Original subtitles

it is the most famous most expensive and

most mysterious painting in the world

each year millions of people visit the

portrait in the Louvre

the Mona Lisa has remained a star among

works of art for centuries because

fanatics attempted to destroy the

painting it can now only be admired from

behind armored glass

but what makes a Mona Lisa so special

the small painting shows nothing more

than a portrait of a woman or does it

reveal something more

[Music]

it was painted by one of the greatest

geniuses who ever left Leonardo da Vinci

and with Mona Lisa he left behind more

than just an image of a woman her gaze

appears to wander off yet always meets

the viewer

[Music]

she wears no jewellery her clothing is

dark as if she were in mourning and yet

she smiles mysteriously Leonardo didn't

leave behind any sketches of the

portrait no visible brushstrokes Mona

Lisa appears to be made out of flesh and

blood yet her biggest secret remains who

was she whose portrait is Leonardo

showing us

[Music]

to solve this puzzle the Louvre placed

its most famous painting under

scientific scrutiny using the most

modern techniques the painting was

examined using x-rays Raman spectroscopy

ultraviolet and infrared pictures among

other techniques to uncover its secrets

[Music]

the Masters painting technique was

examined beyond the surface where

Corrections made to the painting was

anything over painted did Leonardo paint

the piece in one session or did he work

on it for decades

these questions must be answered in

order to resolve the most puzzling

question of the more who is the woman

behind the smiling yet melancholy face

[Music]

who was Leonardo's Mona Lisa or is this

not a portrait but rather an imaginary

image of an ideal beauty

[Music]

experts have been wondering this for

centuries

there seems to be proof of only two

explanations but each cancels the other

out documentation comes from two

different chroniclers but these written

records are not compatible with one

another

[Music]

the most accepted theory is based on

biographer Giorgio Vasari according to

him the portrait depicts Lisa del

Giocondo the wife of the Florentine silk

merchant Francesco del Giocondo who

commissioned the piece in 1503 this

contradicts our notify the chronicler

Antonio to be artists from 1517 in which

Leonardo da Vinci claims to have been

commissioned by Giuliano de Medici just

like the two chroniclers contemporary

Leonardo scholars also have divergent

theories Giuseppe pa'lante

an art historian from Florence believes

the officially recognized theory that

the painting depicts Lisa del Giocondo

I believe that slayin Ardo actually

painted Lisa Gherardini the wife of

Francesco del Giocondo probably around

1503 and animal 18% to three Roman

historian Roberta Perry

considers a new and revolutionary theory

in which the portrayed woman is an

entirely different person

I think the painting is connected with

Ron Donnie and then it has nothing to do

with Mona Lisa thank you be there for

Mona Lisa

the first clue leads to Florence the

majority of the great Renaissance

artists lived and worked here as did

Leonardo da Vinci Giorgio Vasari also

worked in Florence he chronicled the

biographies of many Italian artists next

day's work as an architect

Vasari documented the biographies of

great Italian artists today these make

up one of the most important foundations

of art history la vita de PUE HL NT

hockey ttp torre escalatory italiani was

first published in 1550 and revised in

1568 today the original manuscripts are

housed in the effete C library

most of the artists whose lives verse re

chronicled were already dead at the time

but Vasari researched very carefully so

- with Leonardo da Vinci on just a few

pages

Vasari wrote down his whole life story

in it he also mentions that Leonardo

painted the portrait of Mona Lisa for

Francesco del Giocondo her husband and

it's in the possession of King Francis

the first to France he labored on it for

four years and ultimately left it

unfinished these words gave the painting

its name Mona Lisa

who was this Mona Lisa of whom Vasari

wrote and who was her husband Francesco

del Giocondo Francesco was a silk

merchant who had acquired some wealth

but wasn't part of Florence's elite he

was a nouveau riche businessman

was it really possible that a renowned

painter like Leonardo accepted a

commission by an ordinary businessman or

did Francesco del Giocondo and his wife

climbed the ranks of society

dr. Francesco del Giocondo

Francesco del Giocondo was well-known in

the city he wasn't just an ordinary

merchant he was also a public and

charismatic figure he live answer

pública lizard ah

queenie ELISA was very young and facade

redefines her as very beautiful to see

what I mean

Dean Mary her husband also spoke very

highly of her determined in his

Testaments Francesco refers to her as a

bona fides this is an unusual

description for a woman Janie I have yet

to find a similar description in other

Testaments a bona fide a woman can

signify a noblewoman with high

principles who works hard and has

personality in she become devaluated

tossed o salty

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Lisa del Giocondo was Francesco's third

wife

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the birth of their second child and move

into a new home could have been the

occasion for the commissioned portrait

[Music]

and yet up until then Leonardo only

portrayed men and women of nobility

these people were interesting to him a

star such as himself could choose his

own subjects why did he paint Lisa del

Giocondo

[Music]

Leonardo returned to Florence around

1500 from Milan he was 48 years old

Restless without family and didn't have

any large Commission's on the horizon

Leonardo wondered when Leonardo came to

Florence he didn't have any commissions

or work and we know that portraits are

the bread and butter of painters that is

to say they are the simplest commissions

and also the best paid so it is easily

possible that Francesco del Giocondo

Commission's Leonardo to betray his wife

but doubts arise the G Kondo family

trade register resides in the lock Evo

story code El Instituto de lino Tonti

and it is the basis of their tax report

Florence had a highly advanced tax

system the so called catastro as part of

this its citizens had to claim all of

their incomes and expenditures

in this trade register all movement of

money and assets were meticulously

recorded Vasari mentions that Leonardo

received the Commission in 1503 so a

record of the expensive portrait must

certainly have been made

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but in 1503 there is no referenced the

expense of a painting there is no record

of a commission to Leonardo in the

entire trade register there is also no

mention of such a valuable painting in

the inheritance

playmate you can imagine how desperately

I searched for clues of a commission or

payments not even in the Testament is

there mentioned that this painting

existed I think Francesco would have

certainly claimed it since it was a

painting with arising and secured value

the whole thing is incomprehensible ei

Gugino Co bishop

Francesca would have most likely shown

the portrait by the famous painter

publicly and would not have risked

eventual tax evasion in Leonardo's

records there is also no traces of a

commission by francesco money apparently

didn't change hands

Francesco's testament is archived in

Florence's arc Evo de staat oh they're

in there is also no mention of the great

masters valuable artwork

Leonardo apparently never delivered the

painting to Francesco

Vasari writes about an incomplete

portrait with a Mona Lisa in the Louvre

however is completed down to the very

last detail

seguramente Louie Paris

surely he accepted the Commission at a

time in which he had no work he

introduced himself to the merchant who

wanted a painting of his wife and simply

agreed then he painted only the head a

flat dollar saw a taste that the

interrupted the work for other

commissions and left it unfinished never

delivering the painting to the merchant

not even the head there are no traces of

this painting in Florence traces left by

the merchant couple must be available in

the archives in documents or Testaments

yet this painting by Leonardo shows up

with nowhere just a me if he had

finished the painting and delivered it

then a record within the family would

exist a painting by a famous artist like

Leonardo was a very valuable commodity

testimony answer nella for me ever care

to disappeared we know absolutely

nothing about it s peridot known series

as rudimental ending has it really been

lost

was the Mona Lisa as described by Vasari

lost is the painting in the Louvre the

different one

[Music]

much about Leonardo seems unexplainable

today very few artists have captivated

people's imaginations as he has one

reason for this is that he started so

many paintings that he never finished

like that of Saint Jerome in the

wilderness yet these works count among

art history's most famous as with the

adoration of the Magi Leonardo often

lost interest in his paintings after he

solved challenges of figuration and

Composition finishing the pieces became

too tedious

this was also the case with the fresco

for the council Hall of Palazzo Vecchio

it was to become his largest work

commissioned by the city government

Leonardo chose the Battle of Anghiari as

his motif Leonardo received the

Commission in 1503 the same period

during which he worked on Lisa del

Giocondo

portrait restless as he was Leonardo

left even the biggest project that

Florence commissioned incomplete is it

plausible that he behaved similarly with

Mona Lisa abandoning it only to finish

it later motor be made they it is very

likely that Leonardo puts the painting

aside he didn't finish it and never

delivered it it was most likely

completed at a later time

Caputo blase Z so I think that's this

theory in which the painting was begun

in 1503 and finished later is the most

plausible and it's also the one I

personally believe any wheel but it did

I mean derivative you

[Music]

when did Leonardo finish the painting

let's assume in old age long after he

started it then Leonardo must have

carried the painting with him throughout

much of his life if there was such a

time span between the start and the

completion of the painting then we can

determine that with today's modern

methods

and again modern technology has a go at

the Mona Lisa

the results show that the color pigments

were applied without significant

interruption using infrared technology

historians searched for over painted

areas or Corrections the genius Leonardo

made hardly a single correction from the

first brushstroke to the finished piece

the only over painting occurred on Mona

Lisa's left hand here leonardo corrected

the gesture of her finger aside from

that the painting was made in one

session

an unbelievable achievement by the

master according to art historian

Alexander Parekh these discoveries

further confound the Mona Lisa theory

the countersue hung the entire study

confirms the absurdity of the identity

of the louver painting or louver

painting depicting Mona Lisa Mona Lisa

it was determined that the painterly

process was fairly continuous in

continued little they're mostly

armed he would have had to paint it in

two completely separate stages would

clearly be identified with today's

methods and tools the face stolen for

album at tagong salon chav the landscape

would have had to have been new since

Vasari

didn't mention one at all

the great biographer airs in another

aspect as well in describing the Mona

Lisa he talks about her eyelashes which

could be rendered only by the most

delicate of brushes on her brows you

witnessed them at their fullest and

Sparsit and how they emerge from the

pores of her skin and arch as naturally

as one can only imagine

[Music]

but the Mona Lisa that hangs in the

Louvre today has neither eyelashes nor I

browse these are also not detectable

using relief imaging Vasari

one of the main attests us to the Mona

Lisa theory never saw the painting

himself

Vasari no never fault discreetly

Vasari didn't have any written sources

his biography is based on mere oral

accounts that circulated in Florence e

lui a script or a be over a fee yet

trail a path did i bill graffia the you

got that which took this means he wrote

part of the history of true calmness

portrait the Mona Lisa whole based on

such oral accounts the fast from person

to person the best own imbecile Louie

himself never saw the painter he had

this he describes what he invented and

that does it

[Music]

but from where does the painting in the

Louvre stem are there two portraits one

of them lost this new idea takes us to

the emboss on the Loire France

[Music]

Leonardo died here in 1519 at the

advanced age of 67 the chapel in which

he was entombed is located directly next

to the king's chateau

[Music]

Leonardo came to ham Waze by invitation

of the French King Francis the fast by

them the artistic genius had already

achieved cult status

[Music]

Leonardo lived in a manor next to the

Chateau called clue Lucy an incident

occurred in this small French manner

that steers the Mona Lisa investigation

in an entirely new and revolutionary

direction leonardo brought three

paintings with him the one that today is

referred to as the Mona Lisa painting

gives some drama Baptist and that arson

town he stayed in this Manor inclusive

they also had his studio

[Music]

the chronicler Antonio to be artists

witnessed Cardinal Ludwig of arrogance

visit with Leonardo in Clos lucé a on

October the 10th 1517 he relates the

three paintings he saw at the aging

masters

one of the works is of a certain

Florentine lady painted from life that

was made in honor of the passing of

Giuliano de Medici

another one is of the young Saint Joan

the Baptist the third of Madonna with

her child seated on st. Anna's lap the

latter was the most perfect of them all

today the painting of st. Anna with

Maria and baby Jesus on her lap is

housed in the Louvre so too is the

painting that be artists described of

Saint John the Baptist is the painting

that was made for Giuliano de Medici

also in the Louvre is it the Mona Lisa

acuerdo

the painting was commissioned in Rome by

Giuliano de Medici as a result of an

affair he had with a woman from the OB

know Giuliano de Medici figure brandonna

also called Adam at your be no but she

figure better than

[Music]

a new name services Medici the ruling

family of Florence this name is most

associated with the Renaissance period

they were rich scrupulous obsessed with

power and patrons of the Arts Giuliano

de Medici was one of the two brothers

that lived during da Vinci's time

[Music]

he was a womanizer and a squanderer he

was charismatic had a powerful name and

an influential brother

[Music]

his brother lived in Rome

his name was Giovanni de'medici and he

had high aspirations later he became

Cardinal and finally Pope as Pope Leo

the tenth he made history as a sensitive

art patron as well as a scrupulous and

powerful politician

he strengthened the clergies power and

influence over the battling Italian

city-states and had a weakness for the

beautiful things in life

[Music]

[Music]

Juliano his extravagant brother arrived

in Urbino where he was a guest at the

palazzo do Carla here he had several

chambers known as the magnificence

quarter Giuliano a pair of boy Delano

was a poet he had been raised by his

father Lorenzo who was a great writer he

wrote poetry and was interested in women

he hadn't the slightest interest in

politics no nerve even is really

stressful Leone Fred elevation Graham

politically bleona's brother

it was a great the exact opposite he was

wrong about everything and yet his great

passion was politics we do complemented

evasion I was an avid hunter the only

PABA prema to talk like a certain a

politician horrible idiot

Giovanni de Medici Pope Leo the tenth

took care of his brother Giuliano

throughout his life he also financed his

extravagant lifestyle Giuliano had

countless affairs but one of these

flames had serious consequences Urbino

in the marker region the palazzo de

carla looms over the town here the

tragedy involving Giuliano de Medici

that would eventually lead to the Mona

Lisa took place well afford the pure

that they a the most important source is

a document that is housed in the library

of the University of Urbino this

document is a page in a book a foundling

disposed

records were found in the university

library of Urbino regarding a certain

hipolito de Medici hippolyta would later

become cardinal but was poisoned at the

age of 24 but he was born an orphan how

did he acquire the name Medici who were

his parents

further records document his birth how

he became an orphan and later a Medici

the name of his mother also appears at

Jiffy co-brand Danny a young woman from

Urbino not much is known about Pacifica

brand Danny she was a guest to the

pelota to Carla by invitation of

Giuliano de Medici it is unclear if she

offered him her labors of love if he

seduced her or as recorded by one of the

documents was raped

[Music]

in any case she spent a night with

Julianna and this likely involuntarily

but how should she have opposed the rich

ruler

she was plagued with severe remorse

after her affair with Giuliano

[Music]

some sources state that she was married

at the time brand Dani fell into a

crisis that deepened when she found out

that she was with child

[Music]

a child out of wedlock from a brief

encounter in the court of Urbino then

she drew up a terrible plan

she confided in her friend and midwife

that she didn't want the child and that

she could not take the disgrace the

Midwife should kill the newborn in case

Prandini dies in childbirth

brand Danny did in fact die of pure Pro

fever but the Midwife didn't take the

newborns life on April the 19th 1511 the

night before Easter Sunday she dropped

the child off from the steps of the

santa chiara church in her OB note the

baby wrapped in a white sheet was

Giuliana's son he had a coin on him as a

token of his heritage in the absence of

a legitimate heir Giuliano de Medici

recognized him as his son he named him

Ippolito Giuliano left will be now with

his son ippolito a move to his brother

the Pope in Rome

Leonardo da Vinci resided in the

chambers of the Vatican where he worked

for the Medicis during this time but

commissions from the Pope were sparse

here Giuliano must have given him the

commission of which Leonardo rights

include Lucy Leonardo was the painter

painting to comfort little Eppolito he

badly he said to Leonardo paint me a

picture of a mother that I can give to

my son is an image of his mother doe

Larry I'm your feet look painted as you

imagine it how a portrait of a mother

should look like Leonardo painted the

painting that we call Mona Lisa today El

Dorado le bateau it must have been a

great challenge to paint an image of a

mother for a Paulito

[Music]

since he suffered a similar fate

Hippolyta

[Music]

he too was an illegitimate child who was

recognized by his father his mother

didn't die in childbirth

she was his father's maid and he

probably used her dependency on him for

labors of love as had Juliana with his

mistress Brand Ani

[Music]

a pollito and Leonardo shared a similar

fate and this inspired Leonardo to paint

a painting that upheld the memory of a

mother the painting should lend comfort

to young Hippolyta who himself never saw

his mother shiteru he undoubtedly

painted the image so he develops the

portraits out of his imaginations we

cooked Leonardo Leonardo didn't need a

model he was an illegitimate child

himself and could easily relate to the

feelings of such a child

so in this kindest Giuliano de Medici

must have known this has Leonardo's

friend

[Music]

Leonardo took himself back to the time

of his childhood he was born in 1452 on

a farm his birth house still stands

today it's located in midst of an olive

grove near the small Tuscan village of

Vinci the great master got his name from

the small Italian village

[Music]

a church with a side chapel and a

Baptistery stands in the center of town

[Music]

leonardo was baptized here a memorial

stone commemorates that illegitimate

leonardo was recognized as a son by his

father Piero da Vinci

[Music]

it was always puzzling why Leonardo

portrayed the wife of a sub merchant in

dark clothing her silk merchant is proud

of his colorful fabrics her clothes on

the other hand recall morning and

reverie if Leonardo painted the image of

a woman that had passed away then the

dark colors make sense a smile also

becomes explainable since it is directed

at her own child

[Music]

Giuliano de Medici died before the

painting was completed leonardo took it

with him to France where Debbie artists

saw it and took note of it in his

travelogue my right is the painting in

the Louvre er is certainly not identical

to the portrait that Leonardo painted of

Mona Lisa the real Mona Lisa Lisa del

Giocondo

the soap merchants wife Amal thought but

where is the portrait of Lisa del

Giocondo

as described by Vasari a trace leads us

to Joan Giacomo Capote called Sally who

is said to have had a relationship with

the master

[Music]

Sal I was a rapscallion but Leonardo

liked him anyway he accompanied the

master through his life on many travels

and was his studio assistant before

Arbor Leonardo several months or weeks

before Leonardo left for France in 1516

Sal I returned to his hometown of Manasa

lay my London sand I might also get

soaked by this on the occasion he must

have received several paintings from

Leonardo the common huh

and so I remotely presumably in complete

works'

Kamil the hidden files inside the

painting appears in his estate that is

referred to as La Gioconda

bond of Quattro dicto logic andhe a

painting called gioconda this is how it

appears in his estate an incomplete work

of the great Leonardo da Vinci was very

valuable to Sal I solo at this

theoretically Sal I could have completed

it right he was a painter trained by

Leonardo many paintings are attributed

to him he could have also sold them

under Leonardo's name for a lot of money

Fuko from Conan but that never happened

Sal I died under mysterious

circumstances just a few years after

Leonardo's own death the incomplete

portrait of Lisa del Giocondo was in

Sally's estate along with Leonardo's

painting later and the Swan both of

these paintings were lost

in all likelihood it is the imaginary

ideal image of a mother that hangs in

the Louvre commissioned by Giuliano de

Medici we must say goodbye to the Mona

Lisa

[Music]

[Music]

it is the most famous painting in the

world none other has been studied more

thoroughly or more often now the Mona

Lisa has revealed its true face the same

face was found over and over again

beneath each of the coats of paint the

face with its loving gaze in its

comforting smile the image of a mother

[Music]