Donald Sassoon is Professor of History at Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London. He is author of several books, including Contemporary Italy: Politics, Economy and Society Since 1945 and One Hundred Years of Socialism (Fontana 1997).
Possibly the world's most famous single work of art, Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece has long haunted imaginations and inspired admiration. This is a narrative history of the unique work, which attempts to explain why the Mona Lisa has achieved quite the fame and status that it has: in the Louvre it is the only painting exhibited in a specially secure box, and now has its own room. Sassoon looks at various aspects of the painting's history, such as the innovative techniques used in its creation, the questions over the identity of the sitter, its subsequent history and copies, its theft, its appropriation by the surrealists then the advertising industry, and so on. With such a vast amount of information, conjecture and detail to draw on, Sassoon's book does the subject proud, being both well informed and entertaining. His study is well produced and strikingly illustrated. Ultimately, however, it must be said that the more the Mona Lisa is dissected as a cultural phenomenon, the further we are from understanding just why it is so 'special' to so many. That appeal remains as elusive and enigmatic as its famous smile.
 |
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
|
