Louvre: The Mona Lisa Is Deteriorating

AP ^ | April 26, 2004

[presidio9]

The Mona Lisa (search), Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece of a mysterious woman with a slight smile, is deteriorating, and the Louvre Museum (search) said Monday it will conduct an in-depth technical study to determine why.

The thin panel of poplar wood that the work is painted on has become deformed since conservation experts last evaluated the painting, the Louvre said in a written statement. It did not say when the last evaluation was.

The Louvre said the condition of the Mona Lisa was causing "some worry" and that a new study on the state of the work has been launched.

The study, to be conducted by the Center for Research and Restoration of Museums of France, is to better determine what materials the painting is made of and evaluate the painting's special vulnerability to climate changes.

[dstarr]

I agree with those who weren't very impressed with Mona. I saw her years ago. Back in the 70s I think. The Da Vinci painting that I always did like was hanging next to her. It's the Virgin and Child with St. Ann.

[fight_truth_decay]

"La Gioconda," the half-smiling Mona Lisa, is written as such.

Officially known as La Gioconda, this Mona was donated to the Portland Museum by Reichhold in '82 unsigned and unlisted in the known works of Da Vinci. It was on public view about 10 years ago then went to the basement archives til recently when the Italian Renaissance art scholar O'Grady of the Birmingham Ala.,Museum of Art came to Portland to give a lecture. Thus they dusted it off and brought it back out.

Experts have studied the La Gioconda putting it through tests ranging from X-rays to ultraviolet scanning. The work has been dated to before 1510.

La Gioconda was painted by a lefty..and Da Vinci was left handed. The background is predominantly blues with black and browns for her cloak. The same face but slightly younger and more attractive. The Museum has members willing to fund additional research in Italy to track down La Gioconda's true provenance.If this is an original Da Vinci, it would be worth millions of dollars.

Source: Down East publication, March 2004, entitled: Portland Celebrity, pg. 12

[xp38]

Maybe but I can't help thinking perhaps the heat wave France experienced where thousands of elderly people died may have helped in the warping of the wood the Mona Lisa was painted on. The Louvre is surely climate controlled no? I visited in 1995 but it wasn't hot when I went.

[presidio9]

I did some web research: "The original "Mona Lisa" is generally believed to be a portrait of Lisa, Francesco del Giocondo's 30-year old wife. ("Mona," or "M'lady," was title of respect in 16th century Florence.) In fact, the painting is known in Europe as "La Gioconda" or the "merry one," a play-on-words involving her last name and her smile."

[presidio9]

[FreedomCalls]

"Given the ... variability of the atmosphere in Paris ... the painting is in pretty good shape."

Imagine the effects of the smoke from all those Gauloises cigarettes..., yuck.

[NativeNewYorker]

I'd seen it once before when it was in NYC on tour when I was a child. I recall THEN being surprised at how small it was.

[fight_truth_decay]

Sorry, can not provide a photo of the Portland Museum of Art, La Gioconda...for the comparison. Have searched!

[Conservative4Ever]

I agree it is a remarkable painting, and DaVinci did have a genius for many concepts. He deserves much of the credit. But I still think Vermeer's painting is lovelier. I have an Alexander Cooper painting hanging in my living room I call 'The Blind Flowergirl' 1889. It is beautiful, maybe not by modern standards, but I think she is lovely too.

Red

[Cacique]

Europe should all be leveled to the ground and rebuilt from scratch. I am a firm believer that nothing over 100 years old should be left standing. The problem with the Euroweenies is that they live in the past. Their sentimental attachment to the past is obnoxious. Old Europe will continue to slide into the fourteenth century as long as they hang on to their worthless history. Those who came to America looked forward and never looked back. Europeans haven't invented or developed anything worth mentioning throughout most of the nineteenth or twentieth century except starting two world wars and making genocide efficient. And of course we have them to thank for socialism and communism.

[SunkenCiv]

Note: this topic is from 04/26/2004 . Thanks presidio9.