Thursday, July 07, 2005


The Mona Lisa (Italian, Spanish: La Gioconda; French: La Joconde), less commonly rendered as the Monna Lisa, is an oil painting on poplar wood by the famous Italian Renaissance artist eonardo da Vinci. The painting shows a woman looking out at the viewer with what is often described as an "enigmatic smile". The title means "Madam Lisa". It stems from Vasari's identification of the sitter as the wife of Francesco del Giocondo, a wealthy Florentine businessman. Her name is known to have been Lisa. The alternative title La Gioconda is the feminine form of Giocondo. Coincidentally, in Italian giocondo means 'light-hearted' ('jocund' in English), so "gioconda" means "light hearted woman". Because of her smile, this version of the title plays on this double-meaning, as in the French "La Joconde". (Source: Wikipedia)

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