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Analysis / The Mona Lisa

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Perception in fictional works:

The Mona Lisa is such a ubiquitous painting in pop culture that is natural patterns have started to pop up in the way it's perceived by people and, most importantly, creators.

  • Artistic License – Art: For the most famous painting ever, the Mona Lisa is more often than not presented incorrectly in fiction. The most common mistakes are making it larger than it is (the actual painting is only 30-by-21 inches) and it being painted on canvas when it was actually painted on wood.
  • Dated History: For a long time everyone believed that the Mona Lisa and its subject will forever be a Riddle for the Ages and Shrouded in Myth. The common traditional answer that it was the wife of a Florentine nobleman was dismissed for being "boring" until it was confirmed in 2005.
  • Eiffel Tower Effect: Want to show someone is in an art museum? Put them in front of the Mona Lisa! This even occurs in cases where the subject is not in the Louvre, nor even in France.
  • Famous for Being Famous: It's the most famous painting in the world, and by extension, its female subject is one of the most universally-recognized faces. Art historians generally agree that Mona Lisa is not the best painting, nor the most important. However, its fame has become self-sustaining. The mythical status of its painter Leonardo da Vinci also adds to its mystique.
  • Mustache Vandalism: Marcel Duchamp codified this with his famous spoof of the painting, where he put a mustache on a postcard of her. Salvador Dalí also painted his own thin, upward mustache on a black and white copy of Mona Lisa, with a man's hands holding coins in place of her hands, calling it a "self-portrait".
  • Proper Lady: As noted by Walter Isaccson in his article for the November 2017 issue of The Atlantic:
    Walter Isaacson: "So the world’s most famous smile is inherently and fundamentally elusive, and therein lies Leonardo’s ultimate realization about human nature. His expertise was in depicting the outer manifestation of inner emotions, but here in the Mona Lisa he shows something more important: that we can never fully know another person’s true emotions. They always have a sfumato quality, a veil of mystery."
  • Right for the Wrong Reasons: Fictional works depicting Leonardo da Vinci before 2005 often had a woman modeling for the painting known as The Mona Lisa. As it turns out, this is correct — as the painting was a commission depicting Lisa del Giocondo. The prevailing theory prior to 2005 was that the Mona Lisa wasn't a real person but having someone (or multiple people) model for the Mona Lisa was plausible.
  • Shrouded in Myth: A lot of fiction revolves around theories on who sat for the Mona Lisa painting. Particular theories even argued that it was Leonardo himself in drag, because apparently, some think Lady Lisa looks like a Dude. Of course, these were all retroactively debunked in 2005, when the Louvre revealed a letter confirming that the model was Florentine noblewoman Lisa del Giocondo.
  • Small Reference Pools: When Mona Lisa is portrayed, it tends to be large and on canvas, rather than small and painted on wood. Also, if people in fiction go to the Louvre, they're just there for this painting. Sadly, this is Truth in Television. It's also the go-to artwork if The Renaissance is brought up.
  • Wolverine Publicity:
    • Most art critics believe that the effect and aesthetic greatness of the painting are endangered by its constant overexposure. Almost anything to do with Leonardo features the Mona Lisa. For instance, the book cover of The Da Vinci Code and the posters of its film version feature the painting even if it doesn't have anything to do with her (the so-called "da vinci" code revolves around conspiracy theory surrounding Leonardo's notebooks, scientific research, and Dan Brown's fantasies).
    • Vox, in their Overrated series, expressed this trope when the painting was put into popularity after the art theft.


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