Giacobbe Giusti, LEONARDO DA VINCI: MONA LISA

Giacobbe Giusti, LEONARDO DA VINCI: MONA LISA

 

Giacobbe Giusti, LEONARDO DA VINCI: MONA LISA

 

 

Giacobbe Giusti, LEONARDO DA VINCI: MONA LISA

detail background left

 

Giacobbe Giusti, LEONARDO DA VINCI: MONA LISA

Mona Lisa detail background right.

Giacobbe Giusti, LEONARDO DA VINCI: MONA LISA

The Mona Lisa on display in the Uffizi Gallery, in Florence, 1913. Museum director Giovanni Poggi (right) inspects the painting.

The Mona Lisa on display in the Uffizi Gallery, in Florence (Italy). Museum director Giovanni Poggi (right) inspects the painting. The masterpiece would be latter returned to Museum of Louvre where it had been stolen from.

 

Giacobbe Giusti, LEONARDO DA VINCI: MONA LISA

 

Giacobbe Giusti, LEONARDO DA VINCI: MONA LISA

The Mona Lisa‘s vacant place in the Salon Carré, Louvre Museum, after having been stolen in 1911. Above the vacant wall space is Veronese‘s The Feast at the House of Simon (now in the Museum of Château de Versailles), on one side, Titian‘s Allegory painted for Alfonso d’Avalos, and on the other Correggio‘s ‘Betrothal of St. Catharine [Catherine] of Alexandria

 

Giacobbe Giusti, LEONARDO DA VINCI: MONA LISA

Monna Lisa in Italia a Firenze nel 1913 dopo il furto

Giacobbe Giusti, LEONARDO DA VINCI: MONA LISA

Excelsior, La Joconde est Revenue (The Mona Lisa has returned), 1 January 1914

 

Giacobbe Giusti, LEONARDO DA VINCI: MONA LISA

 

Giacobbe Giusti, LEONARDO DA VINCI: MONA LISA

Presumed self-portrait by Leonardo da Vinci, executed in red chalk sometime between 1512 and 1515

 

Giacobbe Giusti, LEONARDO DA VINCI: MONA LISA

Raffaello Sanzio – Portrait of a Woman

Raphael’s drawing, based on the portrait of Mona Lisa

 

Giacobbe Giusti, LEONARDO DA VINCI: MONA LISA

Raphael’s Young Woman with Unicorn, (c. 1506)

 

Giacobbe Giusti, LEONARDO DA VINCI: MONA LISA

US President John F. Kennedy, Madeleine Malraux, André Malraux, Jacqueline Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson at the unveiling of the Mona Lisa at the National Gallery of Art during its visit to Washington D.C., 8 January 1963

 

Giacobbe Giusti, LEONARDO DA VINCI: MONA LISA

 

Jean Metzinger, 1911, Le goûter (Tea Time), oil on canvas, 75.9 x 70.2 cm, Philadelphia Museum of Art

 

Giacobbe Giusti, LEONARDO DA VINCI: MONA LISA

Perspective Mona Lisa to the Prado museum

 

Giacobbe Giusti, LEONARDO DA VINCI: MONA LISA

Perspective Mona Lisa to the Louvre museum

Giacobbe Giusti, LEONARDO DA VINCI: MONA LISA

Copy of Mona Lisa commonly attributed to Salaì

Giacobbe Giusti, LEONARDO DA VINCI: MONA LISA

The Prado Museum La Gioconda

 

Giacobbe Giusti, LEONARDO DA VINCI: MONA LISA

 

The Isleworth Mona Lisa

 

 

Mona Lisa
Italian: La Gioconda, French: La Joconde Giacobbe Giusti, LEONARDO DA VINCI: MONA LISA
Artist	Leonardo da Vinci
Year	c. 1503–06, perhaps continuing until c.1517
Medium	Oil on poplar panel
Subject	Lisa Gherardini
Dimensions	77 cm × 53 cm (30 in × 21 in)
Location	Musée du Louvre, Paris

The Mona Lisa(/ˌmoʊnə ˈliːsə/; Italian: Monna Lisa [ˈmɔnna ˈliːza] or La Gioconda [la dʒoˈkonda], French: La Joconde [la ʒɔkɔ̃d]) is a half-length portrait painting by the Italian Renaissanceartist Leonardo da Vinci that has been described as « the best known, the most visited, the most written about, the most sung about, the most parodied work of art in the world ».^[1] The Mona Lisa is also one of the most valuable paintings in the world. It holds the Guinness World Record for the highest known insurance valuation in history at $100 million in 1962,^[2]which is worth nearly $820 million in 2018.^[3]

The painting is thought to be a portrait of Lisa Gherardini, the wife of Francesco del Giocondo, and is in oil on a white Lombardy poplarpanel. It had been believed to have been painted between 1503 and 1506; however, Leonardo may have continued working on it as late as 1517. Recent academic work suggests that it would not have been started before 1513.^[4][5][6][7] It was acquired by King Francis I of France and is now the property of the French Republic, on permanent display at the Louvre Museum in Paris since 1797.^[8]

The subject’s expression, which is frequently described as enigmatic,^[9] the monumentality of the composition, the subtle modelling of forms, and the atmospheric illusionism were novel qualities that have contributed to the continuing fascination and study of the work.^[10]

Title and subject

Main article: Lisa del Giocondo

The title of the painting, which is known in English as Mona Lisa, comes from a description by Renaissance art historian Giorgio Vasari, who wrote « Leonardo undertook to paint, for Francesco del Giocondo, the portrait of Mona Lisa, his wife. »^[11][12] Mona in Italian is a polite form of address originating as « ma donna » – similar to « Ma’am », « Madam », or « my lady » in English. This became « madonna« , and its contraction « mona ». The title of the painting, though traditionally spelled « Mona » (as used by Vasari^[11]), is also commonly spelled in modern Italian as Monna Lisa (« mona » being a vulgarity in some Italian dialects), but this is rare in English.^{[citation needed]}

Vasari’s account of the Mona Lisa comes from his biography of Leonardo published in 1550, 31 years after the artist’s death. It has long been the best-known source of information on the provenance of the work and identity of the sitter. Leonardo’s assistant Salaì, at his death in 1524, owned a portrait which in his personal papers was named la Gioconda, a painting bequeathed to him by Leonardo.

That Leonardo painted such a work, and its date, were confirmed in 2005 when a scholar at Heidelberg University discovered a marginal note in a 1477 printing of a volume written by the ancient Romanphilosopher Cicero. Dated October 1503, the note was written by Leonardo’s contemporary Agostino Vespucci. This note likens Leonardo to renowned Greek painter Apelles, who is mentioned in the text, and states that Leonardo was at that time working on a painting of Lisa del Giocondo.^[13]

In response to the announcement of the discovery of this document, Vincent Delieuvin, the Louvre representative, stated « Leonardo da Vinci was painting, in 1503, the portrait of a Florentine lady by the name of Lisa del Giocondo. About this we are now certain. Unfortunately, we cannot be absolutely certain that this portrait of Lisa del Giocondo is the painting of the Louvre. »^[14]

A margin note by Agostino Vespucci (visible at right) discovered in a book at Heidelberg University. Dated 1503, it states that Leonardo was working on a portrait of Lisa del Giocondo.

The model, Lisa del Giocondo,^[15][16] was a member of the Gherardini family of Florence and Tuscany, and the wife of wealthy Florentine silk merchant Francesco del Giocondo.^[17] The painting is thought to have been commissioned for their new home, and to celebrate the birth of their second son, Andrea.^[18] The Italian name for the painting, La Gioconda, means « jocund » (« happy » or « jovial ») or, literally, « the jocund one », a pun on the feminine form of Lisa’s married name, « Giocondo ».^[17][19] In French, the title La Joconde has the same meaning.

Before that discovery, scholars had developed several alternative views as to the subject of the painting. Some argued that Lisa del Giocondo was the subject of a different portrait, identifying at least four other paintings as the Mona Lisa referred to by Vasari.^[20][21] Several other women have been proposed as the subject of the painting.^[22]Isabella of Aragon,^[23] Cecilia Gallerani,^[24] Costanza d’Avalos, Duchess of Francavilla,^[22] Isabella d’Este, Pacifica Brandano or Brandino, Isabela Gualanda, Caterina Sforza—even Salaì and Leonardo himself—are all among the list of posited models portrayed in the painting.^[25][26] The consensus of art historians in the 21st century maintains the long-held traditional opinion, that the painting depicts Lisa del Giocondo.^[13]

History

 Leonardo da Vinci

Presumed self-portrait by Leonardo da Vinci, executed in red chalk sometime between 1512 and 1515

Leonardo da Vinci is thought by some to have begun painting the Mona Lisain 1503 or 1504 in Florence, Italy.^[27]Although the Louvre states that it was « doubtless painted between 1503 and 1506 »,^[10] the art historian Martin Kemp says there are some difficulties in confirming the actual dates with certainty.^[17] In addition, many Leonardo experts, such as Carlo Pedretti ^[4] and Alessandro Vezzosi,^[5]are of the opinion that the painting is characteristic of Leonardo’s style in the final years of his life, post-1513. Other academics argue that, given the historical documentation, Leonardo would have painted the work from 1513.^[7] According to Leonardo’s contemporary, Giorgio Vasari, « after he had lingered over it four years, [he] left it unfinished ».^[12] Leonardo, later in his life, is said to have regretted « never having completed a single work ».^[28]

Raphael’s drawing, based on the portrait of Mona Lisa

Circa 1504, Raphael executed a pen and ink sketch, today in the Louvre museum, in which the subject is flanked by large columns. Experts universally agree it is based on Leonardo’s portrait of Mona Lisa.^{[29][30][6][31]} Other later copies of the Mona Lisa, such as those in the National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design in Oslo and The Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, also display large flanking columns. As a result, it was originally thought that the Mona Lisa in the Louvre had side columns and had been cut.^{[32][33][4][34][35]} However, as early as 1993, Zöllner observed that the painting surface had never been trimmed.^[36] This was confirmed through a series of tests conducted in 2004.^[37] In view of this, Vincent Delieuvin, curator of 16th-century Italian painting at the Louvre museum states that the sketch and these other copies must have been inspired by another version,^[38] while Frank Zöllner states that the sketch brings up the possibility that Leonardo executed another work on the subject of Mona Lisa.^[36]

It is unclear as to who commissioned the painting. Vasari states that the work was painted for Francesco del Giocondo, the husband of Lisa del Giocondo.^[39] However, Antonio de Beatis, following a visit with Leonardo in 1517, records that the painting was executed at the instance of Giuliano di Lorenzo de’ Medici.^[40]

In 1516, Leonardo was invited by King François I to work at the Clos Lucé near the king’s castle in Amboise. It is believed that he took the Mona Lisa with him and continued to work after he moved to France.^[25] Art historian Carmen C. Bambach has concluded that Leonardo probably continued refining the work until 1516 or 1517.^[41]

The fate of the painting around Leonardo’s death and just after it has divided academic opinion. Some, such as Kemp, believe that upon Leonardo’s death, the painting was inherited with other works by his pupil and assistant Salaì and was still in the latter’s possession in 1525.^[17][42] Others believe that the painting was sold to Francis I by Salaì, together with The Virgin and Child with St. Anne and the St. John the Baptist in 1518.^[43] The Louvre Museum lists the painting as having entered the Royal collection in 1518.^[44]

Given the issue surrounding the dating of the painting, the presence of the flanking columns in the Raphael sketch, the uncertainty concerning the person who commissioned it and its fate around the time of Leonardo’s death, a number of experts have argued that Leonardo painted two versions of the Mona Lisa.^[31][6][45] The first would have been commissioned by Francesco del Giocondo circa 1503, had flanking columns, have been left unfinished and have been in Salaì’s possession in 1525. The second, commissioned by Giuliano de’ Medici circa 1513, without the flanking columns, would have been sold by Salaì to Francis I in 1518 and be the one in the Louvre today.^[31][6][45]

The painting was kept at the Palace of Fontainebleau, where it remained until Louis XIV moved the painting to the Palace of Versailles. After the French Revolution, it was moved to the Louvre, but spent a brief period in the bedroom of Napoleon in the Tuileries Palace.

During the Franco-Prussian War (1870–71) it was moved from the Louvre to the Brest Arsenal.^[46] During World War II, Mona Lisa was again removed from the Louvre and taken safely, first to Château d’Amboise, then to the Loc-Dieu Abbey and Château de Chambord, then finally to the Ingres Museum in Montauban.

In December 2015, it was reported that French scientist Pascal Cotte had found a hidden portrait underneath the surface of the painting using reflective light technology.^[47] The portrait is an underlying image of a model looking off to the side.^[48] Having been given access to the painting by Louvre in 2004, Cotte spent ten years using layer amplification methods to study the painting.^[47] According to Cotte, the underlying image is Leonardo’s original Mona Lisa.^[47][49]

However, this portrait does not fit with the description of the painting in the historical records: Both Vasari^[11] and Gian Paolo Lomazzo^[50]describe the subject as smiling; the subject in Cotte’s portrait displays no smile. In addition, the portrait lacks the flanking columns drawn by Raphael in his c.1504 sketch of Mona Lisa. Moreover, Cotte admits that his reconstitution had been carried out only in support of his hypotheses and should not be considered a real painting; he stresses that the images never existed.^[51] Kemp is also adamant that Cotte’s images in no way establish the existence of a separate underlying portrait.^[42]

Theft and vandalism

« La Joconde est Retrouvée » (« Mona Lisa is Found »), Le Petit Parisien, 13 December 1913

Vacant wall in the Salon Carré, Louvre after the painting was stolen in 1911

On 21 August 1911, the painting was stolen from the Louvre.^[52] The theft was first noticed the next day, by painter Louis Béroud. After some confusion as to whether the painting was being photographed somewhere, the Louvre was closed for a week for investigation.

The Mona Lisa on display in the Uffizi Gallery, in Florence, 1913. Museum director Giovanni Poggi (right) inspects the painting.

Excelsior, La Joconde est Revenue(The Mona Lisa has returned), 1 January 1914

French poet Guillaume Apollinaire came under suspicion and was arrested and imprisoned. Apollinaire implicated his friend Pablo Picasso, who was brought in for questioning. Both were later exonerated.^[53][54] Two years later the thief revealed himself. Louvre employee Vincenzo Peruggia had stolen the Mona Lisa by entering the building during regular hours, hiding in a broom closet, and walking out with it hidden under his coat after the museum had closed.^[19]Peruggia was an Italian patriot who believed Leonardo’s painting should have been returned for display in an Italian museum.

Peruggia may have been motivated by an associate whose copies of the original would significantly rise in value after the painting’s theft. A later account suggested Eduardo de Valfierno had been the mastermind of the theft and had commissioned forger Yves Chaudron to create six copies of the painting to sell in the U.S.while the location of the original was unclear.^[55]However, the original painting remained in Europe. After having kept the Mona Lisa in his apartment for two years, Peruggia grew impatient and was caught when he attempted to sell it to directors of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. It was exhibited in the Uffizi Gallery for over two weeks and returned to the Louvre on 4 January 1914.^[56]Peruggia served six months in prison for the crime and was hailed for his patriotism in Italy.^[54]

Before its 1911 theft, the Mona Lisa was not widely known outside the art world. It was not until the 1860s that some critics, a thin slice of the French intelligentsia, began to hail it as a masterwork of Renaissance painting.^[57]Even in 1911, it was not popular among the lay public before the theft.^[58]

In 1956, part of the painting was damaged when a vandal threw acid at it.^[59] On 30 December of that year, a rock was thrown at the painting, dislodging a speck of pigment near the left elbow, later restored.^[60]

The use of bulletproof glass has shielded the Mona Lisa from subsequent attacks. In April 1974, while the painting was on display at the Tokyo National Museum, a woman sprayed it with red paint as a protest against that museum’s failure to provide access for disabled people.^[61] On 2 August 2009, a Russian woman, distraught over being denied French citizenship, threw a ceramic teacup purchased at the Louvre; the vessel shattered against the glass enclosure.^[62][63] In both cases, the painting was undamaged.

Aesthetics

Giacobbe Giusti, LEONARDO DA VINCI: MONA LISA

Detail of the background (right side)

The Mona Lisa bears a strong resemblance to many Renaissance depictions of the Virgin Mary, who was at that time seen as an ideal for womanhood.^[64]

The depiction of the sitter in three-quarter profile is similar to late 15th-century works by Lorenzo di Credi and Agnolo di Domenico del Mazziere.^[64]Zöllner notes that the sitter’s general position can be traced back to Flemishmodels and that « in particular the vertical slices of columns at both sides of the panel had precedents in Flemish portraiture. »^[65] Woods-Marsden cites Hans Memling’s portrait of Benedetto Portinari (1487) or Italian imitations such as Sebastiano Mainardi’s pendant portraits for the use of a loggia, which has the effect of mediating between the sitter and the distant landscape, a feature missing from Leonardo’s earlier portrait of Ginevra de’ Benci.^[66]

The woman sits markedly upright in a « pozzetto » armchair with her arms folded, a sign of her reserved posture. Her gaze is fixed on the observer. The woman appears alive to an unusual extent, which Leonardo achieved by his method of not drawing outlines (sfumato). The soft blending creates an ambiguous mood « mainly in two features: the corners of the mouth, and the corners of the eyes ».^[67]

Giacobbe Giusti, LEONARDO DA VINCI: MONA LISA

Detail of Lisa’s hands, her right hand resting on her left. Leonardo chose this gesture rather than a wedding ring to depict Lisa as a virtuous woman and faithful wife.^[68]

The painting was one of the first portraits to depict the sitter in front of an imaginary landscape, and Leonardo was one of the first painters to use aerial perspective.^[69] The enigmatic woman is portrayed seated in what appears to be an open loggia with dark pillar bases on either side. Behind her, a vast landscape recedes to icy mountains. Winding paths and a distant bridge give only the slightest indications of human presence. Leonardo has chosen to place the horizon line not at the neck, as he did with Ginevra de’ Benci, but on a level with the eyes, thus linking the figure with the landscape and emphasizing the mysterious nature of the painting.^[66]

Mona Lisa has no clearly visible eyebrows or eyelashes. Some researchers claim that it was common at this time for genteel women to pluck these hairs, as they were considered unsightly.^[70][71] In 2007, French engineer Pascal Cotte announced that his ultra-high resolution scans of the painting provide evidence that Mona Lisa was originally painted with eyelashes and with visible eyebrows, but that these had gradually disappeared over time, perhaps as a result of overcleaning.^[72] Cotte discovered the painting had been reworked several times, with changes made to the size of the Mona Lisa’s face and the direction of her gaze. He also found that in one layer the subject was depicted wearing numerous hairpins and a headdress adorned with pearls which was later scrubbed out and overpainted.^[73]

There has been much speculation regarding the painting’s model and landscape. For example, Leonardo probably painted his model faithfully since her beauty is not seen as being among the best, « even when measured by late quattrocento (15th century) or even twenty-first century standards. »^[74] Some art historians in Eastern art, such as Yukio Yashiro, argue that the landscape in the background of the picture was influenced by Chinese paintings,^[75] but this thesis has been contested for lack of clear evidence.^[75]

Research in 2003 by Professor Margaret Livingstone of Harvard University said that Mona Lisa’s smile disappears when observed with direct vision, known as foveal. Because of the way the human eye processes visual information, it is less suited to pick up shadows directly; however, peripheral vision can pick up shadows well.^[76]

Research in 2008 by a geomorphology professor at Urbino Universityand an artist-photographer revealed likenesses of Mona Lisa‘s landscapes to some views in the Montefeltro region in the Italian provinces of Pesaro and Urbino, and Rimini.^[77][78]

Conservation

The Mona Lisa has survived for more than 500 years, and an international commission convened in 1952 noted that « the picture is in a remarkable state of preservation. »^[37] This is partly due to a variety of conservation treatments the painting has undergone. A detailed analysis in 1933 by Madame de Gironde revealed that earlier restorers had « acted with a great deal of restraint. »^[37] Nevertheless, applications of varnish made to the painting had darkened even by the end of the 16th century, and an aggressive 1809 cleaning and revarnishing removed some of the uppermost portion of the paint layer, resulting in a washed-out appearance to the face of the figure. Despite the treatments, the Mona Lisa has been well cared for throughout its history, and although the panel’s warping caused the curators « some worry »,^[79] the 2004–05 conservation team was optimistic about the future of the work.^[37]

Poplar panel

At some point, the Mona Lisa was removed from its original frame. The unconstrained poplar panel warped freely with changes in humidity, and as a result, a crack developed near the top of the panel, extending down to the hairline of the figure. In the mid-18th century to early 19th century, two butterfly-shaped walnut braces were inserted into the back of the panel to a depth of about one third the thickness of the panel. This intervention was skilfully executed, and successfully stabilized the crack. Sometime between 1888 and 1905, or perhaps during the picture’s theft, the upper brace fell out. A later restorer glued and lined the resulting socket and crack with cloth.^{[citation needed]}

The picture is kept under strict, climate-controlled conditions in its bulletproof glass case. The humidity is maintained at 50% ±10%, and the temperature is maintained between 18 and 21 °C. To compensate for fluctuations in relative humidity, the case is supplemented with a bed of silica gel treated to provide 55% relative humidity.^[37]

Frame

Because the Mona Lisa‘s poplar support expands and contracts with changes in humidity, the picture has experienced some warping. In response to warping and swelling experienced during its storage during World War II, and to prepare the picture for an exhibit to honour the anniversary of Leonardo’s 500th birthday, the Mona Lisa was fitted in 1951 with a flexible oak frame with beech crosspieces. This flexible frame, which is used in addition to the decorative frame described below, exerts pressure on the panel to keep it from warping further. In 1970, the beech crosspieces were switched to maple after it was found that the beechwood had been infested with insects. In 2004–05, a conservation and study team replaced the maple crosspieces with sycamore ones, and an additional metal crosspiece was added for scientific measurement of the panel’s warp.^{[citation needed]}

The Mona Lisa has had many different decorative frames in its history, owing to changes in taste over the centuries. In 1909, the Comtesse de Béhague gave the portrait its current frame,^[80] a Renaissance-era work consistent with the historical period of the Mona Lisa. The edges of the painting have been trimmed at least once in its history to fit the picture into various frames, but no part of the original paint layer has been trimmed.^[37]

Cleaning and touch-up

The first and most extensive recorded cleaning, revarnishing, and touch-up of the Mona Lisa was an 1809 wash and revarnishing undertaken by Jean-Marie Hooghstoel, who was responsible for restoration of paintings for the galleries of the Musée Napoléon. The work involved cleaning with spirits, touch-up of colour, and revarnishing the painting. In 1906, Louvre restorer Eugène Denizard performed watercolour retouches on areas of the paint layer disturbed by the crack in the panel. Denizard also retouched the edges of the picture with varnish, to mask areas that had been covered initially by an older frame. In 1913, when the painting was recovered after its theft, Denizard was again called upon to work on the Mona Lisa. Denizard was directed to clean the picture without solvent, and to lightly touch up several scratches to the painting with watercolour. In 1952, the varnish layer over the background in the painting was evened out. After the second 1956 attack, restorer Jean-Gabriel Goulinat was directed to touch up the damage to Mona Lisa‘s left elbow with watercolour.^[37]

In 1977, a new insect infestation was discovered in the back of the panel as a result of crosspieces installed to keep the painting from warping. This was treated on the spot with carbon tetrachloride, and later with an ethylene oxide treatment. In 1985, the spot was again treated with carbon tetrachloride as a preventive measure.^[37]

Display

Mona Lisa behind bulletproof glassat the Louvre Museum

On 6 April 2005—following a period of curatorial maintenance, recording, and analysis—the painting was moved to a new location within the museum’s Salle des États. It is displayed in a purpose-built, climate-controlled enclosure behind bulletproof glass.^[81] Since 2005 the painting has been illuminated by an LED lamp, and in 2013 a new 20 watt LED lamp was installed, specially designed for this painting. The lamp has a colour rendering index up to 98, and minimizes infrared and ultravioletradiation which could otherwise degrade the painting.^[82] The renovation of the gallery where the painting now resides was financed by the Japanese broadcaster Nippon Television.^[83] About 6 million people view the painting at the Louvre each year.^[25]

Fame

Giacobbe Giusti, LEONARDO DA VINCI: MONA LISA

2014: Mona Lisa is among the greatest attractions in the Louvre.

Today the Mona Lisa is considered the most famous painting in the world, but until the 20th century it was simply one among many highly regarded artworks.^[84]Once part of King Francis I of France‘s collection, the Mona Lisa was among the first artworks to be exhibited in Louvre, which became a national museum after the French Revolution. From the 19th century Leonardo began to be revered as a genius and the painting’s popularity grew from the mid-19th century when French intelligentsia developed a theme that it was mysterious and a representation of the femme fatale.^[85] The Baedeker guide in 1878 called it « the most celebrated work of Leonardo in the Louvre »,^[86] but the painting was known more by the intelligentsia than the general public.^{[citation needed]}

Giacobbe Giusti, LEONARDO DA VINCI: MONA LISA

US President John F. Kennedy, Madeleine Malraux, André Malraux, Jacqueline Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson at the unveiling of the Mona Lisa at the National Gallery of Artduring its visit to Washington D.C., 8 January 1963

The 1911 theft of the Mona Lisa and its subsequent return was reported worldwide, leading to a massive increase in public recognition of the painting. During the 20th century it was an object for mass reproduction, merchandising, lampooning and speculation, and was claimed to have been reproduced in « 300 paintings and 2,000 advertisements ».^[86]It has been said that the Mona Lisa was regarded as « just another Leonardo until early last century, when the scandal of the painting’s theft from the Louvre and subsequent return kept a spotlight on it over several years. »^[87]

From December 1962 to March 1963, the French government lent it to the United States to be displayed in New York City and Washington, D.C.^[88][89] It was shipped on the new liner SS France.^[90] In New York an estimated 1.7 million people queued « in order to cast a glance at the Mona Lisa for 20 seconds or so. »^[86] While exhibited in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the painting was almost drenched in water because of a faulty sprinkler, but the bullet-proof glass case which encased the painting protected it.^[91]

In 1974, the painting was exhibited in Tokyo and Moscow.^[92]

In 2014, 9.3 million people visited the Louvre.^[93] Former director Henri Loyrette reckoned that « 80 percent of the people only want to see the Mona Lisa. »^[94]

Financial worth

Before the 1962–1963 tour, the painting was assessed for insurance at $100 million. The insurance was not bought. Instead, more was spent on security.^[95] Adjusted for inflation using the US Consumer Price Index, $100 million in 1962 is around $782 million in 2015^[96] making it, in practice, by far the most valued painting in the world.

In 2014, a France 24 article suggested that the painting could be sold to help ease the national debt, although it was noted that the Mona Lisa and other such art works were prohibited from being sold due to French heritage law, which states that « Collections held in museums that belong to public bodies are considered public property and cannot be otherwise. »^[97]

Giacobbe Giusti, LEONARDO DA VINCI: MONA LISA

Raphael’s Young Woman with Unicorn, (c. 1506)

Raphael’s Portrait of Baldassare Castiglione (c. 1514–15)

Le rire (The Laugh) by Eugène Bataille, or Sapeck (1883)

Legacy

See also: Mona Lisa replicas and reinterpretations

Before its completion the Mona Lisa had already begun to influence contemporary Florentine painting. Raphael, who had been to Leonardo’s workshop several times, promptly used elements of the portrait’s composition and format in several of his works, such as Young Woman with Unicorn (c. 1506^[98]), and Portrait of Maddalena Doni (c. 1506). Celebrated later paintings by Raphael, La velata(1515–16) and Portrait of Baldassare Castiglione (c. 1514–15), continued to borrow from Leonardo’s painting. Zollner states that « None of Leonardo’s works would exert more influence upon the evolution of the genre than the Mona Lisa. It became the definitive example of the Renaissance portrait and perhaps for this reason is seen not just as the likeness of a real person, but also as the embodiment of an ideal. »^[99]

Early commentators such as Vasari and André Félibien praised the picture for its realism, but by the Victorian era writers began to regard the Mona Lisa as imbued with a sense of mystery and romance. In 1859 Théophile Gautier wrote that the Mona Lisa was a « sphinx of beauty who smiles so mysteriously » and that « Beneath the form expressed one feels a thought that is vague, infinite, inexpressible. One is moved, troubled … repressed desires, hopes that drive one to despair, stir painfully. » Walter Pater‘s famous essay of 1869 described the sitter as « older than the rocks among which she sits; like the vampire, she has been dead many times, and learned the secrets of the grave; and has been a diver in the deep seas, and keeps their fallen day about her. »^[100] By the early 20th century some critics started to feel the painting had become a repository for subjective exegeses and theories,^[101] and upon the painting’s theft in 1911, Renaissance historian Bernard Berenson admitted that it had « simply become an incubus, and I was glad to be rid of her. »^[101][102]

Giacobbe Giusti, LEONARDO DA VINCI: MONA LISA

Jean Metzinger, 1911, Le goûter (Tea Time), oil on canvas, 75.9 x 70.2 cm, Philadelphia Museum of Art

In 1911 Jean Metzinger‘s Le goûter (Tea Time) was exhibited at the 1911 Salon d’Automne and was described by art critic Louis Vauxcelles—on the front page of Gil Blas, 30 September 1911—sarcastically as « la Joconde à la cuiller » (Mona Lisa with a spoon).^[103] André Salmonsubsequently described the painting as « The Mona Lisa of Cubism ».^{[104][105][106]}

The avant-garde art world has made note of the undeniable fact of the Mona Lisa‘s popularity. Because of the painting’s overwhelming stature, Dadaists and Surrealists often produce modifications and caricatures. Already in 1883, Le rire, an image of a Mona Lisa smoking a pipe, by Sapeck (Eugène Bataille), was shown at the « Incoherents » show in Paris. In 1919, Marcel Duchamp, one of the most influential modern artists, created L.H.O.O.Q., a Mona Lisaparody made by adorning a cheap reproduction with a moustache and goatee. Duchamp added an inscription, which when read out loud in French sounds like « Elle a chaud au cul » meaning: « she has a hot ass », implying the woman in the painting is in a state of sexual excitement and intended as a Freudian joke.^[107] According to Rhonda R. Shearer, the apparent reproduction is in fact a copy partly modelled on Duchamp’s own face.^[108]

Salvador Dalí, famous for his surrealist work, painted Self portrait as Mona Lisa in 1954.^[109] In 1963 following the painting’s visit to the United States, Andy Warhol created serigraph prints of multiple Mona Lisas called Thirty are Better than One, like his works of Marilyn Monroe (Twenty-five Coloured Marilyns, 1962), Elvis Presley (1964) and Campbell’s soup (1961–62).^[110] The Mona Lisa continues to inspire artists. A French urban artist known pseudonymously as Invader has created versions on city walls in Paris and Tokyo using a mosaic style.^[111] A collection of Mona Lisa parodies may be found on YouTube.^[112] A 2014 New Yorker magazine cartoon parodies the supposed enigma of the Mona Lisa smile in an animation showing progressively maniacal smiles.

Early versions and copies

Giacobbe Giusti, LEONARDO DA VINCI: MONA LISA

Perspective Mona Lisa to the Prado museum

Giacobbe Giusti, LEONARDO DA VINCI: MONA LISA

Perspective Mona Lisa to the Louvre museum

Prado Museum La Gioconda

Main article: Mona Lisa (Prado’s version)

A version of Mona Lisaknown as Mujer de mano de Leonardo Abince (« Woman by Leonardo da Vinci’s hand ») held in Madrid’s Museo del Prado was for centuries considered to be a work by Leonardo. However, since its restoration in 2012 it is considered to have been executed by one of Leonardo’s pupils in his studio at the same time as Mona Lisa was being painted.^[113] Their conclusion, based on analysis obtained after the picture underwent extensive restoration, that the painting is probably by Salaì (1480–1524) or by Melzi (1493–1572). This has been called into question by others.^[114]

The restored painting is from a slightly different perspective than the original Mona Lisa, leading to the speculation that it is part of the world’s first stereoscopic pair.^{[115][116][117]} However, a more recent report has demonstrated that this stereoscopic pair in fact gives no reliable stereoscopic depth.^[118]

Isleworth Mona Lisa

Main article: Isleworth Mona Lisa

A version of the Mona Lisa known as the Isleworth Mona Lisa and also known as the Earlier Mona Lisa was first bought by an English nobleman in 1778 and was rediscovered in 1913 by Hugh Blaker, an art connoisseur. The painting was presented to the media in 2012 by the Mona Lisa Foundation.^[119] It is a painting of the same subject as Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. The painting is claimed by a majority of experts to be mostly an original work of Leonardo dating from the early 16th century.^{[120][29][121][122][123][124][125][31][126][6][7][45]} Other experts, including Zöllner and Kemp, deny the attribution.^[127][124]

Giacobbe Giusti, LEONARDO DA VINCI: MONA LISA

• 

  Copy of Mona Lisa commonly attributed to Salaì

   

Giacobbe Giusti, LEONARDO DA VINCI: MONA LISA

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  The Prado Museum La Gioconda

   

Giacobbe Giusti, LEONARDO DA VINCI: MONA LISA

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  The Isleworth Mona Lisa

   

Giacobbe Giusti, LEONARDO DA VINCI: MONA LISA

• 

  16th-century copy at the Hermitage by unknown artist

• Visual arts portal

• List of most expensive paintings
• List of stolen paintings

References

Notes

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121. ^ Chappelow, AC (July 1, 1956). « The Isleworth Mona Lisa ». Apollo Magazine.
122. ^ Pulitzer, Henry E. (1960). Where is the Mona Lisa?. London: The Pulitzer Press. ASIN B0027MR0A2.
123. ^ Asmus, John F. (1 July 1989). « Computer Studies of the Isleworth and Louvre Mona Lisas ». Optical Engineering. 28 (7): 800–804. doi:10.1117/12.7977036. Retrieved July 26, 2017.
124. ^ Jump up to:^a b « New proof said found for « original » Mona Lisa – ». Reuters.com. 13 February 2013. Retrieved 26 July 2017.
125. ^ Soares, Atila (2013). A Jovem Mona Lisa. Rio de Janeiro, Brasil: Multifoco. ISBN 9788582733882.
126. ^ Sauteur, Albert (April 22, 2014). « Albert Sauteur réinvente la perspective ». Migros Magazine. Vol. 17. pp. 14–17.
127. ^ Alastair Sooke. « The Isleworth Mona Lisa: A second Leonardo masterpiece? ». BBC. Archived from the original on 2 January 2016.

Bibliography

• Bartz, Gabriele (2001). Art and architecture, Louvre. Barnes & Noble Books. ISBN 978-0-7607-2577-1. Retrieved 10 October 2010.
• Bohm-Duchen, Monica (2001). The private life of a masterpiece. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-23378-2. Retrieved 10 October 2010.
• Farago, Claire J. (1999). Leonardo’s projects, c. 1500–1519. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-0-8153-2935-0. Retrieved 10 October 2010.
• Kemp, Martin (2006). Leonardo da Vinci: the marvellous works of nature and man. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-280725-0. Retrieved 10 October 2010.
• Littlefield, Walter (1914). « The Two « Mona Lisas« « . The Century: A Popular Quarterly. 87.
• Turudich, Daniela (2003). Plucked, Shaved & Braided: Medieval and Renaissance Beauty and Grooming Practices 1000–1600. Streamline Press. ISBN 978-1-930064-08-9.^{[dead link]}
• Vasari, Giorgio (1879) [1550]. « Le vite de’ più eccellenti pittori, scultori ed architettori » (vol 4 ed.). Florence: G.C. Sansoni.
• Wilson, Colin (2000). The Mammoth Encyclopedia of the Unsolved. Carroll & Graf Publishers. ISBN 978-0-7867-0793-5.
• Woods-Marsden, Joanna (2001), « Portrait of the Lady, 1430 – 1520 », in Brown, David Alan, Virtue & Beauty, London: Priceton University Press, pp. 64–87, ISBN 978-0691090573

• Sassoon, Donald, Prof. (21 January 2014). #26: Why is the Mona LisaFamous?. La Trobe University podcast blog. Archived from the original on 4 July 2015. of the podcast audio.
• Kobbé, Gustav « The Smile of the Mona Lisa«  The Lotus Magazine Vol. 8, No. 2 (Nov. 1916), pp. 67–74
• « Mona Lisa, Leonardo’s Earlier Version ». Zürich, Switzerland: The Mona Lisa Foundation. Archived from the original on 26 June 2015. Retrieved 5 November 2015.
• « True Colors of the Mona Lisa Revealed » (Press release). Paris: Lumiere Technology. 19 October 2006. Archived from the original on 26 June 2015. Retrieved 5 November 2015.
• Scientific analyses conducted by the Center for Research and Restoration of the Museums of France (C2RMF) Compare layers of the painting as revealed by x-radiography, infrared reflectographya and ultraviolet fluorescence
• « Stealing Mona Lisa« . Dorothy & Thomas Hoobler. May 2009. excerpt of book. Vanity Fair
• Discussion by Janina Ramirez and Martin Kemp: Art Detective Podcast, 18 Jan 2017
• Leonardo’s Mona Lisa, Smarthistory (video)
• Secrets of the Mona Lisa, Discovery Channel documentary on YouTube

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mona_Lisa

http://www.giacobbegiusti.com

 

 

Giacobbe Giusti, Divine Comedy Illustrated by Botticelli

Giacobbe Giusti, Divine Comedy Illustrated by Botticelli

 

Giacobbe Giusti, Divine Comedy Illustrated by Botticelli

Giacobbe Giusti, Divine Comedy Illustrated by Botticelli

Giacobbe Giusti, Divine Comedy Illustrated by Botticelli

 

Giacobbe Giusti, Divine Comedy Illustrated by Botticelli
The Map of Hell painting by Botticelli is one of the extant ninety-two drawings that were originally included in the illustrated manuscript of Dante’s Divine Comedy commissioned by Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de’ Medici.
Artist	Sandro Botticelli
Year	c. 1485[1]

Canto XVIII, part of the 8th circle of Hell. Dante and Virgil are each shown 6 times, descending through the 10 chasms of the circle via a ridge. One of only 4 fully coloured pages.^[2]

The Divine Comedy Illustrated by Botticelli is a manuscript of the Divine Comedyby Dante, illustrated by 92 full-page pictures by Sandro Botticelli that are considered masterpieces and amongst the best works of the Renaissancepainter. The images are mostly not taken beyond silverpointdrawings, many worked over in ink, but four pages are fully coloured.^[1][3]The manuscript eventually disappeared and most of it was rediscovered in the late nineteenth century, having been detected in the collection of the Duke of Hamilton by Gustav Friedrich Waagen, with a few other pages being found in the Vatican Library.^[4] Botticelli had earlier produced drawings, now lost, to be turned into engravings for a printed edition, although only the first nineteen of the hundred cantos were illustrated.

In 1882 the main part of the manuscript was added to the collection of the Kupferstichkabinett Berlin (Museum of Prints and Drawings) when the director Friedrich Lippmann bought 85 of Botticelli’s drawings.^[4]Lippmann had moved swiftly and quietly, and when the sale was announced there was a considerable outcry in the British press and Parliament.^[5] Soon after that, it was revealed that another eight drawings from the same manuscript were in the Vatican Library. The bound drawings had been in the collection of Queen Christina of Sweden and after her death in Rome in 1689, had been bought by Pope Alexander VIII for the Vatican collection. The time of separation of these drawings is unknown. The Map of Hell is in the Vatican collection.^[4]

The exact arrangement of text and illustrations is not known, but a vertical arrangement — placing the illustration page on top of the text page — is proposed by Barbara Watts as a more efficient way of combining the text-illustration pairs. A volume designed to open vertically would be approximately 47 cm wide by 64 cm high, and would incorporate both the text and the illustration for each canto on a single page.

The Berlin drawings and those in the Vatican collection were assembled together, for the first time in centuries, in an exhibition showing all 92 of them in Berlin, Rome, and London’s Royal Academy, in 2000 and 2001.^[6]

The 1481 printed edition

Engraving by Baldini after Botticelli, from the 1481 book

The drawings in the manuscript were not the first to be created by Botticelli for the Divine Comedy. He also illustrated another Commedia, this time a printed edition with engravings as illustrations, that was published by Nicholo di Lorenzo della Magna in Florence in 1481, and is mentioned by Vasari. Scholars agree that the engravings by Baccio Baldini follow drawn designs by Botticelli, though unfortunately Baldini was unable to render Botticelli’s style very effectively.^[7][8]

Botticelli’s attempt to design the illustrations for a printed book was unprecedented for a leading painter, and though it seems to have been something of a flop, this was a role for artists that had an important future.^[9] Vasari wrote disapprovingly of the edition: « being of a sophistical turn of mind, he there wrote a commentary on a portion of Dante and illustrated the Inferno which he printed, spending much time over it, and this abstention from work led to serious disorders in his living. »^[10] Vasari, who lived when printmaking had become far more important than in Botticelli’s day, never takes it seriously, perhaps because his own paintings did not sell well in reproduction.

The Divine Comedy consists of 100 cantos, and the printed text left space for one engraving for each canto. However, only 19 illustrations were engraved, and most copies of the book have only the first two or three. The first two, and sometimes three, are usually printed on the book page, while the later ones are printed on separate sheets that are pasted into place. This suggests that the production of the engravings lagged behind the printing, and the later illustrations were pasted into the stock of printed and bound books, and perhaps sold to those who had already bought the book. Unfortunately Baldini was neither very experienced nor talented as an engraver, and was unable to express the delicacy of Botticelli’s style in his plates.^[11] The project may have been disrupted by Botticelli’s summons to Rome to take part in the project to fresco the Sistine Chapel. He was perhaps away from July 1481 to at the latest May 1482.^[12]

Conception and progress of the manuscript

Lucifer’s second drawing by Botticelli from Inferno XXXIV. Lucifer’s picture, spans across two pages, and lies outside the text-illustration structure, unifying the narrative of the series. It also illustrates the full story of Inferno canto XXXIV and shows Lucifer’s geographical position in Hell.^[13]

It is often thought that Botticelli’s drawings were commissioned by Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de’ Medici, an important patron of the artist. The early 16th-century writer known as the Anonimo Magliabecchiano says that Botticelli painted a Dante on parchment for Lorenzo, but makes it sound as if this was a completed work. Alternatively the drawings we have may have been a different set for Botticelli’s own use and pleasure, which is the conclusion of Ronald Lightbown.^[14]

Although the printed and illustrated book was rapidly replacing the traditional and very expensive illuminated manuscript in the last decades of the 15th century, the grandest bibliophiles were still commissioning manuscripts,^[15] and continued to do so well into the next century, from artists such as Giulio Clovio (1498–1578), perhaps the last major artist to be mainly a manuscript illuminator.

The drawings illustrate a manuscript of Dante’s Divine Comedy. The entire thematic sequence of each canto was supposed to be illustrated by its own full-page drawing by Botticelli, an unprecedentedly ambitious conception. Normally, by the 15th centuury, a single incident was shown in each framed illustration in illustrated Dantes, as for other narrative works. Botticelli was combining this tradition with another, continuous narrative, where recurrent incidents were shown, usually unframed and in the margin below the text. Thus the principal figures of Dante, Virgil and Beatrice often appear several times in an image.^[16]

There are two additional drawings, a map of Hell preceding Inferno, and a double-page drawing of Lucifer that depicts Dante’s and Virgil’s descent to Hell.^[1] The text is written on the reverse of the drawings, so that it was on the same page as the next drawing. As was usual, the text was completed before the illustrations were begun, omitting the major capital letters which were to be illuminated.^[3]

The exact date of creation of the drawings is unknown but it is agreed that they were produced over a period of several years, and a stylistic development has been detected.^[17] Estimates vary between a start around the mid-1480s with the last approximately a decade later,^[1]and a period extending between about 1480 and 1505 (by which time Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco was dead).^[18] Botticelli never completed the task. Many of the images are not fully drawn and illumination is completed for only four of them. However, the drawings are of such artistry and beauty, that they have been described as « central to Botticelli’s artistic achievement » and no less important than the Primavera.^[1] They represent by far the bulk of surviving drawings by Botticelli. Of the small number of other sheets surviving, none relate directly to surviving paintings.^[19]

Botticelli is thought to have started the drawings at least roughly following the text sequence. The drawing for Canto I of Inferno has the figures at a larger scale than that used in later cantos, up to the end of the Purgatorio. The earlier drawings for the Inferno are generally the most completed, and the most detailed,^[20] but cantos II to VII, XI and XIV are missing, though probably made by Botticelli. We have the text pages for the last cantos, Paradiso, XXXI to XXXIII, but the drawings were never begun.^[21] The differing degrees of completion, and the canto numbers and first lines of the matching text inscribed on some sequences of pages but not others, all complicate understanding Botticelli’s progress, and have been extensively debated.^[22]

Technique

Paradise, Canto XXX. The vegetation and small figures to the left of the path have been inked over; on the right only the silverpoint stage has been done.

Each page was first drawn with a metal stylus, leaving lines that are now very faint. There are numerous changes evident, which are easy to make in this technique. The next stage was to go over these lines with a pen and black or brown ink. Most of the pages were not taken beyond these stages, which are often found together on a page, with only some areas inked over. Other pages have not yet been inked at all. Only four pages fully received the final stage of colouring in tempera, though others are part-coloured, usually just the main figures. It has been argued that Botticelli, or his patron, came to prefer the uncoloured drawings, and deliberately left the rest, but this is not accepted by most scholars.^[23]

Structure and innovations

The illustration for canto XV is part of the third round of Inferno, depicting the punishment of those who acted violently against God, nature, and art.^[24]

Botticelli’s manuscripts incorporate several innovations in the way text and images are presented in the volume. In other similar illustrated manuscripts of Dante’s Inferno, multiple illustrations were used to depict the events described in a canto. In addition, most of the space in a page was given to the illustration and associated commentary while the text portion was smaller in comparison. Therefore, a single canto spread over multiple pages. Botticelli’s text and illustration arrangement innovates by presenting the text on a single page in four vertical columns.^[25]

In addition, unlike similar works, Botticelli’s manuscript uses but a single illustration per canto, which occupied a whole page, presenting a unified depiction of the sequence of events of a canto in a vertical format. This way, the readers know that when they advance to a new page, they enter the thematic sequence of a new canto.^[25] The text of each canto, from left to right, matches, to a high degree,^[25] the pictorial representation as the reader views the illustration from the upper left corner and then proceeds downwards. This reflects the vertical structure of the descent of the two poets through the nine circles of Hell. The additional two illustrations of the Map of Hell and Lucifer lie outside this canto-text structure, thus providing an element of continuity which unifies the work.^[26] Lucifer’s second drawing by Botticelli from Inferno XXXIV spans across two pages, and lies outside the text-illustration structure, unifying the narrative of the series. It also illustrates the full story of Inferno canto XXXIV and shows Lucifer’s geographical position in Hell.^[13]

Botticelli renders vertically the ground planes of the illustrations of the second and third rounds of Inferno. Although the illustrations for the first three rounds depict different imagery, the vertical perspective links them into a single unit. The third round consists of the illustrations for cantos XV, XVI and XVII, which depict the punishment of those who sinned by violence against God, nature and art.^[24]

Botticelli uses thirteen drawings to illustrate the eighth circle of Hell, depicting ten chasms that Dante and Virgil descend through a ridge.^[2]

Dimensions

Inferno X, with just Dante (in red) and Virgil (in blue) coloured.

Each page of the manuscript was approximately 32 cm high by 47 cm wide. Since the text of each canto was written on a single page and the accompanying illustration was on a separate page, arranging the two pages in a horizontal format would have been impractical as it would be approximately 94 centimetres (37 in) wide. This would entail the readers turning their heads from left to right while trying to connect the text columns on the left to the illustration on the right. A vertical arrangement, stacking the illustration page on top of the text page, is a more efficient way of combining the text-illustration pair; a volume designed to open vertically is a more probable scenario for Botticelli’s manuscript. If the manuscript’s binding were to open vertically, the dimensions would be approximately 47 centimetres (19 in) wide by 64 centimetres (25 in) high, and would incorporate both the text and the illustration on a single page. This would have made reading the text and looking at the drawing of each canto easier and more efficient.^[26]

Content location

The Vatican Library has the drawing of the Map Of Hell, and the illustrations for cantos I, IX, X, XII, XIII, XV and XVI of the Inferno. The Map of Hell and the drawing for canto I are drawn on each side of the same goat-skin parchment. The drawings that were in the Berlin museum were separated post-war after the division of Germany, but the collection was re-integrated following reunification.^[6] The Berlin Museum houses the rest of the extant illustrations, including the drawing for canto VIII. The sequence of the Inferno drawings for cantos XVII to canto XXX for Paradiso is without gaps. The page for the drawing of canto XXXI appears blank, and the sequence ends with the unfinished drawing for canto XXXII.^[3]

The film Botticelli Inferno is based on the history of the illustrated manuscript.

Notes

1. ^ Jump up to:^{a b c d e} Watts, Barbara J. (1995). « Sandro Botticelli’s Drawings for Dante’s « Inferno »: Narrative Structure, Topography, and Manuscript Design ». Artibus et Historiae. 16 (32): 163. JSTOR 1483567. The drawings’ dates are uncertain, but he probably began them in the mid-1480s, and worked on them for an ex tended period, probably into the mid-1490s.4 Unfortunately, he never finished the project. Many of the extant drawings are not fully fixed in pen, and only four of these contain illumination.5 Nonetheless, Botticelli’s Dante drawings are of such vision and beauty that, no less than the Primavera, they are central to his artistic achievement. In all likelihood, the cycle for Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco’s manuscript was Botticelli’s second effort at illustrating Dante, the first being designs for the Florence Commedia, published by Nicholo di Lorenzo della Magna in 1481 [Fig. 2].6 The engravings for Inferno I through XIX that were printed for this edition have long been attributed to Baccio Baldini, who according to Vasari, had no invenzione and relied exclusively on Botticelli for his designs.7 The similarities between these engravings and Botticelli’s lnferno drawings support the assumption that Botticelli made the designs Baldini used. If he did, the engravings are especially significant because they provide a sense of what the lost drawings for Inferno Il-VIII and XIV looked like.
2. ^ Jump up to:^a b Watts, Barbara J. (1995). « Sandro Botticelli’s Drawings for Dante’s « Inferno »: Narrative Structure, Topography, and Manuscript Design ». Artibus et Historiae. 16 (32): 182. JSTOR 1483567. The eighth circle is made up of a series of ten descending chasms (the Malebolge) that Dante and Virgil cross by a continuous ridge, which extends from the top to the bottom of the circle (XVIII:14–18).46 In the thirteen illustrations for this circle, Botticelli consistently placed these ponti on the right side of the composition, breaking the pattern only when the narrative required it or when rendering a chasm for the second time [XVIII-XXXI, Figs. 17–27].
3. ^ Jump up to:^a b c Lippmann, F. DRAWINGS BY SANDRO BOTTICELLI FOR DANTE’S DIVINA COMMEDIA. LAWRENCE AND BULLEN LONDON. p. 16. Not only does the general character of these drawings at once suggest Botticelli, but a careful study of their details confirms the belief that they were entirely executed by him. We recognize throughout the specific character of his art as manifested in his best pictures, […]
4. ^ Jump up to:^a b c Lippmann, F. DRAWINGS BY SANDRO BOTTICELLI FOR DANTE’S DIVINA COMMEDIA. LAWRENCE AND BULLEN LONDON. p. 15. There are 88 sheets in the Berlin group, 85 of them illustrated. These were in an 18th-century binding. The Vatican group is 8 drawings on 7 sheets; the introductory map of Hell is on the same sheet as the first illustration to Canto 1, on the reverse.
5. Jump up^ Havely, R. N., Dante’s British Public: Readers and Texts, from the Fourteenth Century to the Present, pp. 244–259, 2014, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0199212449, 9780199212446, google books
6. ^ Jump up to:^a b Nigel Reynolds (7 September 2000). « Royal Academy wins battle over Botticellis ». The Daily Telegraph.
7. Jump up^ Lightbown, pp. 86-89
8. Jump up^ Lippmann, F. DRAWINGS BY SANDRO BOTTICELLI FOR DANTE’S DIVINA COMMEDIA. LAWRENCE AND BULLEN LONDON. p. 20. It is very probable that Botticelli began the Dante drawings before he went to Rome in 1481. Vasari says that « he illustrated the Inferno, and caused it to be printed ». Now we do possess an edition of the Divine Comedy, printed in Florence in 1481, in which the Inferno is illustrated with nineteen little engravings. The affinity between these plates and Botticelli’s drawings is unmistakable. This edition, published under the direction of Cristophoro Landino, and furnished with his commentary on the poem*, it was originally proposed to illustrate with engravings throughout.
9. Jump up^ Landau, 35, 38
10. Jump up^ Vasari, 152
11. Jump up^ Lightbown, 89; Landau, 108; Dempsey
12. Jump up^ Lightbown, 90, 94
13. ^ Jump up to:^a b Watts, Barbara J. (1995). « Sandro Botticelli’s Drawings for Dante’s « Inferno »: Narrative Structure, Topography, and Manuscript Design ». Artibus et Historiae. 16 (32): 193. JSTOR 1483567.
14. Jump up^ Lightbown, 282
15. Jump up^ Ettlingers, 178-179
16. Jump up^ Ettlingers, 178-179; Lightbown, 294
17. Jump up^ Lightbown, 282, 290
18. Jump up^ Lightbown, 282-290, 295
19. Jump up^ Lightbown, 296
20. Jump up^ Lightbown, 290
21. Jump up^ Lightbown, 280
22. Jump up^ Lightbown, 280-296
23. Jump up^ Lightbown, 282; Ettlingers, 179
24. ^ Jump up to:^a b Watts, Barbara J. (1995). « Sandro Botticelli’s Drawings for Dante’s « Inferno »: Narrative Structure, Topography, and Manuscript Design ». Artibus et Historiae. 16 (32): 180. JSTOR 1483567. This formula is maintained in the extant illustrations for the third round, where those violent against God, nature, and art are punished [XV-XVII, Figs. 14–16. […] page. By rendering vertically the planes of the second and third rounds, Botticelli linked their illustrations to that for the first round in which the space actually is perpendicular.
25. ^ Jump up to:^a b c Watts, Barbara J. (1995). « Sandro Botticelli’s Drawings for Dante’s « Inferno »: Narrative Structure, Topography, and Manuscript Design ». Artibus et Historiae. 16 (32): 195–197. JSTOR 1483567.
26. ^ Jump up to:^a b Watts, Barbara J. (1995). « Sandro Botticelli’s Drawings for Dante’s « Inferno »: Narrative Structure, Topography, and Manuscript Design ». Artibus et Historiae. 16 (32): 198. JSTOR 1483567. From here, the step to a volume that opened vertically is almost inevitable when practical and aesthetic concerns are coupled with the nature of Botticelli’s illustrations and the content of Dante’s poem. A conventionally bound manuscript composed of sheets measuring over 32 cm. high and over 47 cm. wide, would, when open, have a breadth of at least 94 cm. […] A manuscript bound so as to open vertically would have none of the aforementioned shortcomings. When open, it would measure approximately 64 cm. in height and only 47 cm. across, a more manageable size. With the text below and the illumination above, the text would be easy to read and the illustration close at hand for detailed scrutiny […] This drawing thus binds the series together: the cosmographical plan of Hell that is presented in its first image is completed in the last, which in turn provides the geographical bridge to the mountain of Purgatory and the second stage of Dante’s journey. This relation between the first and final images of the Inferno confirms a cohesive plan for the manuscript, a plan grounded in the manuscript’s pictorial cycle.

References

• Dempsey, Charles, « Botticelli, Sandro », Grove Art Online, Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Web. 15 May. 2017. subscription required
• « Ettlingers »: Leopold Ettlinger with Helen S. Ettlinger, Botticelli, 1976, Thames and Hudson (World of Art), ISBN 0500201536
• Landau, David, in Landau, David, and Parshall, Peter. The Renaissance Print, Yale, 1996, ISBN 0300068832
• Lightbown, Ronald, Sandro Botticelli: Life and Work, 1989, Thames and Hudson
• Vasari, selected & ed. George Bull, Artists of the Renaissance, Penguin 1965 (page nos from BCA edn, 1979). Vasari Life on-line (in a different translation)

• Gentile, Sebastiano (vol 1) and Schulze Altcappenberg, Heinrich-Thomas, Sandro Botticelli: pittore della Divina Commedia, in 2 volumes (facsimile with scholarly introductions), 2000, Skira (vol 1), Scuderie Papali al Quirinale and Royal Academy of Arts (vol 2)
• Plazzotta, C. (2001). Review: « Botticelli and Dante: Berlin, Rome and London », The Burlington Magazine, 143(1177), 239–241. JSTOR
• Schulze Altcappenberg, Heinrich-Thomas, Sandro Botticelli: The Drawings for Dante’s Divine Comedy, 2000, Royal Academy/Harry N Abrams, catalogue for the exhibition, ISBN 0810966336, 9780810966338

•  Media related to Sandro Botticelli’s illustrations to the Divine Comedy at Wikimedia Commons

show v t e Sandro Botticelli

hide v t e Dante‘s Divine Comedy
Characters and locations	Inferno Acheron Alichino Barbariccia Ciampolo Cocytus Dis Ugolino della Gherardesca Malacoda Paolo Malatesta Malebranche Malebolge Minos Odysseus Phlegethon Francesca da Rimini Satan Scarmiglione Styx Virgil Purgatorio Cato the Younger Forese Donati Eunoe Beatrice Portinari Statius Paradiso Adam Thomas Aquinas Bernard of Clairvaux Bonaventure Cacciaguida Charles Martel of Anjou David Empyrean Justinian I Peter Lombard Piccarda
Verses	« Papé Satàn, papé Satàn aleppe«  « Raphèl mai amècche zabì almi«
Adaptations	Classical music Après une Lecture de Dante: Fantasia quasi Sonata (Liszt, 1849) Dante Symphony (Liszt, 1857) Francesca da Rimini (Tchaikovsky, 1876) Francesca da Rimini (Rachmaninoff, 1904) Francesca da Rimini (Zandonai, 1914) Gianni Schicchi (Puccini, 1918) The Divine Comedy (Smith, 1996) Paintings The Barque of Dante (Delacroix, 1822) The Wood of the Self-Murderers: The Harpies and the Suicides (Blake, 1827) Francesca da Rimini and Paolo Malatesta appraised by Dante and Virgil(Scheffer, 1835) Dante in Hell (Flandrin, 1835) Pia de’ Tolomei(Rossetti, 1868) Paolo and Francesca da Rimini (Rossetti, 1885) La barca de Aqueronte (Hidalgo, 1887) La Laguna Estigia (Hidalgo, 1887) Sculptures The Kiss (Rodin, 1882) The Thinker (Rodin, 1904) The Gates of Hell(Rodin, 1917) Architecture Danteum (Terragni, 1938) Modern music Inferno (1973 album) « Dante’s Inferno » (1995 song) Dante XXI (2006 album) A Place Where the Sun Is Silent (2011 album) Film L’Inferno (1911) Dante’s Inferno (1924) Dante’s Inferno (1935) The Dante Quartet (1987) A TV Dante (1989) Dante’s Inferno (2007) Dante’s Inferno: An Animated Epic (2010) Dante’s Hell Animated(2013) Literature The Story of Rimini (1816) La Comédie humaine (1830–1850) Earth Inferno (1905) The Cantos (1917–1962) As I Was Going Down Sackville Street (1937) The System of Dante’s Hell (1965) Demon Lord Dante (1971) Inferno(1976) The Dante Club (2003) Jimbo’s Inferno (2006) Inferno(2013) Video games Tamashii no Mon (1994) Devil May Cry series (2001) Bayonetta(2009) Dante’s Inferno (2010) The Lost (cancelled)
Related	Cultural references in Divina Commedia Dante Alighieri and the Divine Comedy in popular culture English translations Divine Comedy Illustrated by Botticelli Botticelli Inferno, 2016 documentary

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divine_Comedy_Illustrated_by_Botticelli

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