Monna Lisa's Charm
or the secret of smeltingThe author gives us a possible solution to the mystery of all mysteries: who is the Mona Lisa?
And since, like cherries, one mystery leads to
another, that of the Mona Lisa leads to another...
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Prologue
Dear reader (or Reader, if you prefer the capital letter: but it's not important because even a small reader is always important), as you probably know, one of the great mysteries of the world is the portrait of the Monna Lisa, painted five hundred years ago by Leonardo da Vinci. Millions of admirers have looked at and still look at this picture in a Paris museum, trying to discover what no-one yet knows: whose is that peaceful smile?
Is it Lisa Gherardini, wife of Francesco Bartolomeo del Giocondo, mother of five children and good housewife? Or one of Giuliano de’ Medici's lovers?
Is it the smile of the noble Isabella d’Este, already painted by Leonardo in other pictures? Or, as suggested by a teacher who saw parents everywhere, a youthful version of the artist's own mother? Is it a self portrait of a softened and beardless Leonardo, as one joker supposed, or is it simply an invention?
They are all unlucky, museum visitors, art and history scholars, because they don't know what I know. In this book I shall reveal the answer to this mystery: and since mysteries, like cherries, lead from one to another, a second mystery will appear around la Gioconda (we'll still call her that, for now), a smaller mystery, but not to be ignored, and dealing with people and places that no-one would have thought to be linked to the picture.
So it becomes a little complicated. You, dear reader, need to take a step back, as they say. But before you do, make sure that there is no empty chasm behind you, or someone's foot, because a reader who is falling down or busy arguing, cannot be a good reader.
Is it Lisa Gherardini, wife of Francesco Bartolomeo del Giocondo, mother of five children and good housewife? Or one of Giuliano de’ Medici's lovers?
Is it the smile of the noble Isabella d’Este, already painted by Leonardo in other pictures? Or, as suggested by a teacher who saw parents everywhere, a youthful version of the artist's own mother? Is it a self portrait of a softened and beardless Leonardo, as one joker supposed, or is it simply an invention?
They are all unlucky, museum visitors, art and history scholars, because they don't know what I know. In this book I shall reveal the answer to this mystery: and since mysteries, like cherries, lead from one to another, a second mystery will appear around la Gioconda (we'll still call her that, for now), a smaller mystery, but not to be ignored, and dealing with people and places that no-one would have thought to be linked to the picture.
So it becomes a little complicated. You, dear reader, need to take a step back, as they say. But before you do, make sure that there is no empty chasm behind you, or someone's foot, because a reader who is falling down or busy arguing, cannot be a good reader.
Translation by Jonathan Cox
Story: Roberto Piumini
Illustrations: Gianni De Conno
Bound volumes • 96 pages • In 12 x 21 cm format • with further information pages • Age: from 8 years upwards
Series: From Treasure to Treasure
Other titles in the series: Garibali's jeans, Back home, The kings of the world, Heroes coming from the sea.
Series: From Treasure to Treasure
Other titles in the series: Garibali's jeans, Back home, The kings of the world, Heroes coming from the sea.
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