I was reading about Mona Lisa on Wikipedia the other day and came across a photo of the back of the painting. For some reason this interested me more than the front ...probably because we’ve all seen Mona a thousand times and she’s become ubiquitous. There are a couple of scribbles on the back and the letter “H”, but I couldn’t resist making an ATC to jazz it up (vicariously).Apparently Mona was painted in oil on a 21 x 30” panel made of poplar wood. At some point she was removed from her frame and this caused warping. A crack also developed near the top of the panel. Mona has been fixed a few times—most recently in 1970—and she’s now kept in a bulletproof glass case with a bed of silica gel to maintain the humidity at 55 per cent.
The weird thing is that I saw the Mona Lisa in the flesh (so to speak) back in 1992, and I don’t remember the glass case at all. But I do recall a guy complaining to his girlfriend: “You mean you brought me all the way to France to see this?”
I have to admit the main reason I went to the Louvre myself was to see the Winged Victory, which has always fascinated me. But one of these days, I’d like to go back and take a closer look at Mona plus all the other fabulous art I seem to have forgotten about.
3 comments:
I actually like your rendition better than the original!
I have seen the Mona Lisa twice. Once in the original site, and last year in the "glass case". It's always amazing how small it is in real life. I think your work would be much more interesting to the general public!
I'm calling the Louvre to put your name forward:) Innovation in art. Great work as usual.
Hey if my memory serves me right I was visiting Mona and Venus around that time too....strange.
Wow, it's in abullet-proof glass! I sooo regret not going inside the Louvre when I was there! There definitely is something fascinating about the back of the painting and I love what you did with it digitally!
Sandy xox
Post a Comment