Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa
At the heart of the Kessler Collection of hotels is a celebration of the artistic spirit. The Bohemian Hotel Celebration is home to a masterpiece all its own—the Grand Bohemian Gallery. This month's Grand Bohemian art history factoid is Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa.
Leonardo da Vinci began painting the Mona Lisa in 1503 (during the Italian Renaissance) and, according to Vasari, after he had lingered over it four years, left the Mona Lisa unfinished. He is thought to have continued to work on it for three years after he moved to France and to have finished it shortly before he died in 1519. Leonardo took the painting from Italy to France in 1516 when King François I invited the painter to work at the Clos Lucé near the king's castle in Amboise. Most likely through the heirs of Leonardo's assistant Salai, the king bought the Mona Lisa for 4,000 écus and kept it at Fontainebleau, where it remained until given to Louis XIV. Louis XIV moved the Mona Lisa to the Palace of Versailles. After the French Revolution, it was moved to the Louvre. Napoleon I had the Mona Lisa moved to his bedroom in the Tuileries Palace; later the Mona Lisa was returned to the Louvre. During the Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871) the Mona Lisa was moved from the Louvre to a hiding place elsewhere in France.
Mona Lisa was not well known until the mid-19th century when artists of the emerging Symbolist movement began to appreciate it, and associated it with their ideas about feminine mystique. Critic Walter Pater, in his 1867 essay on Leonardo, expressed this view by describing the figure in the painting as a kind of mythic embodiment of eternal femininity, who is older than the rocks among which she sits and who has been dead many times and learned the secrets of the grave.
About Grand Bohemian Galleries:
The Grand Bohemian Galleries are located in unique, luxury Kessler Collection hotels in Downtown Orlando, Celebration, FL, Beaver Creek, CO, Savannah, GA, Taos, NM, Asheville, NC (coming 2008), Atlanta, GA (coming 2009) and St. Petersburg, FL (2010).
The mission of each gallery is to enhance environments with inspiring art for today's collector by featuring artwork from national and international artists specializing in contemporary painting, art glass, jewelry and sculpture.
Our galleries' services include art consulting, corporate gift programs, wedding registry, art installations and framing.
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