Rena F. LaCaria - The passion of ART!

Below are some variations on Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa. The artist and location of the piece, where known, are named. Three of them were painted by Leonardo's pupils and friends.

In studying the Mona Lisa, we can see that she sat in a chair similar to this one. This is a folding chair from the Middle Ages that was common as far back as the Roman era.

The paintings below show the image of the Mona Lisa sitting in a chair and six of them show a banister or balcony. Leonardo's Mona Lisa was originally painted with the woman sitting in a chair on a balcony overlooking a view. Over one shoulder, distant clouds and mountains were displayed in a haze; on one side, a bridge with blue water appearing wet and cold in the background, and over her other shoulder, an old road winding around into the valley, toward the water, and her form is framed by colonnades displayed on both sides.

FACT: In looking at the Mona Lisa from the viewer's perspective, the hands are resting on the top of the arm of the chair, with the chair-arm curving slightly up towards the back of the chair on the right, similar to the one that is shown in the picture here, but not as high in the back, due to the carved decoration. Also, Mona Lisa's chair has an additional spindle in the middle of the chair that was not added in the recreation of the painting of The Mona Lisa on a Balcony. In da Vinci's time, there were many folding chairs of this type, designed in different ways to show elegance, yet made durable to use for travel. The one shown on the right has survived over the centuries and was used in recreating the Mona Lisa.

Artist's Opinion: Leonardo da Vinci believed in the reality of Origin; everything in existence had to have a place and basis in reality in order for him to create and achieve his works, to bring them into being as working mechanisms. His understanding the human body later became the foundation for his destiny.

Leonardo dissected human cadavers and made meticulous drawings using precise mathematical calculations. He used several of these drawings as a blueprint for many of his paintings. He placed 4 diamond shapes in the area of the stomach, which can be seen in the area of the stomach of the famous Canon of Proportions, in order to make the body bend, move, and turn in distributing placement. The Mona Lisa was also created this way.

She is said to be perfect, but if you take a good look at her, she is not. Placement for her surroundings are not accurate based on his specifications as to the layout of proportions. In the background of the Mona Lisa are two columns, placed one on each side, that can slightly be seen, but most of the time, no one notices. The bases of the columns sit on a bannister directly behind the Mona. The columns are spaced from one side to the other and are in exact proportion in placement of the figure of the Mona Lisa.

In da Vinci's mind, everything had to be blended together in proportions, such as light, shade, darkness, shadow, colors, size and placement of drawings. Leonardo would never have painted the Mona Lisa leaving a line to represent columns on both sides, they would have to be displayed as frameworks for the body of the Mona Lisa.

I believe much of the painting has been removed by someone over the years. It could have been damaged and had to be removed, since it was painted on wood, or maybe it was made smaller in order to fit in a certain location. If a person looks closely at the bottom of the painting, viewer perspective on the left, close to the arm of the chair, a small silver hook can be seen, and in looking at the bottom of the painting it gives the impression that there should be more to see below.

It can clearly be seen that someone removed the Mona Lisa from it's original setting, by using the columns on the sides and space under the arm-chair as a straight edge, producing a square guideline to cut and remove the Mona Lisa from her home-state, but leaving the light in the background to accent her image. I recreated the Mona Lisa using Leonardo's measurements for placement, as he used in his other works, including the Shroud of Turin.

In the book, Leonardo, The Man Behind the Shroud, text explains how Leonardo created the Mona Lisa and other masterpieces by using placement drawings made from his research while dissecting human bodies.

~ Rena F. LaCaria

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Carrara Academy in Bergamo, 17th century	Chamber of Deputies, Rome Italy. Painted by Bernardino Luini, one of Leonardo's pupils.

La Belle Gabrielle, 16th century. Belongs to the Earl of Spencer collection, Northampton, England.	Prado, Madrid. 16th century, artist unknown

The National Gallery in Oslo, signed by Bernardino Luini. MDXXV	Located in Thalwil, Switzerland, this copy belongs to Dr. Carl Muller and was painted by Leonardo da Vinci's pupil and friend, Salai.

Vernon collection, located in the United States	The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, Maryland

The Mona Lisa on a Balcony by Rena LaCaria Click the picture for a side-by-side comparison with Leonardo's original.	Close-up of Mona Lisa's hands, by Rena LaCaria
The book, Leonardo, The Man Behind the Shroud, details how LEONARDO DA VINCI created the MONA LISA by using the same drawings he manipulated to transfer the image of a man to the cloth referred to as the SHROUD OF TURIN. This book is available for scholarly review and research at the Library of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.