Secrets of the Mona Lisa 

I went to the Louvre and as someone with a degree in fine art I was so excited to see some of the most famous pieces of art, what I wasn’t that bothered about was seeing the Mona Lisa but as they say: ‘when in Rome’. Luckily we must’ve hit it at a quiet time and being small I was able to weave my way to the front fairly quickly and I have to say I was surprisingly enraptured by the Mona Lisa. I’m not sure if it was because I had such low expectations, knowing that she was so small and expecting to be waiting for ages to see her up close or because I appreciated the techniques and the historical significance of the painting (or more likely both) but I found myself unable to look away from her and it was all I could talk about for the rest of the day, it felt like seeing a celebrity

When i hear about another Mona Lisa being found, I can’t help thinking of that Doctor Who serial back in the 70s where an alien stuck on earth forces DaVinci to paint multiple Monas to be able to sell them later

Everyone I've ever talked to who has seen the Mona Lisa says it's smaller than they expected, but I remember when visited the Louvre in 2015, it was actually bigger than I expected. I also have never experienced the "eyes following the viewer everywhere in the room" illusion, so I have maintained not much more regard for the painting than any of its contemporaries. This video has changed that -- I didn't know it was painted on slabs of wood! Also, the engineering that goes into keeping a 500 year old painting soup-proof but also minimizing the impersonal nature of a glass case is amazing!

"But enough about me" bahaha I laughed harder than I should have 😂

genuinely thank you, as having heard why artists respect and enjoy this painting is really interesting. the lack of defined lines is striking especially when taken from a pioneer within the genre. while i still wouldnt want to pay to travel to see the painting in person i can now really understand why artists would wish to do so.

Man I was about to say, the old "lady" who was trying to vandalize it was nuts, only to find out it was a 30 something man lol.

i dont think it was a painting OF his apprentice, but its certainly plausible he had him sit as a posed portrait model to get the shadows and folds of the garment and so on...

Went through the Louvre in 2002. Must say, paintings in general do little for me, (although a good Albert Namatjira landscape I certainly admire) and the Mona Lisa is good only because of the person who did it. In 2000, during the Sydney Olympics, Bill Gates donated a codex (note pad) of Leonardo’s. The pages were kept pressed between two panes of glass, in a cabinet with inert gas and under special lighting so as to not damage the paper. THAT was outstanding! To look at his hand drawn sketches and his own handwriting was just amazing. Sure, the helicopter he drew may have needed adjustments to actually fly, but to consider this was in the mind of someone 500 years before a helicopter was ever built…. And his anatomy drawings and the Vitruvian Man….unbelievable!

I liked the part where Simon said "grilled Salmon".

It's more than just a little compelling that you can overlay Da Vinci's face onto Mona Lisa's and the facial features match perfectly. Whoever it was supposed to be a portrait of, I believe he just used a mirror and some imagination.

The hallway in front of the room the Mona Lisa is in has so many incredible pieces of art. Heck, in the same room, across from the Mona Lisa, there's an amazing mural! Its not worth the effort to see it.

For future reference: 7:19 Brunelleschi pronounced "broon-el-es-kee", 19:29 Guillaume pronounced "gee-yome", 24:54 Uffizi pronounced "oo-feet-see"

A one-of-a-kind painting that no AI can replicate.

Is there anything more Kafkaesque than crowds of people queuing to see a picture that isn’t there?

It’s a troubling thought that destroying a unique work of art would ever result in support of the vandals.

Ooh! Speaking of the Louvré, did you hear they accepted a basketball hoop as a piece of art? I hear it's considered a... Rim-brandt! :)

All I can think of is the Magic Treehouse book about the Mona Lisa. Gave me a real appreciation for the painting and the artist

500 years ago beauty standards were different. High foreheads were in, and women sometimes shaved their hairlines toacheive it. Her eyebrows may have been shaved as well. Of course, she may have had medical problems too. People back then didn't live very long in general, few ever reached the age of 50. Interesting video!

Leonardo was amazing, not only was he a a great artist, he also lead the turtles to defeat The Shredder and he starred in Titanic, what a guy...

The story behind "The Battle of Anghiari" is also very interesting.

FYI: The reference photo @ 1:16 is wrong. This particular photo is published in a lot of books etc (I don't know why), but it has a bad yellow cast to it, which makes the painting look more "aged" (i.e. with yellow varnish) than it is in real life. It's something that annoys me. I wish people would stop using that bad copy. If you check modern photos (with a correct colour temperature), you will see what I mean.

I READ WHERE IT IS A PORTRAIT OF HIMSELF

"It is a very pretty painting." - The Fourth Doctor, *City of Death*

The last bonus fact reminds me my graduation exhibition sometime ago -- it was a collaborated exhibition, and during the installation time there was a pile of tubes and wraps sitting on a table in the middle of the space, when I got a bit closer to the table I was warned by somebody nearby "be careful, it might be someone's artwork!" and it turned out they were spare construction material for the venue renovation since the installation wasn't finished yet... 🤣🤣

Thank you for another excellent video essay! As always, I learned a lot here. But, I must admit that I was hoping that you'd explore the controversial theory that the Mona Lisa is actually a self-portrait by Leonardo, depicting himself as a young woman. I'm not saying that I believe that theory, but it is very interesting, and worth exploring. But I loved this video.

Nicely done. 😊

Yes It's a lot smaller than many people realise Yet it's so well known and treated like an ancient gem stone! 😅

10:06 How in the world can you accurately assess the skin colour of someone with a painting of that person done centuries ago? Pigments get altered over time, vanish yellowed and the art of painting is not like photographie!

The Freud bit 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Love this video! 4:45, 9:35, 14:55, and 16:35--the actor portraying Leonardo is drawing and painting with his right hand but much evidence exists to conclude that Leonardo was left-handed

Looks like Perugia was properly interrogated in his left eye.

That intro though🤣

The thing that blew me away was discovering it was painted on wood, not canvas. SINCE WHEN???

Sweet!

I didn’t even know about the whole theft thing! What I do know, is if you cover Mona Lisa’s eyes, the smile changes. It’s the eyes which make the smile vague.

I can’t believe Picasso was accused of stealing the Mona Lisa 😂 that right there was worth this entire video

best opening ever 😂😂

6:20 thats a long way to explain vectors

we all know that there were multiple copies of the mona lisa... Tom Baker's Dr Who said so!

The Mona Lisa might not be worth the visit, but the museum has tons of other stuff lying around. When we went there was a long queue outside that basically went all the way through to the painting. We had bought the city card and just walked past the line queueing to buy tickets. It was surreal. We got a glimpse and a photo of people raising their tablets and phones to capture a bad photo and then went for the history section that was way to empty for what it offers. People literally wait hours just to be in that room for 5 minutes and then leave for the next tourist trap.

I’ve always known it as “la Joconde”. I also thought it was common knowledge that he had painted too. I was taught that in school in the late 80s early 90s.

Regarding the end, just because a painting is the best in any given group, not knowing what else was at the exhibition, but knowing it was avant garde modern art, maybe the chimp’s painting was the best…..

Youre supposed to put the Mona Lisa in the mirror and see the reflection of something .. like an optional illusion and it has a deep meaning. I forget what it was

Hi guys live the show

I wish they would _clean_ the Mona Lisa! I am sure that they would reveal some vibrant colors, and get rid of the smoky smudge all over the picture. The improvement would be amazing!

Has anyone ever noticed its just George Washington with a wig?

Been to Paris three time yet it never occured to stand in line and pay top dollar for seeing the Mona Lisa. Nonetheless a nice painting! I had an icecream and later on a very nice lunch at jardin de Luxembourg for about 25% the money and actually seen a bit of Paris by foot 😅

@9:38 the illustration of da Vinci he is using his right hand, da Vinci was left handed

Viscari looks like he has crazy-long arms 8:44. Is it just me?

There's a really good Mona Lisa that was clearly made by a master, it's not in the Louve There's a much less well crafted version in the Louve that's famous for being stolen and recovered. DeVinci's apprentice probably made that one themselves.

No mention of the Prado Mona Lisa? I thought for sure you would have talked about it here, it is believed to have been worked on in the same workshop and painted alongside the original.

Are you telling me that direct deposit has existed for 500 years?

"If that's art I'm a Hottentot." - Harry S Truman, U. S. Art-Critic-in-Chief.

Any theory that states that the Mona Lisa was painted from memory (or from fantasy) was debunked the moment studies were conducted on both known real copies of the picture (because there are two that have been validated, the famous Mona Lisa of the Louvre and the less known Mona Lisa of El Prado) that show they were painted in the same room from different angles (also meaning that the second one was, in fact, painted by a pupil). Given that the second one was found with the background painted over black, similar to Leonardo's consigned portraits but in contrast with his religious portraits, it's my pet hypothesis that Leonardo regarded the picture (or the model) as sacred, so sacred he kept the picture and delivered the copy made by his pupil after converting it to his style for consigned portraits (i.e. a portrait over a black background). Side note: some of the other mysteries of the painting are explained by aging (the lacquer used by Leonardo yellows hard unless kept in the appropriate conditions, of which for some reason one paradoxically seems to be relatively high humidity) and a botched 19th century restoration that removed some of the layers, including the eyebrows, wrinkles and eyelashes. Side note 2: the picture IS damaged, as it was stolen a second time and this new burglar had less qualms about the integrity, so instead of taking down the frame he directly cut the picture out of the frame with a knife, so the current Mona Lisa is a tad bit smaller than when it was painted.

Leonardo was into that round eye .

No mention of the Prado Mona Lisa? 🤔

There's nothing "mysterious" about her smile. It is a pun on Lisa Giocondo's name. Giocondo, in Italian, means happy, playful. Leonardo loved visual puns; they are in several of his paintings-another example is the juniper bush (ginepro) behind Ginevra de' Benci.

For me the Mona Lisa never look like she was looking directly at me. To me she always looked like she was looking at something directly to my right... 🧐

Humans in the Renaissance era always depected with weird looking faces lol 😂

They say the Brits stole all those monuments yet France has Italy's most famous painting!

eTHEreal

Happiness is in the eyes.. not mouth

mum!! he's saying davinsy again!

6 monas found that’s so good they couldn’t decide which one is real after 1911 theft, 2 right now and they’re painted by da Vinci and his student they believe, none of them was the one I looked at 30y ago 😂😂😂 man I feel scammed.. a damn replica as it turns out, I fought with em Japanese for nothing 🤣

Smile? Grimace? Hmm,I think cystitis.

when you pay to look at it, how do we know its the actual real one and not a copy they put there to protect the real one from damage or theft

In Erope, "Lisa" is pronounced "leeza" My question is: Where do the aliens figure in all of this?

Hilarious how people take photos with their smart-phones. Better renditions available at the gift shop or free on the web. None of them taking the photos are *LOOKING* at this work of art - it is similar to people who go to a concert, not to actually see any of it or enjoy the music, but purely to stick their phones in the air. I'm old, please forgive me for my honesty.

Lol@Simon: "caRRRstle"

I always thought her smile looks like the kind one would make if you were suddenly told not to smile. Only an opinion.

0:13 😂😂😂

It's a good job da Vinci was renovating his bathroom and a brickie was on hand to shout out "Give us a smile darlin'!". 'Moaning' Lisa was a right moody bint.

My sister waited over an hour to see the Mona Lisa, she was completely underwhelmed.

Freud... SMH

Starfishes love... ya

I have digitally reversed engineered this painting and the truth is lol well she'll speak for herself I'm not completely finished but I'm not far from it and I wanted to know how to release if I intended to display and sell

Was the Mona Lisa a self portrate? Some think that is why "she" is smiling!

I don't see what the big deal is. I find many other old works far more interesting. Its like a self-feeding myth. Sure was a lot smaller in person that I thought it would be.

The Louvre is amazing, and so is the Mona Lisa, but its not the best piece of art in the world, its not even the best in that museum.

🇺🇸

0:13 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

anyone else think the foto of the mona lisa in the excelsior paper didnt look like the mona lisa? 31:10

Leo wanted to take off with her in his wooden chopper😅😅

I always thought the closed mouth was due to bad or missing teeth.

How many flipping channels is Simon on? Every month another one seems to crop up!

What the hell is this thumbnail!?

I never got the hype about Mona Lisa

It gets touched/ restored up every few years making it no longer original and just a painting on top of a painting on top of a painting etc. Back when I was in school it was debatable whether or not she was smiling and nowadays she's obviously smiling.

Great video! Ageism sucks. I have good friends I respect from all of the current generations. Maybe the “primitives” aren’t so wrong.

It's always looked like George Washington in drag, if you ask me...

#1

The only mystery about this painting is how it has become so. It is awful!

It's just another picture on the wall.

Not 1st but the best

I would literally rather see anything by Van Gogh. Especially Starry Night.

could it be that whoever is in that painting isn't really human but something from another world that looks like human?

I guess I'm not very sophisticated. I don't get the fascination with the Mona Lisa. She's not especially pretty, in my opinion she's not mysterious and it's just an, albeit well done, portrait of a woman. There are lots of well done portraits of women. What's the big deal?

I have discovered the true reason for the Mona Lisa's enigmatic smile. No, really. Such paintings take several days to finish. On the day Leonardo was working on "Mona's" smile, they took a break, during which Leonardo used the bathroom. When they returned to painting and Mona resumed her pose, she looked at Leonardo, and happened to notice that the great master's fly was open.

I’ve seen it twice. Still an ugly dark little thing. Not my favourite.

It's nice enough, but nothing special 🤷‍♀️