What’s hidden behind Mona Lisa’s smile?

THE REAL GIOCONDA’S STORY

Lisa di Antonmaria Gherardini, known also as Mona Lisa or Gioconda,was a florentine noblewoman.

She was born during a particular period of the history : THE RENAISSANCE.

Since her childhood, she studied many scientific subjects, she learned the self-defence and she played lots of sports considered “only for boys” in that period.

But, despite her life full of fun and freedom, she wasn’t satisfied enough.

She felt the need of a different life, different hobbies and she wanted to share with the world her experiences.

Gioconda in fact was a very brave, charming and sporty girl, something different from the women of the 1500s.

Her parents didn’t accept Lisa’s decision, and so the girl escaped from Florence.

After about 2 weeks journey, without money or expensive clothes, the noblewoman arrived in France.

She was looking for a new job.

While Gioconda was strolling down the streets of the village, she met a strange man with a long white beard. He asked  the woman some information about her life and her journey, and, after the long story, he decided to offer her a little job:

posing for a portrait.

Lisa wasn’t so happy for the new task, but she needed money…

Immediately the man , called Leonardo Da Vinci, brought her to his lab and he started painting her face.

He decided to describe the imagine with the same real and suffered expression she had in that moment, the face of a woman rejected because of her passions.

Lisa tried to simulate a little smile, but she was too tired and sad to express and spread happiness.

Alessia Grazia Indiveri 

Mona Lisa’s secret love

The title of this artwork is Gioconda, also called Mona Lisa which Leonardo Da Vinci painted. He was an inventor, a scientist and an artist. La Gioconda is a picture in oil on canvas. It was painted in 1503-1504. I chose this picture because it is simple but with a particular story. In the painting I see a woman that belongs to a low social class . She is humble; her life isn’t simple. She married a rich man, but she didn’t love him. Her name is Lisa. Before  the painting she was doing housework, in fact she wore cheap clothes. Lisa in the painting was worried because her little son played in the garden in front of her. Next she went to visit her poor sisters. They lived in the country and Lisa gave  them some food. She helped her sister with some money for medicine. After so many years she decided divorce from her husband and she returned to her family.

Carla Colucci

Gioconda’s sad story

The woman represented in the picture was sad and in fact, in the painting, she has only a small smile but she also seems carefree. The color of her skin was pale because she had a very serious disease, in fact, she spent a year in her bed, alone and bored. Only when she was 25 her disease went away but she remained a sad woman. After many years, she found a husband and she had three children and she became a happy woman and a normal family mother, thanks to the love of her family.The painter, Leonardo Da Vinci, in the painting , used those colors because he wanted to represent the confusion that the woman had in her mind during a long time of disease.

Sara Cascione

Mona Lisa’s jealousy

The woman represented in the picture was a normal woman. She had a relationship with a very handsome man, all girls looked at him and she was very jealous. One day, they were on the lake and her boyfriend walked away and she didn’t see him anymore. While she was searching for him with her eyes, Leonardo Da Vinci, a painter, captured the moment and in his painting he represented the woman while she moved her eyes in search for her boyfriend. This woman, then, sent the painter to her boyfriend to show him the drawing, to make him understand her concern in not seeing him because of her jealousy, but her boyfriend said that he was tired of her jealousy and ended the relationship. The painter then helped the woman and courted her. The woman and the painter then started a relationship and both Leonardo ,the painter, and Gioconda ,the woman, were very successful.

Dominga Amati

The Gioconda

Leonardo Da Vinci was a leading artist and intellectual of the italian Renaissance known for his enduring works “The last Supper” and “The Mona Lisa”.

He studied the laws of science and nature.

His ideas and body of work have influenced countless artists making Da Vinci a leading light of italian Renaissance.

The painting portrays a young woman with long dark hair.

It is framed by three quarters. The hands are crossed in the foreground and with her arms she leans on  what looks like the arm of a chair.

Her head is covered by a transparent and delicate veil that falls on the shoulders in a drape.

The hair is loose and combed.

The lips hint at a smile. She wears no jewels, no precious embroidery appears on these clothes.

Da Vinci’s most famous painting was the Mona Lisa.

She was a nun .

She loved singing so much, in fact her life was quite and peaceful.

She spent her time in a convent with her girls.

Her dream was to become a famous opera singer.

This was her life before knowing Leonardo.

When Leonardo entered into her life, she became a different woman.

Luana Decarolis

A strange love story

The most important painting of Leonardo da Vinci is the “Mona Lisa”. Many people want to know who is the Gioconda. This is my interpretation. Mona lisa came from a poor family. In fact we can see her “scruffy dress”. Leonardo found her in the Vinci-Court. Mona lisa was a maid. Leonardo fell in love with her, but no one had to know. It was a scandal that a painter fell in love with a maid. For this he decided to paint her as a memory. Today it is the most famous painting in the world. We find this picture in the Louvre-museum of Paris.

Chiara Pentassuglia

The rich girl and the poor painter

La Gioconda was a woman from an artistocratic family.

At 20 years old, after having moved from different Italian cities with her parents for political reasons, she met Leonardo da Vinci who was creating a portrait of a woman in the town square.

The Mona Lisa came up to him and asked Leonardo da Vinci to make her a portrait but she was stopped by the her parents who didn’t permit her to.

Mona Lisa, wanting that portrait, in the morning, in the absence of her parents, escaped from the hotel meeting Leonardo da Vinci at the place of the day before.

He led her out of the village, into the territory of his cottage. He picked up the easel and started painting her. They saw each other for a week to complete the painting but she, after the week had to go back to France.

A month passed and the Mona Lisa still couldn’t forget that painter, she wanted to see him again.

She left in secret and she went to the Italian village and stayed there not worrying about the fact that she could be labeled as a missing girl.

After meeting the painter, she settled down with him and, after two months, they also finished the portrait.

But the two did not stop seeing each other and from that moment they became lovers.

After 3 months from their first meeting, the parents discovered her and rejected her as a daughter.

Today the portrait is located in the Louvre museum where visitors can admire it and understand their story through that picture.

Giulia Cardone

The kind woman

The Mona Lisa was represented with a small smile.

This makes us understand that she was embarassed, maybe she feels something for the painter.

She wasn’t very happy for her marriage and she doesn’t really love her husband.

She is wearing cheap clothes despite she was well-off, maybe she was modest and she doesn’t like expansive clothes so much.

She is pregnant, we understand it for the position of her hands.

The Mona Lisa is a gentle, kind woman with a motherly spirit.

Stella Dragone

Tragic love story

Mona Lisa was a woman married with a dear friend of Leonardo Da Vinci.

They met when they were young, and it took little to fall in love.

They didn’t see each other for so many years until one day Leonardo walked near the lake, he saw her, he reconized her and approced her.

As soon as they saw each other they fell in love but it was destinated to fail, as she was married to one of Leonardo’s best friends.

But an unespected event ubset their plans:

she was pregnant and to remember her, Leonardo wanted to portray her.

They went to the place where everything began, and it was there that Leonardo painted “La Gioconda” with her delicate hands on her stomach.

Alexsandra Scarafile

The escape

This is a painting of Monnalisa, considered the most beautiful girl in the world at the time.

Leonardo da Vinci wanted to paint Mona lisa’s great beuty so he invited her in his atelier. They moved to the countryside to do the painting.

At the time Monnalisa was married with Francesco that was very jealous, and he didn’t want Leonardo and Mona lisa to be alone.

In fact, Francesco tried many times to kill Leonardo da Vinci with some traps, but he didn’t succeed.

When Mona lisa knew this, she immediately left Francesco and then escaped with Leonardo in France.

Mirko Cervellera

Gioconda

The title of this picture is ‘’ GIOCONDA ‘’ Leonardo da Vinci’s paint is formed by a face and a bust of a young woman, her name is Lisa Gherardini.

Behind her, you can see a path, a river, a small forest on the opposite bank and the sky which outlines the figure of the woman.

The young woman in the painting was born in a family of landowners, infact to ensure a brilliant future to their daughter, have decided to give her in marriage to a famous painter of the period, Leonardo da Vinci.

Leonardo loved her so much, he was always fascinated by her beauty, to inspire the famous opera.

The woman is wearing a normal dress, her hair is loose, she is sitting in front of a scenery and looks ahead of her, with a strange smile; a fake smile maybe for her parents’ decision to make her get married with da Vinci who appeared to be older than her.

One day she returned home before the scheduled time and found Leonardo painting another woman, Lisa offended, leaves Leonardo and gets engaged with a son of family’s friend, her true love.

Rebecca Comes

The spanish lover

This is a painting of Mona Lisa. In the picture there is a woman, a river, a garden and a bridge. The woman in the picture was born in a poor family. In the painting the woman is wearing very cheap clothes. Later she will go to find her husband, her children and her family. She is the only one who works in fact she helps her family and gives them a lot of money to live. She travelled around the world, in fact she has got a spanish lover. He is very rich unlike her husband and he is an important person in his country. She wanted a future with him, so they organised an escape. She hid him in her wardrobe, and after four  days, they moved to Greece and lived happy forever and ever. 

Rosanna Mancini

Love suffering

The Mona Lisa ,is a painting by Leonardo Da Vinci… The Mona Lisa was a girl like any other:

very happy ,always smiling and her smiles brightened up every day until a man became part of her life and ruined her happiness by breaking her heart.

Vittoria Morga

A desperate girl

The woman in the picture is a simple woman who comes from a lower class family.

A few minutes before, the woman was checking the time and in fact we see that she has a hand on her wrist.

She is wearing poor clothes with dull colors.

Her eyes follow you everywhere and she has a hint of a smile because she imagines a wonderful life she could have led.

Next she runs to go to her house, a small house made of bricks,

and she starts preparing cakes to console herself.

Finally after thinking and thinking about how to earn some money, a present for her arrives, where inside there is money.

Colucci Noemi