Essays on Mona Lisa

Heralded as one of the wonders of the art world, Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa has inspired artists and sparked debates for centuries. At a price point of about $787 million, one must wonder if this incredible price point is due to the ongoing mystery of what lies behind Mona Lisa’s smile. It is reported that Da Vinci played music for Mona Lisa while he painted her, however the validity of this is up for debate, much like the cause for the expression on her face. It is my personal opinion that the slight smile was due to ...

Abstract

The birth of art had served humanity in a variety of purposes. And this purpose has changed throughout the course of human history. Humans use art to showcase their religious belief, to express emotions, to depict the beauty of an individual or a particular landscape, to record a significant event and for propaganda. Moreover, the way humans perceive art are constantly changing. Cultural art arises from the need to express emotions and the different aspects of cultures. On the other hand, modern-day contemporary art is inclined to make use of various objects and to combine genres which make the ...

Rembrandt's, The Night Watch, is perhaps the most classic example of a Baroque painting and Leonardo Da Vinci's, The Mona Lisa, is one of the most famous paintings. Both paintings are oil- based and the artists made use of light and shadows to produce a greater effect. Da Vinci uses the sfumato technique to achieve a light and shadow effect. He makes the light bounce off the subject's skin in certain places while other parts of the painting are left in darker shadows (Gherardini). In comparison, Rembrandt is known as the master of light and shadows and made masterful ...

Mid Term Exam

Discuss the impact of the theories of Immanuel Kant, Charles Darwin and Jean-Paul Sartre on modernity.

Jean-Paul Sartre was flourished in Existentialism. He believed that a man acts in his free will in the society and time in which he lives. This philosophy inspired others to acknowledge their own free thinking and live the life they believed in. It broke the cookie cutter of what people were otherwise programmed to be and motivated others to break free in essence of their true self. It’s the true quest to fine a purpose in life. Because Jean Paul Sartre wrote and published many of his writings on Existentialism, his readers began to think ...

[Class Title]

Introduction There is no limit to what human intellect can achieve. This mindset is particularly evident during the Renaissance; a period in European history wherein there was a significant ‘rebirth’ or revival of classical work. Scholars believe that the Renaissance started sometime in the 13th century and ended at the onset of the postmodern era in the late 16th century. During this period, Europeans became increasingly interested in the arts, architecture and science of ancient Greek and Rome. The significance of the Renaissance is that it ended the long period of cultural darkness that characterized the Middle ...

Sacrament is a term used in Christianity to refer to rites recognized by the Christian religion that are of significant importance to the Christian faith. The catechism of the Catholic believers denotes the sacraments as the efficacious signs mainly of grace, that according to the Catholic Church are or rather were instituted by Jesus Christ and entrusted to the religion through the church. The sacraments are believed to be the means by which divinity is revealed to the believers. These beliefs are the basis for sacramental theology. Da Vinci code symbols are picked from the art work of the ...

Summer break is always the perfect time to experience something new. However, I wasn’t in the market for shopping for new experiences but rather continue with the things I was used that. That would be chilling on some beach with my friends, looking good, and meeting new people all summer long. However, my parents had other plans for how I would spend my summer: in Paris, France! I was totally psyched to go until I saw my mom’s schedule for the trip. Museums, gardens, some playbill? Ugh. Talk about an expensive field trip. Not only were that ...

Mona Lisa portrait caused a stir when it was out on display for the first time. According to history Mona Lisa was not so special, but just a young wife belonging to a Florentine merchant known as Giocondo. According to records, "Mona" was a prefix which stood for "Madonna" or rather "Mrs." The Portrait belonged to the high Renaissance works in several ways. First was the excellent utilization of the perspective with the total number of lines converging in one diminishing point on her head with a triangle like composition forming the significance of geometry of the whole painting. ...

INTRODUCTION

Leonardo da Vinci is deservedly considered to be the most well-known art master of the Renaissance. Examining almost all important spheres of human life, from physics to anatomy, Leonardo, however, left a substantial trace in the history of arts. His paintings, all perfectly performed and delivering a deep meaning by every detail, are now the absolute examples as well as the mysterious enigma. In fact, St. John the Baptists is considered by some to be the last work of the master, therefore, it is still considered to be one of the most controversial. Anyway, this painting represents the genius ...

Mona Lisa was an oil painting made by Leonardo da Vinci in the sixteenth century. It was meant for the eyes of the upper-class, having been bought by King Francois in the year 1516 and later spending some time in the bedroom of Napoleon. Leonardo neither signed nor dated the Mona Lisa, but he gets credit for its creation. To emphasize this fact, Antonio de Beatis makes a formal reference in his journal after Leonardo da Vinci showed it to him together with two other paintings. The artist's aim after making it was to stay with it; he had ...

Everyone knows that the art is very important in society. Fine art, prose and poetry, music and film improve our everyday life, make it brighter, brings joy and comfort. Yet sometimes there are people who do not agree with this statement. They argue that art is a waste of energy and resources, and areas such as science and industry are truly important since they produce items that necessary for the society. However, this opinion is incorrect, since art in general, and the people involved in it in particular, have a huge impact and significance in society. Our life would ...

Hellenistic Civilizations

a. Art form or medium b. Purpose of the piece c. Individual or group responsible for the piece d. Meaning of the work e. The culture and the artist f. Influence by art and culture from previous civilizations g. Relation to artwork within the same civilization or era h. Meaning and value of the piece in modern-day cultures The different art forms and media whether architecture, music, visual art, or literature from different past civilization offer the modern civilization spectacular cultures and pieces that continue to greatly influence and act as a ...

The Mona Lisa

The role of the artist in this case is to render a likeness of the individual who is to be in the portrait. During the Renaissance, the master artists such as Leonardo da Vinci were commissioned to paint the portraits of the wealthy citizens of Florence and the other major cities in Italy at the time. The artist’s function was simply to render and create the portrait of the customer or the subject. The art piece may have had several functions. The first is to “immortalize” the image of the subject so that his or her image could be ...

Women in art have always been a very mysterious and intriguing object to observe, both from the perspective of women as an object and a subject for the painting. Mona Lisa is possibly the most recognized painting in the world. She still puzzles its every observer with her gaze and feeble smile, welcoming him to silent communication. Frida Kahlo is the world’s most recognized woman artist. However, she neither invites for silent conversation in her Self-Portrait with Cropped Hair, nor does she puzzle the observer. What Frida does, is pictures her soul openly and frankly, not hiding anything, not leaving ...

The purpose of this paper is to differentiate the Medieval Art from Renaissance Style. The way to study the present is to first study the past; hence, the Renaissance style that flourished in the beginning of the 15th century was nothing more than a rebirth and continuation of the classical styles whilst breaking free from the traditional religious concepts of the Medieval Period. The Middle Ages or commonly known as the Medieval Period is a part of the European history dating from the fall of the Roman Empire in 476 A.D. Erstwhile, in 395 A.D., the Roman Empire was divided into ...

Introduction

Leonardo da Vinci (1452 – 1519) was around 13 years old when his family moved to Florence from the Tuscan village of Vinci. In youth he was an apprentice of the Florentine painter and sculptor Verrocchio. In 1481 or 1482 Leonardo travelled to Milan to work for the ruling Sforza family. There he spent much of his time on “military and civil engineering projects, including both urban-renewal and fortification plans for the city”. At the same time he created few key paintings of the Renaissance: the altarpiece “The Virgin of the Rocks” (1483) for the chapel in the church of ...

Artists use preliminary sketches as the backbone of their drawing. Just like the skeleton, it provides the framework for the human body. Preliminary sketches are important in the painting. In this stage, the artist plans everything starting from the design, theme, colours and the delivery of the message. Art is widely known as the artist’s soul because they perceive the world quite differently. They have quirky, imaginative minds that might appear as bizarre to other people (Kallen, 64). In short, they express themselves through art. Sketching is commonly the initial layout of any painting. Famous people from the ...

The first piece of artwork I chose is an advertisement from the New World Pasta Company. They carry a line of foods under the brand name of the Prince brand. The advertisement uses the famous and very recognizable artwork, the Mona Lisa by artist Leonardo DaVinci. This was a print ad which is no longer in circulation; however the image is available at the Hess Design website. The purpose of the ad was to sell spaghetti sauce. The ad was attempting to evoke the emotion of happiness. Happiness was implied because spaghetti is often seen as a comfort food. The New ...

Subversion involves the use of version control software. According to Margaret Rouse, any alteration made to a file or directory contents is traceable over time. Using the SVN software, the different stages of change are recordable and can be undone. Any changes made to folders translate to modification of the subversion repository contents. Any type of file can be manipulated i.e. photos, videos, all office suite documents, WebPages and can extend to websites. Repositories located as online data banks in HTTP and HTML format are modifiable. For instance, in a website that allows users to modify content, it is easier to ...

Analysis of the Underpinnings of the Conceptual Art Movement

Introduction The Conceptual Art Movement challenged prevalent notions of what art should be as exemplified by artists including Marcel Duchamp, Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse as well as Richard Irving, and contemporary Conceptual artist Richard Este discussed in this academic evaluation. Conceptual artists originally rebuffed the name given the body of heterogeneous groupings of their work depicting a wide variety of types and styles of art (Green 200l). By 1970, the Conceptual Art Movement rejection of traditional definitions of art set their work apart internationally. Still controversial in the 21st century, this document provides an analysis of the underpinnings of ...

Examining the vital and distinct differences between street art and pop art, it is necessary to look at several examples. Andy Warhol’s portrait of Che Guevara, created in 1968, is a perfect example of pop art – a genre that Warhol himself innovated. In this work, nine differently colorized images of Che Guevara are presented in a tiled manner, each of them having a different brilliantly neon color scheme. This particular image is pop art due to its appropriation of pop culture imagery in order to make an artistic statement in a formal, artistic exhibition context; the use of Che’s iconic image in ...

The Renaissance period refers to the era in history that occurred around 1400 through to the sixteenth century. This era came immediately after the middle Ages. Its trends reflected classical antiquity in science, music, literature and philosophy. It would be right to say that this era was initially noted in Italy and was common in Europe. The style also incorporated innovations of emerging trends as time passed and this form of art came to be known as Renaissance art. The foundation of this art was traditional royalties. The works of artists in this period so strongly created a culture of ...

Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci

This painting is probably the most famous one in the world and is a great work of art that contains all the elements of style that one looks for in a portrait. First of all the expression is a direct and almost informal, the sitter looks at the viewer in an almost impassionate and sensual manner that cuts to the bone. Leonardo’s use of soft colourings is also very powerful indeed. Mona Lisa’s staring gaze is formal and direct; she seems to be oblivious of what is going on about her whilst the background blends beautifully with the whole subject ...

The Drawing Technique of Leonardo Da Vinci

Drawing is a form of expression in the study of visual arts. An artist marks lines and areas on the paper to express the visual world on the surface. Most of the traditional artists used monochromes in their plane surface, unlike the modern artists, apply a wide variety of colors. There is a difference between drawing and painting. In the painting, the artist uses liquid paint and applies onto a canvas or a panel while drawing uses dry media such as chalk. Drawing is a form of composition to pass on a message and solve problems. Some artists often use studies to draw objects then paint ...

Introduction

Hierarchic scale refers to the act or process of manipulating the size and the space in a given picture. Usually, this is done in order to emphasize the importance of some specific object in the picture. For instance, when an individual undertakes to paint a picture of some woman in a farm of vegetables, one could do several things to the picture in order to emphasize the importance and the value that is attached to the object in question. If the most important thing in that picture is the shoe that the woman is wearing, then the person painting the picture would ...

Leonardo da Vinci: Mona Lisa

Da Vinci’s ‘Mona Lisa’ better known as Mona Lisa has captivated the hearts and minds of millions for several hundreds of years since its conception. It is truly a great work of art in that it is basically simple yet its true life approach makes it one of the most desirable paintings ever to grace a collection of great masters. Principally, Mona Lisa contains a visual expression of a woman in the height of her prime. Her staring gaze is undeterred by what is going on around her; she almost seems to be completely fixated with what is in the foreground ...

Introduction

The first work of art is a play, Romeo and Juliet, written by William Shakespeare. Many experts believe it have been written between 1591 and 1595. However, this play was first published in 1597 in a quarto version. It was first performed in a theatre in London. The idea behind Romeo and Juliet is to depict the ill effects of family rivalry on the innocent children of these families who find themselves victims of circumstance. It is a tale of two young people from two wealthy families in London falling hopelessly in love with each other oblivious of the impossibility of them ...

Photographs capture the current state of the world in terms of culture and philosophy. Photographs are an integral part of mainstream media. They are used to pass on information about the status quo in terms of both political and cultural power. Though seemingly simple and irrelevant a deep analysis of photographs reveals a lot about the culture of the society from where the photograph is taken. Photographs are also very important in evaluating the psychology of the person taking the photograph. The media artifact in my discussion is photographs. The following essay discusses photographs under the feminist theory and the queer ...

Leonardo da Vinci: Mona Lisa

Da Vinci’s ‘Mona Lisa’ better known as Mona Lisa has captivated the hearts and minds of millions for several hundreds of years since its conception. It is truly a great work of art in that it is basically simple yet its true life approach makes it one of the most desirable paintings ever to grace a collection of great masters. The comparison painting is the one of Ginevra da Benci which was painted by Leonardo in 1479/80, almost twenty five years before the Mona Lisa. Although it is a relatively early work by Leonardo, some of the stylistic features which ...

The aim of this paper is to present you with the reflections drawn on the picture of a woman wearing a T-shirt presented on one of the pages of Berger’s essay ‘Ways of seeing’. Berger published this essay which actually consists a paper of criticism as far as art and its perception is concerned in 1972. A television programme on BBC had come before, which arouse great interest within the borders of the artistic community and attracted a great number of viewers. The book compared to the TV series has the advantage of including photographs which either accompany the text ...

Leonardo da Vinci: Mona Lisa

Da Vinci’s ‘Mona Lisa’ better known as Mona Lisa has captivated the hearts and minds of millions for several hundreds of years since its conception. It is truly a great work of art in that it is basically simple yet its true life approach makes it one of the most desirable paintings ever to grace a collection of great masters. Principally, Mona Lisa contains a visual expression of a woman in the height of her prime. Her staring gaze is undeterred by what is going on around her; she almost seems to be completely fixated with what is in the foreground ...

Report on six (6) pieces of art work of the Louvre Museum

The aim of this essay is to present you with a detailed description of six (6) different pieces of art work which are to be found and seen in the Louvre Museum. A description of these art works along with a brief background informative on their creation, their artists as well as their thesis in the field of art, are to be analyzed in this essay. In addition, the thoughts of me while observing them and seeing them in the Museum, the personal reflections, along with the portraying of the feelings generated within myself, which followed the experience of looking ...

Question 1

Art has to have the ability to evoke a reaction from the people interacting with it, either from the sentimental meaning the specific work of art elicits, or from the aesthetic value it creates. Art is the conversion of obscurity and rendering of meaning to it. Clay in its natural state cannot be depicted as a work of art. An artist sources the clay, in this instance the raw material and transforms it into something meaningful such as a flower vase. The artist gives the specific work of art form while interactions with the work of art elicit different reactions and varying ...

Introduction

The aim of this paper is to conduct an analysis three works of art. First, the paper will present the background information about the artists, followed by description of each art piece and origin and the current location of the art work. Secondly, the paper will explain the artistic message that each artist intended to communicate. In general, the paper will evaluate and analyze the works based on research, using artistic vocabulary, and concepts. Drawing is a form of visual art made with a pen, pencil, or crayon rather than paint. Drawing also refers to virtual representation of forms or ...

Compare Bruegel’s Hunters in the Snow (figure 16.14 on page 260) with Whispering Pines on a Mountain Path by Tang Yin

Coldness and the desire to go inside to rest next to a burning fire is a sensation that reveals from Bruegel’s painting “Hunters in the Snow”, combined with the vivid desire to stay out and enjoy the excitement of winter, facing the cold. This is an antagonist view portrayed by Bruegel who surprises the winter season with its hardships and its joys: while some men and their dogs are coming back from hunting tired and seemingly dull, for having a small capture (solely a rabid seems to have been hunted) a group of women are in charge with their daily tasks, but they ...

The world of Marcel Duchamp’s artwork and influence on the modern art.

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Art180- Modern Art History

2519 words There have been many famous and excellent artists in the twentieth century. Their art works are famous until now not only in their country but also all over the world and a lot of current artists follow them.Even though they do not exist now any more and their art works are pretty antique, they influence on current artists a lot.Some of artists are very famous so people,who are even not related to art, know their name at least. Marcel Duchamp is one of them. Many people say “There is no innovate art after Marcel Duchamp.” This ...

Introduction

Leonardo da Vinci was a renowned Italian polymath. He is well known as a sculptor, painter, writer or an architect. In his artwork, he is mainly known for his painting skills and creativity. People describe his work as artwork built on “feverishly inventive imagination”. This signifies the originality that goes with the artwork of the individual. From his tender age, Leonardo has been defined of painting expertise since his birth. This is because; the first school that he attended was in a studio of a renowned painter. Therefore, Leonardo had been exposed to painting at an extremely tender age. This nurtured his talent ...

1) Oscar Wilde Oscar Wilde's many poems, plays and novels poke subtle fun at the Victorian mainstream, addressing the faults and the problems inherent within that society. Many of his works deal with the decadence and beauty of the Victorian upper class, as well as how empty and duplicitous that society is. By painting detailed portraits of flawed and overly vain characters, he shows the Victorian aristocrat as someone nearly inhuman, and far from sympathetic. In many ways, it transcends the nature of the Victorian mainstream by holding a mirror up to it and pointing out its flaws, whether ...

They worshiped the perfect physic. They achieved the highest pinnacle of architecture and set a standard that people are still following today. They perfected the portrayal of the human figure. Even in their politics they tried for perfection. Yes, the Greeks were idealists. They had a general ideal: an ideal of perfect balance, harmony, and order to create the perfect lifestyle and the perfect art forms. How did the ancient Greeks seek after perfection in all aspects of their civilization? Did they achieve their lofty goals? The Ancient Greeks had a general ideal: an ideal of perfect balance , harmony, and order ...

Introduction

Leonardo da Vinci is widely considered as one of the greatest painters and artists of all time. He is one of the most diversely talented artists ever to have lived especially in the ancient eras where art was not fully discovered. He was an Italian Renaissance polymath given than he combined many skills including those of a painter, scientist, anatomist, botanist, mathematician and musician and also a sculptor (Grack, 18). Leonardo has been described by artists as the archetype of the Renaissance man with many referring him as a man of a feverishly inventive imagination. Despite the recent times awareness and admiration of ...

Dada is a style of theatre and performance that emphasizes chaos in lieu of order and civility. The irrational is king; Dadaists believe that colonialism and capitalism are the reasons that people go to war, using 'logic' and 'reason' to allow these terrible things to happen. With this in mind, Dadaist plays and playwrights sought to emphasize the silly, the abstract and the idiotic. This is indicative in several plays and works of the early 20th century, and Dadaist works that continue to this day. In this essay, we will examine the history of Dada, the ways in which it ...

In modern times, we are creatures of specialization. Artists are no longer scientists; sculptors no longer theorize about nature. However, in the Renaissance, great minds could generalize, and none did so with more flair than Leonardo da Vinci, who designed and made sculptures; planned buildings; conceptualized a flying machine; speculated on human nature and anatomy; and made maps of the known world. The term “Renaissance man” has long meant a person of many interests, and none followed a broader spectrum.

Born in Anchiano, near Vinci, in the republic of Florence, on April 15, 1452, da Vinci was the illegitimate issue of Piero ...

Abstract

In this essay, two Renaissance paintings are compared in terms of their form, subject matter, and content. Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa and Raphael's Madonna and Child are both seen to have incredible depictions of contemplative, enigmatic women interacting with nature, thus indicating a serenity with their surroundings. However, while the Mona Lisa directs her attention to the audience, inviting them to revel in her beauty and the glory of nature, Madonna and Child directs that same serenity and beauty from the woman onto the baby and the book that she is holding. This indicates a slight separation from nature, while ...