Hey, what about the smile? Isn't that what we're all supposed to be obsessed with?
Ah, I see... It's time to focus on a different part of the lady's face. *sigh* Isn't that typical? Just when interest over one body part settles down, a new issue comes under scrutiny? Who can tell how long it's going to take before we all stop staring at her eyebrows? The smile thing took five hundred years so two brows and two sets of lashes? That could take forever.
Yesterday's revelation by a French engineer, Pascal Cotte, that Leonardo da Vinci originally painted his masterpiece with brows and lashes was well received. A collective sigh of relief, one heard round the world, followed. Apparently many have speculated about the elusive brows for some time, spawning as many theories about her lack of facial hair as there are stars in the sky. Who knew? I have to admit I've never given them a single, solitary thought. Never. Sorry, Mona. My apologies, Leonardo.
And while I find this interest in art and the beautiful lady heartwarming, I still wonder about that enigmatic smile she wears. I can't help myself. I see the set of her lips, the way her cheeks have a faint blush and the knowing stare she fixes on me and my pulse quickens. My mind races. So many questions unanswered...possibilities to be explored...scenarios that may explain her smile. Has she witnessed a crime? Scorned a rival? Sought satisfaction for an ancient vendetta? Made love with the most wonderful man?
Let others focus on Mona Lisa's brows. Let's face it; I'm just not ready to get past the smile.
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3 comments:
My focus has always been on the smile too and being a romantic assumed there was a man involved somewhere.
I agree but...beautiful lady? I never thought of Mona Lisa as being beautiful. But then, beauty is in they eye of the beholder.
I saw that article in the paper, too:)
I saw the painting this summer in Paris. She certainly is very enigmatic, her eyes follow you wherever you stand. It may have been that ladies then shaved their facial hair. If you look at portraits in the National Portrait Gallery from around this time, you will often find the women have very faint lines for eyebrows. Maybe in Italy they took it a bit further.
But beautiful - sorry,not for me, too much of the matron about her, beautiful is Botticelli's Venus,at least in my opinion.
Margaret Blake.
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