Léonard de Vinci. La Joconde - Collection SOLO

What is the story of this work, the most famous painting—and model—in the world? In a sense, how does something become La Joconde ? It is possible for the most famous masterpiece of painting today to remain not so well known, and to be admired by millions and millions of visitors even though it had been considered, in other epochs, as just one master painting “like the rest.” In fact, when the Joconde entered the Louvre in 1797, it arrived without much fanfare, four years after the inauguration of the new museum, to complete a display! Like something to “fill a hole”…

Painted between 1503 and 1507, the Joconde has not always been regarded as the incomparable work that visitors from around the world are now keen to admire as it sits behind armored glass. Cécile Scailliérez, Curator of the department of paintings of the Musée du Louvre, has researched the history of the painting and of its patron, model, buyers and price, as well as the way it was “received,” admired, and for a while, almost forgotten.

Here a new Joconde is revealed which, once more deeply known by the end of the book, allows her to be not less celebrated but less obscured by too much glory. It is her, all new, “as if never seen before” and “lacking nothing but speech,” yet whom we discover anew.

The Solo collection, created by the Musée du Louvre, present this institution’s essential masterpieces. This collection is hereafter co-published by Ediciones El Viso, with three to five new titles each year.