Da Vinci and Mona Lisa Painting by Paul Meijering

About "Da Vinci and Mona Lisa Painting"

by Paul Meijering

About the artwork

Realistic acrylic portrait of Leonardo Da Vinci with his Mona Lisa, painted by the Dutch fine artist Paul Meijering - The original painting is 90 x 90 cm

Italian humanist Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) was an all-rounder. Da Vinci is considered the prototype of the Renaissance ideal of the homo universalis. He was a genius and multitasker, tackling everything at once and - like the modern multitasker - regularly struggled to finish projects. Da Vinci was a painter, draughtsman, philosopher, sculptor, inventor, architect, composer and mapmaker. He was particularly interested in biology, geology, anatomy and astrology.

Leonardo da Vinci was born on 15 April 1452, in the town of Anchiano, a village 3 kilometres from Vinci (hence 'da Vinci'), near Florence. He was an illegitimate child. His father - who had fathered Leonardo to a peasant girl - worked as a notary and gave his son a good upbringing. Bastard children were not allowed to take classical studies in those days, so he could not become a notary.
Around 1467, his father sent him to the workshop of artist Andrea del Verrocchio (1435-1488), with whom Leonardo da Vinci was apprenticed. It soon became clear that da Vinci was immensely talented.

Between 1503 and 1506, Da Vinci painted the Mona Lisa, the famous painting of a woman who - no matter where you stand - always seems to be looking at you with her mysterious smile.
The painting shows a woman standing in front of a mountainous landscape. Very presumably, this lady was Lisa, the wife of silk merchant Francesco del Giocondo. Today, the Mona Lisa can still be admired at the Louvre in Paris.

Leonardo died in the castle at Clos Lucé - in the town of Amboise near the Loire in central France - on 2 May 1519. Da Vinci was buried in the chapel of St Hubert in Amboise.