Mona's Influence

Guernica, 1937, Pablo Picasso

Luncheon on the Grass, 1863, Edouard Manet

Mona Lisa, 1503,
Leonardo

One of the rarest occurrences in the world of art is when one work by a single artist has such a profound impact that it exerts an influence on the work of that artist's contemporaries, sometimes for decades to come. In the 20th century, Picasso's Guernica (above, left) had such an impact. During the previous century, it was Manet's Luncheon on the Grass (above, right). Before that, discounting Michelangelo's frescoes, which were really many paintings on a single theme, our eyes come to rest on Leonardo's Mona Lisa (right), perhaps the most influential single painting of the entire millennium. Painted in 1503, the work is a mere 21 by 30 inches.  It depicts in gossamer-thin layers of glazed oil and pigment, Lisa del Giocondo, the wife of a Florentine businessman, who must have been somewhat dismayed to have commissioned a portrait of his lovely wife, never to have it delivered. History doesn't record whether he ever had to pay for it, but tradition has it Leonardo kept the portrait with him the rest of his life. He died in France in 1519, which is how it came into the hands of France's King Francis I and eventually in the hands of the Louvre where it is today (albeit behind a thick layer of bulletproof glass).

Donna Valeta, ca. 1515, Raphael Sanzio

Before that though, it's doubtful there was a single major artist in Italy that hadn't seen the Mona Lisa, or at least knew it by reputation. Around 1515, Raphael Sanzio painted his own ideal of feminine loveliness in the Donna Valeta (Veiled Lady, right). Of course, having waited 12  to 15 years to compete with the great Leonardo, the two paintings are somewhat different. Styles had changed. Raphael's lady is no less lovely, though not as serene, and the painting appears a bit more fussy than did Leonardo's effort. The lighting is more dramatic but the pose is identical, right down to the angle of the head, even the position of the fingers though not the placement of the hand. There is no other-worldly smile or dreamy, extraterrestrial background as in Leonardo's, and the dress in much more fashionably rich, even extravagant, as compared to Mona Lisa's simple black number. The hair is done up tightly under the flowing scarf of Raphael's Donna Valeta whereas Leonardo permitted Mona Lisa to "let her hair down."

Portrait of a Man with Blue-Green Eyes,
1540-45, Titian

The Venetian artist, Tiziano Vecellio, better known as Titian, was clearly under the influence of Leonardo's Mona Lisa when he painted Portrait of a Man with Blue-Green Eyes (a.k.a. The Young Englishman, left). Of course, inasmuch as this portrait is that of the opposite sex, direct comparisons are more difficult. But it's not hard to notice the similarities. Painted around 1540-45, the figure is suave, informal, and has much the same psychological directness as Leonardo's effort. And in turn, Titian's painting was also quite effective in influencing later portrait artists such as Rembrandt, Anthony van Dyck, and Peter Paul Rubens. It's amazing the impact of a single smiling face in the hands of a master artist.