Looking into the Eyes of Lisa

She is the most popular woman in Paris. However, she is an Italian piece of art.

Just one of the many works made by Leonardo da Vinci and in fact it's a random portrait that the painter accepted to work on during the times he had no income. So how did the Mona Lisa become worldwide known?

Even though the Portrait of Mona Lisa has an ordinary story of creation, the painting itself has had an incredible journey since 1503. What makes a portrait unique in terms of the technique used is another matter of debate however, Mona Lisa's adventure - which resembles a very exciting action novel - is worth reading and writing about.

Lisa del Giocondo, born on June 15 of 1479, was the daughter of an aristocratic family whose economic power was gradually decreasing. She became the third wife of Francesco di Bartolomeo di Zanobi del Giocondo - who was a textile merchant - for the sake of saving her status. Five kids were born as the blossom of this marriage. Besides her own children, Lisa took care of the children of one of the other spouses who had died during labor. It's revealed that Francesco spoke of her as a faithful wife and a successful woman and that the people around her described her as a "woman of virtue" according to the letters discovered over time. The portrait of Lisa del Giocondo was ordered by Lisa's husband from Leonardo da Vinci during the times the painter was in need of financial support. In fact, a rumor says that the painting was drawn randomly on a used canvas.

Leonardo da Vinci started working on the painting in 1503 however because of the grant he received for painting "The Battle of Anghiari", the portrait of the Mona Lisa was neglected and was never completed.

In 1516, Leonardo moved to France when King Francis I offered to allocate him to the Castle of Clos Lucé which is connected to the Royal Amboise Castle by underground tunnels. Thus, the portrait of Mona Lisa entered the borders of France for the first time, and since then the painting has left France only once – in total for two years and two weeks.

In the 16th century, while the portrait was not completed, it was varnished. Within King Louis XIV's relocation, Mona Lisa was exhibited first in the Palace of Fontainebleau and the Palace of Versailles respectively. During the French Revolution, it survived out of Versailles and took its place in Napoleon's bedroom in the Tuileries Palace which was destroyed during the suppression of the Paris Commune. With the beginning of the Franco-Prussian war in 1870, the portrait was miraculously still around and it was taken to the Brest Arsenal military zone to be under protection. Despite this magical survival story, the tableau was not particularly noticed by the art critics or became globally appreciated until a scandalous event in 1911.

The portrait, which was brought to the Louvre Museum at the end of the war, left the museum on August 21 of 1911 under the coat of Vincenzo Peruggia who was an Italian nationalist. Peruggia - who was also the builder of the glass case that preserved the painting in the Louvre - admitted that he stole the painting as he believed that painting was deserved to be displayed in Italy as a memory of Leonardo da Vinci. As a result, the Louvre was closed and remained under investigation for 2 weeks while the painter Pablo Picasso and the French poet Guillaume Apollinaire were detained as suspects. The tableau remained in Peruggia's house in Italy for over 2 years until he was later captured when he sold it to a gallery in Florence.

Through the theft, the painting was put on the radar of art critics; many articles and analyses were written on it and several rumors were put forward. In parallel to this recognition process, the material value of the painting increased at the speed of light.

Throughout its lifetime, the Mona Lisa has survived the French Revolution, the Franco-Prussian War, and the First World War; has resided in the most important castles in the heart of France; and has been stolen once. During the Second World War, it was exhibited in the Amboise Castle, the Loc-Dieu Abbey, the Chambord Castle, and in the Ingres Museum in Montauban as well. In 1944, she returned to the Louvre and got a glass partition for protection just after a visitor attacked the canvas with a razor blade stating that he was suffering from being in love with Mona Lisa.

In 1956 the glass coating was shattered when a young Bolivian named Ugo Ungaza Villegas threw a stone at the painting. In this case, part of the paint on Lisa's elbow was peeled off and the museum committee decided to use bulletproof glass for the partition thereafter. In 1974, the Mona Lisa was briefly exhibited at the Tokyo National Museum in Paris and a woman attacked the painting by spraying a can of red spray paint to protest the museum's failure to accommodate disabled guests. In 2009, a Russian woman threw a ceramic cup she bought from the museum shop in the Louvre with - according to her explanation- the feeling of anger for not being granted French citizenship. Despite all these unfortunate events, the painting was never seriously damaged.

Today, she is still the center of attention in the Louvre, exhibited in a large hall where people search for it in every corridor, and wait in line to see her a bit more closely. With the latest regulations in 2019, an exhibition layout that prevents crowding has been implemented. No one in line is allowed to stand in front of the painting for more than 30 seconds. What I observed is that during this ceremonial visit, Lisa is treated like a rockstar meeting her fans just after a marvelous, epic concert. Regardless of if they know Lisa's story by heart, the excitement of the people around fills the hall entirely.

Wars. Revolution. Theft. And despite the vandalism it faced in the 21st century, it is a portrait that has been able to hold on to life since 1503.

Before I knew this story, Mona Lisa seemed to be a simple popular culture material to me. However, today, when I look into her eyes, I imagine two things: First is the personal story of Lisa - a wife, a mother, and an exemplary and virtuous woman within the image of a middle-class family in the 16th century. Second is a portrait drawn on a wooden plank that has been undamaged since 1503 - a canvas that has been kept in glorious French palaces stayed with great historical figures during the country's most volatile days and survived from palaces and halls that were completely destroyed. The topic of discussion is a portrait of an ordinary Italian woman, made on a wood plank that is worth millions of euros today.

Mona Lisa is a woman who existed with all her reality, feelings, unique story, and experiences; and is also simply a canvas that had an extraordinary journey until today - consists of two frames, one wooden base.