Yet the Isleworth Mona Lisa not only has the columns but has the bases beautifully moulded, with the shadow distinctly painted at an angle across the left extremity of the balustrade. Compare the two reproductions of the Mona Lisa paintings given in this book,[1] and examine carefully Raphael's drawing, also reproduced.
If, however, the Louvre Mona Lisa were the second of the portraits seen by Fra Nuvolaria with the St. Anne in Florence in 1501 —Giocondo having received his bespoken portrait in 1505—this second portrait—also, of course, unfinished—would have remained with the unfinished St. Anne in Florence, and they together would have accompanied Leonardo finally to France in 1516, where they would have been finished.[2] But, as Richter truly remarks, Leonardo, 'during the few years that he lived there, was in a feeble state of health'; and Cardinal d'Aragon's secretary tells us that on October 10, 1517, 'a certain paralysis has attacked his right hand,' which might account for the very imperfect bases of the suggested columns, and the total absence of the shadow even of the base; an omission which the robust Leonardo would have denounced as 'despicable' and which could not have occurred in the 1500- 1504 Mona Lisa.
So far, then, we have two paintings of Mona Lisa; one, the Isleworth picture, with an unfinished background, which supports Vasari's deliberate statement of 'unfinished' and with the columns distinct, which are verified by Raphael's drawing; the second, the Louvre picture, without columns but with a highly-finished back ground. Moreover, it is a most significant fact that the background of the St. Anne and that of the Louvre Mona Lisa are almost similar. Müntz quotes the great French artist M. Michel's description of 'the weird landscape that stretches behind the Giocondo,' he pertinently remarks, 'the same appears in the St. Anne.'[3] All the numerous copies, early or late, French or otherwise, have this 'weird landscape' as a background. Again, Müntz says: 'A detail of costume
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- ↑ The proof of the first reproduction of the Louvre Mona Lisa compared so unfavour ably with that of the Isleworth version that the first block was returned to the makers and another obtained, which is now printed in this book. But though no pains were spared to obtain the best results possible, the comparison of the two reproductions tells its own story, and from these the reader can form his own judgment as to the respective merits of each picture.
- ↑ 'The King (Francis I) desired that he should colour the cartoon of St. Anne, but Leonardo, according to his custom, put him off for a long time with words.' Vasari (vol. 4, p. 104); also Müntz (vol. 2, p. 122).
- ↑ Müntz (vol. 2, p. 131). Again Rosenberg, referring to the background in the nude figure in the Hermitage at St. Petersburg, says: 'The carriage and the whole arrangement of the figure are akin to Mona Lisa, and the resemblance between the backgrounds is still greater.' Monograph (p. 116). This portrait was done by a pupil of the master's.
