A New Age is Coming

A New Age is Coming

There was a time when the Mona Lisa hung just above Napoleon’s bed. It’s said that

he would lie for hours, enthralled with every perfect brush stroke. A masterpiece

that has been shrouded in mystery; her’s was a space that men could live in.

Her smile represents the very same thing that the juniper branches represent

Ginnevra Benci and the ermine represents to Cecillia Gallerani in their portraits.

They are simply visual representations of the Italian word “Giaconda.” It is this word

that is a central ideal in the “Mona Lisa”... Happiness. But I reckon, to spend this

article talking on smiles and beauty and happiness alone would be wasteful. The

power of Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa is far deeper than the simple loveliness that Napoleon

saw in her.

Circa 1500 Leonardo Da Vinci was commissioned to paint the portrait of the wife of

the wealthy Italian aristocrat, Franceso del Giocondo. This would be the portrait

known as the “Madam Lisa”. Yet for all their wealth and social status the Mona Lisa’s

attire is unremarkable. Her delicate scarf is thought to show mourning; the couple

lost a daughter to illness in 1499 AD. Neither her sleeves, nor gown, nor hair, show

any aristocratic status all.

Prior to the works completion, the reprehensible Pope Rodrigo Borgia would brag

on Leonardo’s masterpiece. Claiming that he was able to see every detail in every

eyelash on the work, an element that that some assume Da Vinci left out as a slight

to “His Holiness”. Historically, the decadent Borgia is considered one of the most

corrupt of the Renaissance Popes, siring 6 or more illegitimate children. He was also

a financial supporter of Leonardo Da Vinci. At the time, it was the Catholic church

and the aristocracy that were chief patrons of the arts.

In the early 1500’s Da Vinci flees the influence of the Catholic Church and Italian

aristocracy and heads to Paris, never presenting the work to Giocondo. It is recorded

that Da Vinci himself so guarded the painting that he would carry it with him as he

traveled about his day.

But why is this work so important? Why was it so dangerous?

And finally, why is she smiling?

I believe Leonardo Da Vinci understood the very nature of art. And that nature is

progress.

He knew that art must become a tool of all people, not the aristocracy alone. And

From the Mona Lisa flowed a river of enlightened thought known as the

Renaissance. Da Vinci was able to envision this future, and courageously fled from

the most powerful political force on the planet, claiming the fine arts as our own.

Da Vinci depicts the Mona Lisa as simple and poor, much like the mother of God. Not

the same Mary in the “high art” of the time; adorned with a crown of heaven. Da

Vinci’s power is in bringing the high to low, and exalting the low to high.

In my opinion it takes a tremendous amount of courage to show things as the way

they should be, rather than the way they are.

She smiles because she knows...She Knows a new age is coming; an age where ideas

and thoughts and issues and ideas could be represented visually for all. Where fine

art itself became a tool in advancing the thoughts mankind.

Art is a language that we can see and interpret. Art is not simply drawing...or

painting... or making of things. But it is a tool that instigates discussion in a search

for greater understanding. And from true honest discussion, comes enlightenment.

I often think of my own place in the arts. What is my voice in this entire flood of

enlightenment? What can I offer? Even Da Vinci is recording as saying,

“I have offended God and mankind because my work did not reach the quality it

should have.”

Humbling...

There is one anecdote that I think on if I ever am discouraged with my own life’s

work and progress.

Da Vinci was in his studio working on an immaculate sculpture, chiseled from

perfect white marble. Priceless. A close friend soon visited him. The friend confided

in Leonardo disappointment in his life. He talked of his failures and a feeling of

hopelessness. Leonardo then quietly walked over to his priceless sculpture and said:

“ If you find you have lost you way... simply start again.” He then pushed his

sculpture over and it broke into pieces on his studio floor.