It is a well-known fact that as time goes on; people start
to forget certain events that occurred in their life. They become occupied with
their life as it is in the moment and won’t remember what had happened a few
days, months, or even years before until they are reminded of it. Well, this
phenomenon occurs a lot with historical events as well; and it just happened in
December of 2013.
This December marked the 100th
year anniversary of the recovery of the famous painting by Leonardo Di Vinci;
The Mona Lisa. An article featured on the CNN website titled “Mona Lisa: The
theft that created a legend,” reminds us that 100 years ago on December 11th,
the previously stolen painting was found and recovered.
In August of 1911, a, Italian man
named Vincenzo Peruggia stole the Renaissance painting
right from the wall in Paris’ Louvre, and as it is said in the article; “he
never could have guessed her absence would be the very thing that made her the
most recognizable painting on the planet.” After the masterpiece was
successfully snatched, photos of the artwork were printed in newspapers all
around the globe and a two-year police hunt commenced. Peruggia was finally
caught on December 11th, 1913 (100 years ago last month) and the
Mona Lisa was returned to the Louvre.
This event made the Mona Lisa the most recognized painting in a time
where TV, the Internet and social media didn’t exist.
I found this
story quite interesting considering we just learned about da Vinci during our
Renaissance unit. We learned that it was during the Renaissance that humanism
became really popular, especially in artwork. The people of the Renaissance
loved learning about the human body and they really started to appreciate man
and admire him. We also found out that da Vinci himself was exceptionally
fascinated with the human body. He even went as far as to dissect a human
corpse to learn more about how the bones and muscles work. We also know that
the people of the Renaissance loved getting their portrait painted. I also
noticed that the Mona Lisa shows perspective, which was a popular theme in
Renaissance paintings.
This article
really stuck out to me because it’s really cool that we got the chance to learn
about Leonardo da Vinci just around the same time that the 100th
anniversary of the recovery of his most famous painting which made it even more
significant. Also, while reading the article I started to notice more aspects
of the painting that make it obvious that it was painted during the
Renaissance. It’s a really great thing to be able to apply the knowledge you’ve
acquired in history to a current event-especially one this significant- because
even though you weren’t even alive at the time, you feel a connection to the
past that you might never feel otherwise.
It amazes me that things like this happen. One of the most famous painting in the world is stolen. In the fourth paragraph, I think that u did a very good job of connecting the article to what we did in class. I also thought that you did a very good job in the last paragraph to summarize and wrap it up.
ReplyDeleteThis is completely new information to me. Another way this connects to our class is that without tv and internet, the printing press must have played a big part in the distribution of the knowledge that it was stolen and what it looked like. I have always been aware of the painting, and this post explains the origin of the Mona Lisa's immense popularity, information I was lacking but did not know I was. Thanks for the enlightenment.
ReplyDeleteI was not even aware that the Mona Lisa had been stolen. I always assumed that it was famous because it was painted by DaVinci, and I had no idea that it was the most famous and most recognizable painting in the world. The anniversary is fairly interesting too, seeing as how close it was to our renaissance unit. Great Job.
ReplyDeleteWow, I never even knew that the Mona Lisa had been stolen! As said in the comments above I just thought it was famous because DaVinci was extremely famous. I found that your connection to class was very interesting and you didn't just say, "This connects to class because". I also found it very interesting how you said you realized how the Mona Lisa shows even more aspects of renaissance art than you originally thought. That is really cool because I think a major point of doing these blog posts is to learn more about topics you found interesting in class. Overall great Job!
ReplyDeleteUp until reading your blog, I knew about the Mona Lisa, but I had never known the real reason it was so famous, like the other four commenters. I think your post does a great job not only introducing us to the historical context of the Mona Lisa with your intro paragraph you also do a great job of informing us of the rediscovery of the Mona Lisa. You worded your post very well and it didn't feel like it was dragged out or that you were just writing this because you had to; you sounded genuinely interested and that is what makes your post stand out. I also really liked the title, it's intriguing and grabs my attention. Great job and well-written as always:)
ReplyDeleteLike many others I'm sure, I also did not realize that the Mona Lisa had been legitimately stolen. I think that your post really helps us see why the Mona Lisa is so famous and informs us about how it connects to our studies without simply stating so. I feel as though your post was very concise and you didn't put more words into it than you needed to. Your title was very interesting, and I think that your overall post enlightened us on the true origins of the Mona Lisa. Good Job.
ReplyDelete