The Mona Lisa and Leonardo Da Vinci

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Introduction
According to Biography.com, Leonardo da Vinci was born in the year 1452 in the little town of Vinci. In his tender age as a young boy, he developed a passion for drawing nature. His portraits were mostly paintings of religion and nature in a rather realistic manner. Leonardo da Vinci took three years to complete the portrait of Mona Lisa. He derived a lot of pride in this particular piece of work so much so that he always carried it around with him up to the time of his demise. After his death, the Portrait was acquired by the King of France and is now preserved in the Louvre Museum in Paris, France. The Mona Lisa portrait has been considered a renowned artistic masterpiece due to its unique drawing style that depicts a Leonardo’s artistic endowments that enabled him to translate his views about nature into subtle paintings with a highly magnificent daintiness and finesse. The true identity of the woman in the Mona Lisa portrait remains an issue of intellectual discourse due to a myriad of theories attempting to identify her. According to cracked.com, among the identified theories to identify the Mona Lisa are; that the woman was her speculated girlfriend, Isabela of Aragon; that she was her mother, Caterina; others claim it was Leonardo da Vinci’s-self feminine portrait. However, the most acclaimed theory to explain the identity of Mona Lisa was that she is the wife of a wealthy businessman in Florence, known as Lisa Gherardini. The Mona Lisa portrait has been famed due to the mystique and mystery of the woman’s facial expression. The woman expresses an enigmatic smile that is subject to varied intepretations. Leonardo da Vinci’s delicate mastery of tone and color in the painting has also raised a lot of attention f...

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... Vinci Biography. Biography.com [online] available at accessed April 7, 2014
Jansen, M. (2014). Da Vinci's Mona Lisa, Paintings Abstract Art, [online] available at < http://leonardo-da-vinci.paintings.name/> accessed April 7, 2014.
Sassoon, D. (2001) Why I think Mona Lisa became an icon, At The Hearts of the Higher Education Debate. [online] available at http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/news/why-i-think-mona-lisa-became-an icon/164983.article accessed April 7, 2014
Jaleel, A. (2010). Painting Analysis – Mona Lisa – Leonardo da Vinci Asad123's Blog [online] available at http://asad123.com/2010/10/02/painting-analysis-mona-lisa-leonardo-da vinci/ accessed April 7, 2014.
Cracked, (n. d). The Mona Lisa. Cracked. [online] available at < http://www.cracked.com/funny-6797-the-mona-lisa/> accessed April 7, 2014

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