents a late 15th century version of pizza, that is, before the 18th century got hold of the recipe and formulated it for the masses by making it larger. The individualized portion you see represented on the "cookie jar," is in keeping with the Renaissance promulgation of the "individual" as the basis for all comparison. The dots, naturally, are pepperoni, [2] but in those days (before the 18th century made everything larger than life), pepperoni was more like what we call beef jerky, tiny things of small diameter called piccolo-pepperoni or pepperoni piccolocelli. (The Mona Lisa, incidentally can still say "mmmmmm," but because pepperoni is not as sweet as chocolate, fewer "m"s are appropriate.)

There has been much misunderstanding concerning Leonardo, and his reputation as the Renaissance humanist par-excellence. This notion, most certainly, is a confabulation of the ages, but one which was helped along by his press-agent cousin, Vinnie Vinci. A case in point: the famous "modular man" you so often see depicted, turns out to be either (it is debated), a representation of a sport in which a human held onto a large circular hoop and rolled down hill in competition with others (an early unsuccessful form of bicycle); or, it is a modern representation of an ancient judicial contrivance for obtaining truth: known to us today as "drawing and quartering" -- a method that was adapted to good effect when people began to share pizzas. Sharing was very difficult in the days of the individual "cookie-sized" pizzas, but records dating back to the days of the commune suggest that it was practiced in secret among select cognoscenti. In those days until the early Renaissance it was mostly pulling at the crust edges and hoping that you got a large enough portion. So drawing and quartering was eventually transformed from a medieval barbaric rite into a logical and rational procedure, a process in which deep lines were incised into the pizza with a knife (later a rolling knife) and the resulting sections drawn off in near equal divisions -- four being the most you can get from a pre-18th century pizza.

Looking at the earliest deschi di pizza, some of which have come down to us intact because they were later reworked to be the wooden supports for deschi di parti, it seems clear that pizza culture is in fact responsible for the invention of single point perspective, a fact that can be surmised once the obscuring coats of tempera and paint are removed from the underlying boards. But, this truth is self-evident. Just look at a pizza pan used today, and you'll see what looks like multiple guidelines drawn into the center (the vanishing point of the tray -- the vanishing point of the pizza). Thus was laid the foundation of many forms of spatial illusions -- single point perspective being only the earliest and best known. When you hear someone assert that he is "deep into pizza," or simply "deep dish," you'll know that he may be speaking of fictive depth. ...

Best regards,
Robert Baron

Notes:

[1] Columbus brought back the cacao bean on his fourth voyage to the New World in 1502. The preparation of xocoatl remained a secret of the Spanish Court for 100 years until it was introduced into Italy in 1606. (Encyclopedia Britannica, Electronic Edition). To Text

[2] There is debate about this assertion since the spices needed to make pepperoni, although imported into Europe along the spice route, since before the middle ages, were very expensive -- even in the Renaissance -- and could only be afforded by the wealthiest citizens. Some of the new nobility were known to display their wealth and taste by training troupes of post-pubescent females to serve a variety of spices while dancing and singing. More likely, says scholar Rutius Baronicelli, is that these "dots" represent olives, specifically, as suggested by their black-brown color, Greek Olives. Professor Baronicelli maintains that this ingredient foretells the coming Greek influence on the development of the later stages of the Italian Renaissance, a proposition supported by the fact that in the 17th century, makers of pizza were known as a discoboli or disk tossers, as opposed to the servers who were known as discophori or diskbearers. To Text

Home | Mona Lisa Home Page | Cookie Jar Image

Subject: mona madness

oh, i am so happy to have found a few hundred kindred monalisa souls.

As an artist, I have always hated the iconisation and deification of some of the world's most beautiful and soulful works. So I think that the kitschification of mona lisa is just the lowbrow response.  However, I have chosen to revel in her image on such mundane and pedestrian objects as cookie jars and wrapping paper. Figuring that it is probably better for my blood pressure to (in the low brow sense) to join it if ya can't beat it.

I confess to being the proud owner of a much-loved mona lisa teapot, and of a small intimate portrait of Herself on a greeting card. The card reveals the source of the enigmatic smile: my little mona is holding a bottle of wine in one hand, and a big fat doobie in the other. (for the uninitiated, a marijuana cigarette). thank you

j. chin

1. The examples you show indicate there are plenty of people interested in Mona Lisa-isms, and this means there is probably a market for such a book
2. I, personally, would want to read it. (In fact, I went to the Amazon.com bookstore hoping that you had written it already, so I could read it today.)
3. I believe that if you do not write it, it's very likely that someone else will, because this is a great topic.
4. Clearly, you have enough material.
5. Your comments are perceptive. Your pointed insights on pop culture are accessible, because they are related to an icon everyone recognizes.  I think you may need to adapt the writing into a somewhat more casual, informal (less scholarly) style in a few places. But I believe the average person would be able to follow the majority of your arguments and enjoy them. After all, a fellow named Marshall McLuhan did rather well with his somewhat philosophic book on modern media, as I recall, and he did not even have the advantage of photographs.
6. And finally, I think you might need an editor to help you prepare such a manuscript  for submission, and it is my habit to try to drum up editing work for myself whenever possible.  (OK, that's not a reason. It's a shameless plug. But hey, we all have to earn a living.)

Well, that is my humble opinion.   Thanks for your excellent site. I originally went on the Internet  looking for the reason for the Mona Lisa's smile.  In fact, yours was the only site that had an answer.
K. Roberts

Date: Wed, 13 Oct 1999 14:21:19 -0700
From: "E. C. White" <ecwhite@home.com>
Reply-To: rdrich@home.com
To:
Subject: monalisiana

I have a small collection of Mona Lisa images and objects which I began around 11 years ago--and have always kept them in the kitchen, of course. The most interesting item in it is a Luxottica poster. The image of Mona Lisa is comparable in size to the original painting but it has been cropped into a bust image (that is--the forearms and hands are left out) and she wears beautiful round tortoise shell glasses frames. The caption beneath, large & printed in white, reads  FRAMED BY LUXOTTICA "Eyeglass frames from Italy"

Another object in my collection which I don't recall as having seen mentioned on your site (but which I am sure is as everpresent as the socks) is a large popcorn can from Bloomingdale's in which a large image of Mona Lisa holding a 'model' of the Bloomingdale building is framed by popcorn.   Another is a decoupaged waste paper container with the image on each of its four faces with gold like gilt in the margins.

Finally like some of your other readers I have a  Mona Lisa Mug (made by the Monaliza company in Korea??) Since she is missing the top of her head, when I don't have flowers for the mug I keep a gigantic pine cone on top.

Ok to quote my e-mail.
Sincerely,
Eileen C. WhitePoway CA   rdrich@home.com

Date 3 Jan 00 075039 PST
From nancy frazier arthistusa@netscape.net
To
Robert

I like your ML site a lot the list is excellent and your article very, very interesting. Do you have a sense of who was actually the first person to raise questions about Mona and her smile? You mention the writer who preceeded Freud (whose name i can't now remember)--do you think he started the whole thing? What a lark the cookie jar is! I love it.

[snip]

Also, you mention your article in Visual Resources. Helene Roberts, the editor, is one of the people whose comments about my art hist dict are quoted on the jacket.

Thank you very much for linking to the book--my first link!![*] I am putting my web page together now, and I'm sure there will be an opportunity to cross reference to your ML info.

So, I'll stay in touch.

Best wishes

Nancy

[* 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.]

From Originaldo@aol.com
Date Wed, 5 Jan 2000 193816 EST
Subject Millenial Greetings from Krause in ST. Louis
To

Robert,

Hope all is well with you as the winds of time blow by. Even though you personally don't take my painting of Anew seriously and have no interest in the opportunity I offered you to help right the course of modern art, I've put a link to your worthy site on mine. et me know if you'll reconsider my invitation to visit Anew, and if the link meets with your approval. It's at ( http://originaldo.com/miscdaniels2.htm )

Take care,

Richard

From: "Pooters8" <pooters8@home.com>
To:
Subject: don't mess with good shit
Date: Fri, 31 Aug 2001 16:33:17 -0600

fucking up the mona lisa is not funny   
if you want to be Duchamp find a toilet seat

Date:         Thu, 11 Jun 1998 19:06:17 -0400
Reply-To: Visual Resources Association <VRA-L@UAFSYSB.UARK.EDU>
Sender: Visual Resources Association <VRA-L@UAFSYSB.UARK.EDU>
From: Jo Schaffer <SCHAFFERJ@SNYCORVA.CORTLAND.EDU>
Subject:      Re: De-stuffification of Slide Libraries -Reply
To: VRA-L@UAFSYSB.UARK.EDU

With apologies to RABaron, 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. Jo Schaffer

Jo Schaffer
Visual Resources Curator
Art & Art History Department
SUNY College at Cortland
Cortland NY 13045
Internet:schafferj@cortland.edu

6/6/2002
from: Emmett Jordan
email: jordan-electron@excite.com
http://communities.msn.com/LadyElginShipwreck
My studies of etymology lead me to think that Leonardo was really painting Elissa, the Queen of Carthage, who's name is related to the Elysian Fields. Hence the name Mon al-lisa, Mon el-lisa. Here is the headdress that Leonardo did not know about, but that archaeologists found, by Emmett Jordan (c)2002.

[Ed. Permission requested to publish the above letter. Permission granted as follows:]

Yes you can use my letter, but refer to the name mon al-issa or mon el-issa in my theory that Mona Lisa is Elissa, Queen of Carthage, where issa is related to the Persian Syrian Phoenician city of Issus. That is the area that migrated to found Carthage, in the 'ships of Tarsus', from the Pillar of Jonah, with the Eleusinian Mysteries of the goddess Demeter.

Barbara J. Feldman
Syndicated Columnist "Surfing the Net with Kids"
http://www.surfnetkids.com
This comprehensive site for fourth- through eighth-graders, created by the Boston Museum of Science, brings Leonardo's work alive through activities. It is divided into four sections: Inventor's Workshop (Leonardo's machines), Leonardo's Perspective (Renaissance drawing techniques), What, Where, When? (a brief bio) and Right to Left (his curious habit of writing in reverse). The online activities include three Shockwave lessons in perspective and the opportunity to decipher one of da Vinci's inventions. Is it a drill, a crane, a wrecking ball? Teachers and home schoolers should read the Introductory Letter for a complete lesson plan. [five star rating = Spectacular!]

Congratulations! "Mona Lisa Images for a Modern World" was reviewed in my "Surfing the Net with Kids" newspaper column on 12/25/2002.  "Surfing the Net with Kids" is syndicated by United Feature Syndicate, and appears in many papers across the U.S.including San Diego Union-Tribune, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and The Boston Globe. 

To find the review in my online archive, look for the Leonardo da Vinci column at: http://www.surfnetkids.com

1/30/2002
from Emily L. Morozek, a student teacher
I am a student teacher at the Elementary, General Music level.  Your web-site was helpful in a lesson about jazz.  I incorporated the Mona Lisa with Nat King Cole's song, "Mona Lisa."
Thank you for taking the time to compile this research.  My students and I appreciate you.

7/19/2001
from a professor of art history:
Thanks for your message about the Monalisiana article. How did you know I assigned it? A web search? I do assume you are joking when you ask me if I realize it's a parody! Of course I realize that; that's why I assign it! I like to think that art history doesn't have to be all gloom and doom. I've assigned it twice now, once here at [...] and once at my previous position at [...], and I must admit the students find it very interesting and are always ready to discuss the issues it raises. I think it works very well on the undergraduate survey level for those reasons. But as a dedicated Monalisiana collector I also find it very entertaining, too! In fact, I should ask you, since it isn't mentioned on your site and I've never been able to track it down otherwise: do you know anything about an exhibit in Munich, in 1991, called Echt Falsch? I think that was the title. I saw it, completely by chance, and it was terrific, with a great number of Mona Lisas and various other images, including a fabulous dollhouse full of Monasby a contemporary artist. I bought the poster, but not the catalogue, but I can't find it in my various boxes (the problems one encounters after too many moves...) so I have no further information. Any ideas?

2/12/03
from Christine L. Sundt
Visual Resources Curator
Architecture & Allied Arts Library
Visual Resources Collection
Lawrence Hall, Room 300
1190 Franklin Boulevard
Eugene, OR 97403-5249 U.S.A.

regarding the Digital Mona Lisa Page
"Robert -- Thanks for sending me back to your site.  I am always amazed at how much Mona has influenced art and  culture.  If there is any argument for why art wants to be/should be free, then here's proof."

2/24/03: From David Kolb, Charles A. Dana Prof. of Philosophy. Bates College.
I'll be using your delightful pages in a class on reference and parody in art, at Bates College in Maine, next week. Thanks for assembling the images; it's a wonderful collection. ...
2/24/03: I can't give you a URL because we put the files in WebCT which is not accessible from outside. Thanks again for your  clever and helpful work!

2/28/03: Hi Robert - I am an elementary Art teacher in Des Moines, Iowa, and I have just completed a Mona Lisa parody project with one of my 5th grade classes. I found your Mona Lisa image collection to be a wonderful source of inspiration for my students. I am attaching a few photos of the 5th graders products. Let me know what you think! ... Thanks for having such a great Mona website! --- Sincerely, --- Kirsten Aschim
[ed: Stay tuned for a page or two of K-12 Mona Lisa Projects.]

3/9/03 Dear Mr. Baron, What a delightful site with a wealth of images and information!  I will be using some of the images provided on your site for Power Point presentations in class when teaching the High Renaissance, and later Dada and Surrealism in a university introductory art history class (University of Cincinnati).  I love to talk about how certain works of art, for better or worse, permeate a cultural consciousness.  Thanks also for your carefully researched information in this wonderfully humorous site.  Thank you.Diane DMankin@cinci.rr.com ( http://oz.uc.edu/~mankinde/  )

  Dear Ms. Carlson: I received notice that  your web-page [once cited] my domain: studiolo.org.I can't find the citation; but, since your topic seems to be correct web citation form, I'd be interested to know what use you made of my work. R.Baron

3/3/03: Letter from Marybeth Carlson,  Associate Professor,  Department of History, University of Dayton. The web page in question was a collection of enrichment resources for students in my undergraduate history research methods seminar in the Fall of 2000. The students in the course were assigned -- among many other things -- a reading on how historians' perceptions of the Renaissance had changed over the decades. Your collection of "Monalisiana" provided a relevant take-off for the ensuing discussion. I provided a link to your web page so that students could take another look at it in writing their reaction papers to the reading. I'm not sure there was much citation involved. ... My thanks to you for your interesting survey.

4/21/03: Letter from Kevin Pease on the interpretation of the "Next" image used in the essay on the "Digital Mona Lisa" Posted with permission of the author.

From: cerulean@spininternet.com 
To: mona-web@studiolo.org 
Date: Mon, 21 Apr 2003 14:32:26 -0400
Subject: Notes on Mona

I feel compelled to point out that you may have missed the thrust of the little illustration you call "Next." The falling tetromino in the upper right indicates that the context is in fact meant to be the game Tetris, seen as played on a low-resolution handheld device. As such, the icons adorning the frame are not indicative of an digital picture album; rather, the arrows are game controls and the word "next" indicates at its right the next shape waiting to fall into the playing field.

At first, the point of this seems vague, and it would seem that the illustrator is making the common crude generalization that video games represent the sum of everything computers do. But, upon reflection, it seems that to see the image being put together like a jigsaw puzzle is appropriate to the article, because that's what the machine is essentially meant to be doing: assembling a replica without adding any creative influence.

On another note, it would be remiss of me to write you without mentioning a close friend of mine, Craig J. Clark, who writes an absurdist comic strip entitled "Dada" ( http://dada.warped.com/  ) in which Mona is one of the main recurring characters, and quite the femme fatale. I think you'll be amused.

Kevin Pease

From: PaulaAbbie@aol.com
Date: Sat, 24 May 2003 01:25:09 EDT
Subject: Student teacher on your site

Hello,
great site, I was hoping to use the images of a modern Mona Lisa in a art resource folio as an activity in changing a popular artists work to a new style of art ie cubism, etc. This enable students to study original and then discuss the elements of visual art in terms of the changed elements (mood)
Thank you
Paula
[Posted with permission of the author.]

From: "Mara Lise Esposito" <maradolphin@hotmail.com>
To: mona-web@studiolo.org
Subject: Great Website!
Date: Fri, 23 May 2003 15:35:25 -0400

Dear Robert,

I am the Curriculum Director for children's art and science classes at Not Just Art, a children's art/music studio and retail store in Oyster Bay, NY.

I teach a class for grades k-2 and 1-3 entitled Seeing Through Artists' Eyes. It introduces young children to master artists, through looking at their works, exploring the media and images they use(d), and lots of silly artist-inspired activities.

Your website is wonderful! I was looking for Mona Lisa innovations to use as the springboard for one of our Leonardo da Vinci projects. I printed out about 20 of the images you had on the website, then photocopied a copy of the original Mona Lisa for each child. After looking at (and laughing at!) the innovated images, I gave the children photocopies and a buffet of art supplies to do whatever they wanted. The results were hilarious!

One 7 year old boy cut out his photocopy Mona Lisa in the shape of a hen, glued feathers on her, added eggs and a yarn nest, and entitled it "Chicken Boy Mona Lisa."

Two 6 year old girls transformed their Mona Lisas into mermaids.

Another 7 year old boy drew his own version of the Mona Lisa as Robin Hood.

Much of the text on your website was a little advanced for my rookie artists, but I was thoroughly impressed by all of it.

If you are ever interested in including children's versions on your website, please let me know. I would be happy to scan some of our students' work and send it along to you.

Thanks for maintaining a great teacher resource online! I was so grateful to discover someone else had done the research and compilation for me!

Sincerely,
Mara Lise Esposito
Not Just Art

Response from Robert Baron:

Dear Mara,

Many thanks for your kind and thoughtful letter and for your report on how my Mona Lisa site is being used by your classes.

I'd be very grateful to have your permission to post your letter in my Readers' comments section of the Mona Lisa website. I hope that your letter (and others like it) might inspire other classes to develop an innovative curriculum around the idea that art comes from art -- just as you did.

I'm glad you mentioned the possibility of posting some of the students' images on the web. I've been thinking of just such a project. The idea does pose some difficulties, however -- mostly legal in nature.

You probably know that every person's work is automatically copyrighted. This applies to the work of children as well as that of accomplished adult artists. In my opinion, in order to post a child's work, I'd need to have permission from the child's parent or legal guardian. I know that this imposes a burden on you, but it is the only way I know to protect oneself from a case of copyright infringement in such cases.

You are probably already comfortable obtaining parental permission for a host of activities. A short permissions statement such as the following should suffice.

====

I/We [name/s of parent or legal guardian], acting in benefit of [name of child], a minor, residing at [address, town, state, zip, phone] grant to Robert A. Baron (who operates a website at http://www.studiolo.org or at  successor or allied addresses) a non-exclusive license to post, publish, or disseminate, by electronic, paper, or other means, the work entitled or identified as [name of work or unique identifier]. This license shall be deemed perpetual until such time that a formal request is made in writing to withdraw such permission. Upon receipt of any request to withdraw the above license, the work will be removed within three months. The above notwithstanding, the licensee may remove the work at any time, for any reason, without explanation or notice. The licensee agrees not to sub-license the work to a third party and may not receive third-party compensation for its use without having first obtained permission of the copyright holder or his/her agent or legal representative.

Except for the right to withdraw permission (see above), no guarantees or considerations are made by either party, and no financial transaction or compensation is required or expected.

=====

That's a lot to consider, I suppose, but, unfortunately, today seems quite necessary.

Hope this works out.
Robert

Date: Sun, 13 Jul 2003 13:13:31 +1000
From: Cathy Surany <csurany@bigpond.net.au>

Hi,
I have a book by Mary Rose Storey published by Harry N. Abrams, Inc N.Y 1980 ISBN0-8109-2194-4

...

I ...  [intend to] use the [Mona Lisa] site for a topic on appropriation for year 9/10 students. Our syllabus is broken up into the 4 frames of subjective, structural, cultural and postmodern and would have to adjust the questions accordingly into those topics. I thought the questions you have are thought provoking.

Thanks, Cathy

Date: Tue, 07 Sep 2004 23:47:29 -0400
Subject: thanks
X-FC-SERVER-TZ: 15729388
To: robert@studiolo.org
From: "Ayres Stiles-Hall" <ash@concordacademy.org>


Hey there, Mr. Baron.


I wanted to drop you a quick note of thanks for posting the image of Marcel
Duchamp's version of the Mona Lisa. I'm teaching a course on Latin American
literature and, in a story by Jorge Luis Borges (called "Pierre Menard,
Author of the Don Quixote"), the idea of doubles is taken up, specifically
with the question of whether it's possible for a derivative work to surpass
an original. A book of criticism I'm using mentioned Duchamp and his work,
and off I went to find an image—and there was your website. So thanks. I
think that, next time I teach the class, I might have the kids take a look at
that image and comment on it in relation to the story, which might lead to
your site being on my syllabus. That won't happen for another two years, but
it's a possibility. Anyway, I'm off to continue working at this point, but I
wanted to send along a thanks. Take care.


Ayres Stiles-Hall
Concord Academy English Department

Date: 11/11/07
Subject: [Pix Photo Gallery among other parts of studiolo.org]
From: Suzaan Boettger, (art historian, author, "Earthworks:  Art and the Landscape of the Sixties"

Robert -- Your web site is great! I looked for the Mona Lisa material,
and found a great many of the photographs you have taken very striking.
What a monumental creation (and amount of work) this web site is!
It is a real contribution to scholars and to appreciators of stimulating, stunning, imagery.
 

Citations & Testimonials
(note: Older links to citations are often dead or have lost their original content.)

found 8/14/01: http://eis.bris.ac.uk/~eexhh/links1.htm "One of the best sites I have ever seen."

found 8/15/01: http://desktoppub.about.com/library/weekly/aa050699.htm?once=true&
from: Desktop Publishing, with  Jacci Howard Bear  Your Guide to One of Over  700 Sites
Illustrate with fine art: Tired of the same old clip art but you want to use something "familiar" to illustrate your next project? Many of da Vinci's most famous paintings and drawings are often used in advertising and other printed works. Perhaps one of the most famous is The Mona Lisa. Robert A. Baron has a wonderful Web site featuring Mona Lisa Images for a Modern World. It's both entertaining and inspirational. From fun facts about how other artists have recreated this famous face to little known "facts" and comments from readers ("Leonardo da Vinci's favorite baked delicacy was the chocolate chip cookie...") you could easily overdose on Mona Lisa.

found 8/29/01: Pennsylvania State University: http://www.courses.psu.edu/arth/arth100_skr10/index.html

found 8/29/01: Biblioteca  de la Facultad de Geografía e Historia: http://www.ucm.es/BUCM/ghi/arte.htm

found 8/29/01: Dumbmonkey: http://dumbmonkey.pitas.com/dm0301.html

found 8/29/01: Friends of Mona: http://www.monalisamania.com/friends.htm

found 8/29/01: The Baglan Information Technology Centre http://www.baglanit.org.uk/clart.htm

found 8/29/01: Thinkquest: http://library.thinkquest.org/13681/data/lillians.htm?tqskip=1

found 8/29/01: PopularSites.com: http://www.popularsites.com/directory/index.cgi/Arts/Art_History/

found 8/29/01: Art History with Michelli: http://www.ariadne.org/studio/michelli/browser2-1.html ("Robert Baron's interesting essay on an image which is too well known, and not well enough understood.")

found 8/29/01: SAPO: http://mundial.sapo.pt/Arts/Art_History/

found 8/29/01: http://www.kazazz.com/cgi-bin/pod.cgi/Arts/Art_History/

found 8/29/01: University of St. Andrews, School of Art History. Resources Page: http://www-ah.st-and.ac.uk/resources/

found 8/29/01: 6. Kunstunterricht mit dem Computer: 6.1 Bildbearbeitung und Zeichnen mit dem Computer. Dies ist eine einzelne Seite ohne Frames aus den "Kunstlinks". Eine Übersicht über die Seiten ohne Frames steht unter: Übersicht, die Gesamtdatei mit allen Wahlmöglichkeiten findet sich unter: www.kunstunterricht.de: http://kunstunterricht.de/noframe/6_1.htm

found 8/29/01: Carboneer College: Course Assignments for Art 1201: Looking at art. http://www.cic.k12.nf.ca/art/index.html

found 8/29/01: Peter Selkin Personal Page, links. http://sorcerer.ucsd.edu/~pselkin/links.html

found 8/29/01: VillageWorld.Com of New York: http://newyork.villageworld.com/Directory/Arts/Art_History/

found 8/29/01: Search Beat: http://www.searchbeat.com/Arts/ArtHistory/

found 8/29/01: WendyWeb, dissertation page: http://www.duke.edu/~wgrobin/appropriate.html ("Mega Monia Mania.")

found 8/29/01: http://www.beebware.com/directory/Arts/Art_History/

found 8/29/01: http://www.oingo.com/topic/4/4845.html

found 8/29/01: Openlaw. Eldred v. Reno: http://eon.law.harvard.edu/openlaw/eldredvreno/examples.html

found 8/29/01: Just Books: "the premier British internet marketplace for used, out-of-print and antiquarian books" (Links to go:) http://justbooks.co.uk.links2go.com

found 8/29/01: http://www.slider.com/Arts/Art_History_4e.htm

found 8/29/01: Boston College: Art on the Web: Renaissance art links: http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/fnart/links/renaissance_links.html

found 8/29/01: Robert A. Baron, "From Romance to Ritual: Mona Lisa Images for the Modern World, " in Visual Resources: http://www.sunsteam.com/search/dir/Arts+and+Culture/Art+History/

found 8/29/01: Ossero Area Schools (Maple Grove, Minnesota): Ms. Piersdorf's page: http://www.osseo.k12.mn.us/bjh/piersdorf.htm

found 8/29/01: Wolfson College, Oxford: Random links to resources with information about Leonardo da Vinci. http://www.wolfson.ox.ac.uk/~mhl/index40.html

found 8/29/01: Art History Webmasters ASSOCIATION des webmestres en histoire de l'art, Research and Communication Tools in Art History: http://www.unites.uqam.ca/AHWA/Signets/Outils.html

found 8/29/01: Wilfred Laurier University (Canada): Favorite Links of the Slide Staff: http://www.wlu.ca/~wwwlib/libinfo/dept/slides.html

found 8/29/01: arabia.com: http://www.arabia.com/search/directory/listing/english/0,6691,11%3b2%3bArts@Art_History%3b45,00.html

found 8/30/01: iper.testi.url.it : http://ipertesi.url.it/singola/singolo3.htm
Divertente, ma anche interessante per indagare i collegamenti fra arte "colta" e cultura popolare, questo sito dedicato al celebre ritratto di Leonardo da Vinci. L'autore, Robert A. Baron, ha raccolto una serie di immagini, dalla Monna Lisa su toast di un artista giapponese a quella trasformata in topo o gorilla, allo scopo di suscitare una discussione allargata. Perché una particolare opera d'arte colpisce così a fondo la fantasia popolare da scatenare la mania dei collezionisti e una grande varietà di riproduzioni, da quelle più "serie" a quelle kitsch? Nel caso della Monna Lisa, ci sono precedenti illustri, a partire da Marchel Duchamp e Salvator Dalì. Il lungo saggio che introduce alla immagini è ben documentato e offre molti spunti di riflessione. Dato che si aggiorna continuamente anche in base ai contributi dei visitatori, il sito è soggetto a frequenti cambiamenti.

found 8/30/01: Deb's Monthly Review June 1999 :THE ARTSY SITE OF THE MONTH: Mona Lisa Images for a Modern World Great fun, but also points out the way art reflects the times in which it is created more than it reflects the subject matter.

found 8/31/01: Persnal page of Carol Lynn Park ( http://www.rap.ucar.edu/staff/park/index.html ) Reproduces some of the Mona Lisa images from Robert Baron's essay. http://www.rap.ucar.edu/staff/park/mona-lisa.htm

found 8/31/01: Reproduces letter by R.Baron on a popular theory re: Leonardo's profile and the Mona Lisa: http://www.monalisaprofile.com/vizbook/vizbook.htm

found 8/31/01: Mona Lisa or a Giocondaphiliac's Delight
Mona Lisa ohne Ende: Was man dem armen Bild alles antut! Als Anregung oder als Abschreckung. KOMMENTAR: In unendlichen langen Texten und Linklisten (eine Zumutung, diese am Bildschirm zu lesen) findet sich als Belohnung immens viel Material für Unterricht zum Thema "Kitsch und Kunst". Mona Lisa in der Kunst von Dali bis Warhol, als Merchandising-Artikel, in allen erdenklichen Kitsch-Artikeln, als Video, Grafik und Gemälde. Eine unerschöpfliche Quelle, für jeden der es gebrauchen kann oder nur Spaß daran hat.eingetragen 19. August 1999
http://www.kunstunterricht.de/cgi-bin/seiten.pl?Seite=6.1

found 8/31/01: Site with text re: monalisiana and a number of images from Robert Baron's site: http://www.stanford.edu/~sdonatel/

found 8/31/01: Unifersity of Texas of the Permian Basin. Syllabus for Art 1301. Chris Stanley, instructor. Robert Baron's site used within lesson plan. http://www.utpb.edu/courses/arts1301/Units/Unit01.htm

found 8/31/01: Georgia State University site: Essay by Dr. Tina Yarborough, Asst. Professor of Art History & Interdisciplinary Studies, Georgia College & State University: http://www.faculty.de.gcsu.edu/~dvess/ids/fap/mona.htm (...mona2.htm etc. through ...mona7.htm)

found 8/31/01: http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~eliason/ahgttm3ren.htm The Art Historian's Guide to the Movies.

found 8/31/01: Columbia University. Problems in the History of Art, Summer 2001. Instructor: Ethan Robey, Email: eer1@columbia.edu
http://www.columbia.edu/~eer1/summer.html

found 8/31/01: cited in: http://originaldo.com/miscdaniels2a.htm

found 8/31/01: cited in http://baserv.uci.kun.nl/~ccuypers/bookmarks.htm

found 8/31/01: cited in http://www.dhis.uevora.pt/enderecos.htm

found 8/31/01: cited in Your Art Links: http://yourartlinks.com/links/misc.html

found 9/5/01: http://www2.wcoil.com/~mdecker/renaiss.htm

found 9/7/01: http://www.mikesmaze.com/about-mona.html

found 9/7/01: http://www.crosswinds.net/~phreddyboy/frame/lisa.html

found 9/7/01: University of North Florida: http://www.unf.edu/classes/freshmancore/halsall/core1-21.htm

found 6/2/03: Visit Robert Baron's remarkable collection of "monalisiana," Mona Lisa: Images for a Modern World. Damian Judge Rollison (djr4r@virginia.edu), Department of English, 219 Bryan Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22904-4121. http://www.people.virginia.edu/~djr4r/monalisa.html