Musée du Louvre · c. 1503–1519
Mona Lisa
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo uses a portrait to test how a living presence can be built from tiny transitions of light, shadow, skin, landscape and gaze.
Why it matters
Leonardo uses a portrait to test how a living presence can be built from tiny transitions of light, shadow, skin, landscape and gaze.
Look closer
Start with the crossed hands, then move to the mouth and away to the eyes. The expression shifts because Leonardo built it from soft shadow rather than hard outlines.
Autograph paintings by Leonardo are exceptionally few, and this is one of the clearest public encounters with his mature sfumato technique.