Mona Lisa Paper

Is It Her Twin or Sister?

An art collector in 1913 made a discovery that has baffled many historians for some time now. Huge Blaker, an English art collector found the Isleworth Mona Lisa shortly before World War I. The Isleworth Mona Lisa is a painting of, what looks to be, a young Mona Lisa. This painting has been identified as a Leonardo da Vinci painting, but some historians believe that this cannot be true. With some differences in the paintings they believe it may have been another small artist at the time trying to copy da Vinci. The Isleworth painting is seemed to be with an international consortium while the original painting is kept in Paris' Louvre Museum. The famous woman is this picture is Lisa del Giocondo. Lisa was from Florence and Tuscany, Italy. She married a cloth and silk merchant in her teenage years. Lisa was born in Florence on June 15th, 1479, many think that she was born on a rural property that is though to have been owned by the family. Lisa had five children with the merchant named Piero, Camilla, Andrea, Giocondo, and Marietta. Lisa's husband, Francesco di Bartilomeo di Zanobi del Giocondo, increased her social status because he was from a middle class family, while Lisa was from a lower class with no dowry from her family. Francesco was an art lover and commissioned da Vinci for a portrait of his wife. “He is thought to have commissioned Lisa's portrait to celebrate bother Andrea del Sarto's birth and the purchase of the family's home.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisa_del_Giocondo#Mona_Lisa) In the painting in the Louvre, Lisa is “portrayed as a faithful wife through gesture-her right hand rests over her left.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisa_del_Giocondo#Mona_Lisa) Da Vinci also represented Lisa in high fashion with dark clothing that would have come from Spain. This would have not represented Lisa in her family because she would not have been able to afford these type of clothing with her family's income. Many historians have said that Lisa is wearing dark clothes because she would be mourning the death of her first daughter, which, in many ways, is wrong. The painting took da Vinci some time to finish because he received money for the painting The Battle of Anghian, which was offering more money than the portrait of Lisa. Some historians have guessed when da Vinci finished the painting because he carried it around with him through-out his later life in France. The guesstimate is around 1516 is when da Vinci finally finished the Mona Lisa. The Isleworth Mona Lisa is what seems to be a younger Lisa, but because we do not have actual proof, that is only an assumption. Historians cannot give an exact date as to which this painting was started or even finished because they found the painting in was found with a noble family. After Blaker purchased the painting it was moved to Isleworth, England, where the name came from. Whilst the first World War was going on, the Isleworth painting was moved to America for preserving. “The Portrait eventually made its way back to Europe, where is was analyzed in Italy before being sent to the Swiss bank vault for safekeeping.” (http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/09/second-mona-lisa-unveiled-for-first-time-in-40-years/) Since that time period the Mona Lisa Foundation has worked on the painting to prove it's authenticity and if da Vinci really painted this portrait.
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The differences between these two paintings are not significant ones, but they are big enough that some may believe that this cannot be a true da Vinci painting. The Isleworth is painted on canvas while the Louvre Mona Lisa was painted on wood. The Isleworth also has a very plain background and columns on either side of the figure, but the Louvre painting seems to be the same background with a lot more details included and no columns. The sizes of these two painting also is making historians scratch their heads because the Louvre painting is narrower.
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However there are eerily many similarities between the two paintings that have made historians and scientists believe that it had to have been painted by the same person. “It strikes us that in order for that to be so accurate, so meticulously exact, only the person who did one did the other...” said art historian and Mona Lisa Foundation member Stanley Feldman. (http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/09/second-mona-lisa-unveiled-for-first-time-in-40-years/) The clothing in the two paintings seems to be of the same high Spanish fashion. The pose shows that Lisa was a loyal wife with her left hand over her right, this pose is that same in both paintings. It took art historians 35 years to conclude their tests on both Mona Lisa paintings. The Mona Lisa Foundation performed many experiments comparing the two. First the foundation placed the painting side by side and found that Lisa in the Isleworth painting is smaller than she is in the Louvre painting. “The simple graphic illustrations demonstrate that the figure in the 'Louvre Version' is approximately 10% larger than the figure in the 'Earlier Version'” (http://monalisa.org/2012/09/10/leonardos-hidden-technique/) The features of Lisa in both of these paintings are exactly the same; with same positions that are perfectly aligned. “They are dramatically different compositions, and the technique of proportion and related geometric measurements employed, points to the two portraits having been painted by the same artist; someone intimately familiar with both, and who had the intention to create two different paintings of the same subject”(http://monalisa.org/2012/09/10/leonardos-hidden-technique/) With these two paintings being so eerily similar, but also having some obvious differences, art historians have drooled over these two paintings. The general population knowing the famous Mona Lisa painting in the Louvre, but not knowing until this year that there was another painting of Lisa del Giocondo, and earlier painting. Some historians believe that this paint could not have been done by the famous da Vinci because there were so many copies of the original Mona Lisa, but without doubt that Mona Lisa Foundation has proven them wrong. Over 35 years of test have proven them that both paintings were actually done by da Vinci.