Leonardo da Vinci, The Mona Lisa (panel)

Description

The woman portrayed in Leonardo's painting sits facing the left of the painting. The face, however, is almost frontal and the gaze directed towards the observer. Mona Lisa dresses in sixteenth-century clothes. She wears a robe decorated with small spiral patterns in the upper edge that leaves the décolleté uncovered and on the shoulders she wears a dark fabric. The lightweight fabric creates a subtle pleating that descends with a dense, parallel drapery. The surface of the skin is soft and smooth and shows a slight anatomical shaping of the fingers like the nails that are barely hinted at. The hair is parted in the center and falls to the sides in soft, dark slightly wavy locks. In addition, a light and transparent veil covers the hairstyle and flattens the hair at the top. The background that can be glimpsed beyond the parapet describes a lake landscape dotted with hills, cliffs and high mountains. The bases of two columns can be seen on the sides of the painting. On the left, a road winds through the rocky heights and gets lost behind the cliffs that line the water. On the right, on the other hand, an arched bridge crosses a river that originates from the lake that is located higher up and in the center of the landscape. Towards the horizon, the rock structures, the watercourse and the vegetation are indistinct and blend into the gray blue of the atmosphere.