The Mona Lisa By Leonardo Da Vinci

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In Florence, Italy, the famous, Leonardo da Vinci started painting The Mona Lisa one of the most well known paintings in the entire world, in 1503 and finally completed it in 1517. One of the biggest reasons for the popularity of the painting is the artist himself. Leonardo is one of the most recognized artists of all time. The Mona Lisa was painted after Lisa del Giocondo, the wife of a wealthy merchant Francesco del Giocondo from Tuscany. The painting was created to be a celebration of their home's completion as well as the arrival of their second son. The Mona Lisa is one of the most well know paintings from the time of the Renaissance. This painting as well as Leonardo da Vinci, inspired and affected many of the artists and writers in the Renaissance. It also changed the way people saw and made art. During the Renaissance art was usually just what they saw. They drew people the way they were, with no real sense of freedom to be creative. The Mona Lisa's background was mainly different because of its landscape. The Mona Lisa was one of the first paintings if not the first to have an imaginary background. This means that the background was so unique, because no other artists had decided to create a piece with an Aerial view, creativity, and freedom. It opened up new possibilities for other artists to step of out their comfort zone and not only make what was expected of them.

Figueroa 2
Leonardo da Vinci was born in Italy on April 15, 1452. He was the son of a successful lawyer, his father and mother were never married to each other, and he was the only child they had together. But his parents had other partners: "They kept on having kids, although not with each other, and they eventually supplie...

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... always managed to be creative and experiment with his artwork. Because Leonardo da Vinci took a risk by having one of the first few paintings with an imaginary background opened new doors for artists. Because of his passion for studying the natural world Leonardo achieved perfect harmony between nature and humanity. "The background may be a representation of the universe, with mountains, plains and rivers. Or possibly it is both reality and the world of dream. One could suppose that the landscape doesn't exist, that it is the young woman's own dream world". And it is thought that she smiles because she is dreaming ("Cuzin" from Leonardo's masterful techniques). The Mona Lisa encouraged others to be free and make more compositional art, instead of what art was expected to be, which was a copy of reality. It changed art and the way artists looked at art forever.

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