Should The Mona Lisa be Restored?
November 1, 2021
The iconic piece of artwork, the Mona Lisa by Leonardo DaVinci (also known as portrait of Lisa Gherardini, wife of Francesco del Giocondomade), has grown controversy of whether or not it should be restored due to its 518 years worth of weathering.
Art historians have been debating this topic with the disagreements of whether we should take the risk of taring the Mona Lisa’s intense history for viewing DaVinci’s original idea of the painting or to keep the Mona Lisa as is.
Here is just a summary of the Mona Lisa’s extensive history in which makes this artwork so famous.
The Mona Lisa was started in 1503 and finished around 1519 by Leonardo DaVinci in Florence, Italy.
Leonardo DaVinci died in 1519, and the Mona Lisa was acquired by French king Francis I until he died as well. Until 1799, Mona Lisa resided in the French Palace as a part of the royal collection.
After being hung in Napoleon’s bedroom, the Mona Lisa was installed in the Louver Museum in 1804.
In 1911, Mona Lisa was stolen, and the main suspects were none other than the artist Pablo Picasso and poet Guillaume Apollinaire. Eventually, an art dealer was caught selling the Mona Lisa.
Due to the Mona Lisa’s intense history, it became an iconic artwork to many people.
At Nicola restoration laboratory in Turin, Italy, a computer projection revealed what the Mona Lisa would look like if the old varnish was dissolved.
This image sparked the thought of restoring the Mona Lisa to many art historians and DaVinci fans. Yet, if the Mona Lisa was restored, there is a small chance that the art would be damaged.
So, do you think restorers should risk damaging the Mona Lisa to see the art Leonardo DaVinci originally created, or should we let the iconic artwork be as is?
