Comparing and Contrasting Mona Lisa and La Belle Ferronnière

This paper provides a comparison and contrast of two famous paintings by Leonardo Da Vinci - Mona Lisa and La Belle Ferronnière. The paper describes the artworks, analyzes their composition, symbolism, and detailing. The differences in the paintings showcase the deviation and possible difference of painters between the two artworks.

Impressions/compare
and Contrast works of
art
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Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
Description.............................................................................................................................3
Comparison and Contrast.......................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................5
REFRENCES...................................................................................................................................6
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INTRODUCTION
Mona Lisa and La Belle Ferronnière are two paintings created by the Italian Renaissance painter
Leonardo Da Vinci. This paper provides a description of the two artworks, compares and contrast the
paintings. The personal arguments, impressions and viewpoints about the two paintings are included in
the paper.
Description Mona Lisa
The dimensions of Mona Lisa are 77 centimeter × 53 centimeters, the painting was finished in the
year 1503 and is an oil on popular panel painting (Chanel, 2018). The pyramid shaped composition is
used in case of Mona Lisa we trust introduced during the Renaissance. By seeing the painting, it can be
understood that ultra-smooth approach towards texture was taken to create this masterpiece. The smooth
structure is achieved by thin brushstrokes which make up portrait look more natural. It can be seen that
the painting utilizes is called lines to create the formation of the face here in clothing. This gives a
more lifelike view do the painting and increases the realism of the painting. In the painting the negative
space which surrounds the main subject of the painting is the sky available it is space which is the
primary focus of the painting at the Mona Lisa, dress, the river, road and mountains. La Belle Ferronnière
The dimensions of this Leonardo da Vinci painting are 62 centimeter × 44 centimeter and the
painting was completed between the years 1490 and 1499. The medium of the painting is oil paint on
wood. The composition of this portrait is contrapposto which is different from traditional commissioned
portraits made during the high renaissance period (Garrard, 2018). The body how to subject faces right
while the head of the subject turns left towards the source of light of the painting. The texture of the
painting is smooth with lines used to structure the body of the subject. The positive space of the painting
is the subject which is the painting of an unknown woman while the negative space of the painting is the
dark color background.
Comparison and Contrast
From the first impression it can be understood that while LaBelle Ferronnière Is a traditional
painting the Mona Lisa deviates from the traditional way in which women were painted in renaissance
Italy. this is because of the differences in attire and composition of the subjects in the two
paintings. Mona Lisa is wearing plain simple clothing while la belle Ferronnière is wearing that kitten
clothing normally seen on aristocratic women of the time. There is no jewelry or wealthy the items worn
by Mona Lisa while La belle Ferronnière can be seen wearing beaded jewelry along with the traditional
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headband which circles the forehead of the woman. This difference can be interpreted as deviation from
traditional painting structure for women by Leonardo da Vinci to bring attention to Mona Lisa’s face.
This interpretation is evidence by the comparison between gaze of Mona Lisa and
la belle Ferronnière. While the woman in La Belle Ferronnière is looking towards the right, the direction
of the gaze of Mona Lisa is at the audience. This also breaks the conventional painting standards in
renaissance Italy for women. This is because the Mona Lisa is drawn more intimately with content
expressions in comparison to portraits of aristocratic women during the Renaissance.
In addition to this the epics of the pyramid composition in case of Mona Lisa are the eyes of the
subject which draws the viewer towards the eyes while in case of La belle Ferronnière the Eyes of the
subject are looking away from the viewer possibly at a third party. The portrait of la belle Ferronnière is
drawn with monotone background (Kemp and Pallanti, 2017). Comparing this to the Mona Lisa is
friend of a complicated landscape which is unnatural and imaginary landscape for the painting. In case of
the Mona Lisa, the background of the painting becomes more blurred as the perspective moves away from
the subject. Here the painter has created aerial perspective. Comparing this to la belle Ferronnière the
background is monotonous and signifies front perspective. There’s also symbolic meaning associated
with the background of Mona Lisa as the curves over here including reflect the ruling valleys and reverse
in the background of the painting. This symbolizes connection between nature and humanity. On the
other hand, symbolism related to la belle Ferronnière is about the virtuous identity of the subject.
Comparing the two paintings it can be understood that Mona Lisa was created to give an illusion
of movement while la belle Ferronnière is comparatively stiff an unmoving portrait. This is because the
horizon of the landscape is not quite light behind the figure. Slightly skewed really shoulders of moon
Lisa are at level. This creates the illusion of movement as bring up the audience struggles to process this
conflicting information. The brains of the audience read this as the horizon is level to make sense of the
conflicting information which creates the illusion of the shoulders being painted in a slanting position
which they are not (Vasari and et. al., 2019). After this the brain corrects these differences in visual
information which leads to creation of illusion as the figure seems to shuffle in the frame. On the other
hand, the la belle Ferronnière is a very stiff painting with no background a visual element to depict any
kind of
It can be argued that the painting is not an original work produced by Leonardo da Vinci because
of the stiff posture and heavier features of the woman painted in the portrait. It can be assumed that the
painting was produced by accolades and other artists at the school of Leonardo on the basis of a painting
design by the Renaissance painter movement. This increases the popular assumption that
la belle Ferronnière is not an actual original painting by Leonardo da Vinci as the visual elements of the
painting are not similar to others created by the Renaissance painter.
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CONCLUSION
From the above paper it is concluded that both Mona Lisa and la belle Ferronnière are significant
artworks of the Renaissance tine period. The differences in detailing and symbolism showcases the
deviation and possible difference of painters between the two artworks.
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REFRENCES
Books and Journals
Chanel, G., 2018.
Saving Mona Lisa: The Battle to Protect the Louvre and Its Treasures from the
Nazis. Icon Books.
Garrard, M. D., 2018.
Leonardo da Vinci: female portraits, female nature (pp. 58-85). Routledge.
Kemp, M. and Pallanti, G., 2017.
Mona Lisa: The people and the painting. Oxford University
Press.
Vasari and et. al., 2019.
Lives of Leonardo Da Vinci. Getty Publications.
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