[presidio9]

[Junior]

Maybe it'll just fade, like the Cheshire Cat, until there's nothing left but the enigmatic smile...

[Savage Beast]

So what? When the Muslims take over France they're going to paint a burqa over everything but the background.

BTW, do you suppose they'll put burqas on the Venus de Milo and the Victory of Samothrace, or will they just blow them up?

Come to think of it, maybe they'll blow up Mona too.

[Taliesan]

Da Vinci had such a mania for innovation that he often used techniques on permanent works that were yet to be proved reliable. Many Renaissance frescoes remain in good shape, but the surface of the Last Supper is half gone.

[Mike Bates]

The Mona Lisa Is Deteriorating

And how.

[sonserae]

I was in France last year and saw it again. Although it is behind a glass case, they still allow flash photography of the painting which is known to deteriorate and accellerate the aging process.

There are much better paintings in Le Louvre. Being a painter myself, I've always been baffled as to what becomes a "famous" painting or not. It's not usually the talent of the artist but maybe the reputation...one will never really know.

[theFIRMbss]

>Mona Lisa

I think Ginerva
is much more cool, and the Girl
with Ferret, weirder . . .

[hosepipe]

Mona Lisa could be a drag queen.. probably is. whatever it was called in those days. Looks like a man with a womans body. Maybe thats why the grin/smirk.. ugh!. And whats whats up that middle finger thing on her/his arm..

[UnbelievingScumOnTheOtherSide]

the painting's special vulnerability to climate changes.

Yes, definitely global warming. She's melting.

[AxelPaulsenJr]

I think the real reason for the deterioration is that Mona just found out that Ozzy Osborne says that the use of pot caused his son Jack to be a user of harder more addictive drugs.

[southernnorthcarolina]

I saw the Mona Lisa three or four days after "9/11," and I can honestly say I've never been so underwhelmed by a piece of art in my life.

We had been on our then-annual family trip, that year to Provence (my only, and I promise, my last, trip to France). We were due to fly back to the States on 9/12, but the terrorist attacks shut down trans-Atlantic flights, so we flew from Marseilles to Paris to wait for resumption of air service.

We stayed in a hotel within walking distance of the Louvre, and did a lot of museum time. Much of it, to me, was fascinating. Though I can't say I know much about art, I'm not one who looks upon it with disdain. Some of the tapestries in particular (to name one of thousands of examples) were majestic in their beauty, craftsmanship, and size. But the Mona? Sorry, but *yawn*. Maybe it was just the Carolina redneck coming out in me, but I just didn't "get it." Of course, the fact that it was behind glass, in its own very dimly lit room (its faded colors the worse for the low lighting level), and viewable only after a 20-30 minute wait in line didn't help.

I wonder if da Vinci considered the Mona Lisa as his masterpiece when he painted it, or whether it was just "Painting 179" to him? To me, it wasn't in the Top 100 of the Louvre's attractions. I'll take a Renoir any time.

[Conservative4Ever]

IMHO..the painting "Girl in the Pearl Earring" by Vermeer is far lovelier.

Red

[brewcrew]

My bride and I got to see the Mona Lisa in 1989. It was encased in a huge bullet-proof glass thingy. One of my favorite pictures from that trip was the shot my wife got of all the Japanese tourists standing on tip toes taking pictures of the Mona Lisa.

[Conservomax]

It's the damn Opus Dei - curse them to hell!

[Joe_October]

I enjoyed seeing Napolean's hat. I don't understand why people don't just buy a post card.

[fight_truth_decay]

PORTLAND MUSEUM OF ART might have their own Mona Lisa, attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, which is on view for the first time in almost a decade through March 28. This enigmatic painting, officially entitled La Gioconda, is thought to be either a preparatory study for the Mona Lisa by Leonardo himself or a copy painted by one of his followers shortly after the creation of the original, which now resides in the Louvre Museum in Paris.

The painting was given to the Museum in 1983 by Henry H. Reichhold, a summer resident of Prouts Neck, who purchased the work in the 1960s after the death of its European owner. Subsequently, La Gioconda was analyzed at the Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies at Harvard University. Conservators determined that the painting was executed before 1510, but they were unable to confirm or refute Leonardo’s hand in its creation.

Unlike a true copy, the Museum’s Mona Lisa differs from the original in size, composition of background landscape, and, most notably, the absence of the enigmatic smile–details which suggest an early study rather than a simple reproduction. Regardless of the true authorship of the painting, La Gioconda brings into sharp focus the kinds of problems facing conservators and art historians today, and it is a compelling work of undeniable artistic quality on its own.

Source: Portland Maine Museum of Art at (207) 775-6148 ext. 3227.http://www.portlandmuseum.org/Da%20Vinci.htm

[Timeout]

What's she smiling at?

[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.