# Mona Lisa



## Ernest Scribbler

I know this is sort of sacrilege, but I have never found Leonardo's Mona Lisa that pretty.....so.... I have modified it slightly.


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## Jeff

love it ES. 
Mona had a hot sister...who knew?


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## DLeeG

The beauty is the painting not the model.


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## Ernest Scribbler

I do get your point, but I have never found the painting to be that beautiful in my eyes - Leonardo has done better, I think people are somehow 'instructed' to 'like things" as they are considered to be some sort of classic. Apparently it took him eight years to get the smile right, but to me, no smile exists.


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## DLeeG

Ernest Scribbler said:


> I do get your point, but I have never found the painting to be that beautiful in my eyes - Leonardo has done better, I think people are somehow 'instructed' to 'like things" as they are considered to be some sort of classic. Apparently it took him eight years to get the smile right, but to me, no smile exists.


Some people are reluctant to agree with the obvious because they have to be different. The most beautiful thing to me about the picture is it was done without borders or outlines. This was not a technique used before. He made the figure look 3 dimensional with more than highlights and shadows. Even the background is 3 dimensional. A little bit of instruction can educate. Yes there is a smile. It disappears when you look directly at it. Try to reproduce that trick.


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## Ernest Scribbler

DLeeG said:


> Some people are reluctant to agree with the obvious because they have to be different. The most beautiful thing to me about the picture is it was done without borders or outlines. This was not a technique used before. He made the figure look 3 dimensional with more than highlights and shadows. Even the background is 3 dimensional. A little bit of instruction can educate. Yes there is a smile. It disappears when you look directly at it. Try to reproduce that trick.


You have an obvious love for this painting which I do respect, but I have always had a problem with it since i was a youngster, and now I have the digital tools to manipulate it, I will have a go. I'm not trying to be pedantic with what I'm doing, just having a bit of fun. I still cannot see the smile, in fact the mouth is not proportioned very well to the rest of her face, but I will try to 'reproduce the trick' of a smile more than I have done thus far. And I will try my best to achieve this within an acceptable time frame, ie. less than eight years.

All the best ES.


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## DLeeG

To best see her smile, look her in her eyes. Yes by all means have fun with digital art and maybe you will find that it is not as scary a painting as it was when you were a youngster. Maybe read some history and learn why it took 4 years for him to paint it.


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## Ernest Scribbler

DLeeG said:


> To best see her smile, look her in her eyes. Yes by all means have fun with digital art and maybe you will find that it is not as scary a painting as it was when you were a youngster. Maybe read some history and learn why it took 4 years for him to paint it.


Thanks for your interesting observations and discussion. I will look up more on this iconic painting. I would like to point out that my modifications whether you agree with them or not were done in a sympathetic attempt to blend in with the original style and I am sure a lot of people might not even be sure they were looking at the original image if they were not quite so aquainted with it.


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## corydulos

Truthfully, if Mona Lisa (whatever her real name was) entered a _tryout_ to compete in a beauty pageant today, she wouldn't make the cut. And if this exact same image never existed in history but DLeeG, Ernest or Cdulos painted this today it probably wouldn't be a priceless masterpiece.

The original picture is gem for _our_ time because it was a marvel and spectacle *in its own time*. Like Johnny Mathis...he's a living legend who's sold over 300 million records world-wide..but hd hasn't had a top ten hit in decades and most people under 30 have little to no idea who he is (am I revealing my age a little? ha ha).

Maybe when 'Mona Lisa' debuted, it was the (I write this cautiously) "Lady Gaga", "Harry Potter" or "Thriller" album of its time in popular Italian culture...maybe the 'spectre' and noteriety of Mona is more legendary than the actual painting, and its reputation precedes and succeeds it. In that sense, Ernest, I agree with you; its quite possible that 'the emperor has no clothes', so to speak and at this point, Mona is just famous for being famous. 

Still didn't mean you had to doctor her up like that lol. I'm assuming you wouldn't want anyone retouching your beautifully austere Audreys, would you? 

P.S. note that little line on Mona's forehead? That indicates a veil which your added hair is painted over without respect to occlusion (you know what I mean 3D man).


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## DLeeG

What brought fame to the Mona Lisa:Chiaroscuro-*means light/dark in Italian. Introduced byLeonardo, it is the contrast between pronounced light and dark areasin the painting used to create an illusion of depth and space.Sfumato[sfoo MAH toh]- A delicate blurring and blending that fusesone tone on to another. In Italian it means hazy or smudgedand is related to smoke or a smoky quality. Leonardo usesthis smudging instead of lines to define the corner of the eyesand mouth. The effect gives the illusion of the corners but allowsone to use their imagination in different ways.Glaze-*A thin film of transparent color laid over dried paint.When several layers are applied (as they are even to the pupilsof Mona Lisa's eyes), it creates the effect of luminosity.Light penetrates through the transparent layer and reflectsfrom the under layer through the glaze.Perspective-*the illusion of depth created on a flat surfaceto represent three-dimensional objects on a two-dimensionalsurface. Painters in the early 15th c observed thatangles of shapes, roof tops etc. appeared to converge on asingle point, called the vanishing point known as linear perspective.The vanishing point in the Mona Lisa occurs behind her head.Aerial perspective-*In landscape painting it is the illusion of recessioncreated by the depiction of atmospheric effects, mist etc.The colors in the distance appear progressively fainter and cooler.Pyramidal composition-*Profile portraits and figures grouped on ahorizontal plane gave way to a more three-dimensionaltriangular composition. Figures were placed around the central imagery giving the work symmetry and stability. Mona Lisa occupied the painting in a pyramid shape giving her a three-dimensional quality. Her portrait is broaderat the base occupying the foreground while the background recedes in depth.Three Quarter Pose-*Though the Flemish had used thethree-quarter pose in the 1430s, painting in 1500's Florencewas done in profile revealing very little about the sitter.Leonardo introduced this new three-quarter pose.The sitter turns the trunk of the body facing frontal togive life and movement to the portrait and allow eye contact.This new frontal pose explored the interior as well as the exterior of the sitter.
600 years of fame feeds on itself. Yet it is deserving of the title of the most famous.


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