Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1910-07-28
A WOMAN's SMILE.

n LO" QdSS ago Tie WOf1Q St00u
aghast at the announcement from
Paris that ruthless hands lad stolen
from the Louvre galleries Leonardo da
Xinei's wonderful masterpiece, the
Mona Lisa" portrait, which is rankAl
in European art circles second only to
Paphaels "Sistine Madonna general
ly considered the worlds most mast
erly painting. Happily the report of
the theft was untrue, as not only
France but the entire world would
have been the loser on account Of
such a notorious sacrilege.
As one Of the worlds greatest art
products, the Mona Lisa" portrait IS
considered priceless The portrait
shows as no other painting the mya-
terry and beauty of a womans smile.
Tie artist has caught the light that
never was on land or sea and impris-
oned it in her eyes and in the curve
and coloring of her lips. It is said to
have taken Da Vinci five years to pro-
duce this marvellous expression. and
at the end of that time he declared the
work still unfinished
In producing the painting TIE artist
found that the woman who acted as
his model assumed the peculiar ex-
preston which ne wished to show only
VIXEN at ease in a certain posture and
when listening to a certain strain of
music. In this way he was enabled to
work only for brief periods and at in
tervals, in order that the effect of the
music upon his model should not wear
off. 1t was in this way that he con-
sumed five years to capture for the
world the ravishing beauty of a wo-
mans smile as no other wielder OF
brush or pen has been able to do.
The presence that thus rose so
strangely beside the waters is express
siye Of what in the ways of a thousand
years men have come to desire" says
Walter Pater, the eminent English
critic, in his volume on The Renais-
sance, writing of the Mona Lisa
portrait Hers is the head upon
which al the ends of the world are
come, and the eyelids are lite
weary. II is beauty wrought out from
within the flesh, cell by cell, Of strange
thoughts and fantastic reveries ami
exquisite passions. She is older than
the rocks among which she sits; like
the vampire, she has been dead many
times, and learned the secrets Of tie
grave, and has been a diver in deep
seas, and keeps their fallen day
about her, and trafficked for stranee
webs with Eastern merchants X
would be unfair to compare any othar
work of Leonardo or OF his contempor-
aries with this wonderful creation"
Another critic Of note. DR.. Arthur
Mailer, in his Paintings of the
Louvre" calls the Mona Lisa" the
most perfect work of art ever produc-
ed, describing the picture as he sees it
to-day as follows:
THE fascination and charm Of the
portrait still remain, despite the fact
that light lines of the skin and the
brightness have disappeared and the
underlying gray coating is visible
Let him. says Vasari, who wishes 20
know to what degree art can initiate
nature, contemplate this picture 1t
is rather a divine work that the work
of man. That which strikes us is the
mobility in the apparently immobile
figure.
Mona Lisa is seated in low chair,
on tie left arm Of which she leans ami
lightly rests an arm; her long, ma
Tow eyes seem on the point of closing;
the corners of the mouth are a little
raised, and there is a mysterious and
Undesirable smile on the face. The
hands are incomparably nodded and
one may almost feel their warmth and
softness. Leonardo was the first art
ist who was able, in painting, to render
the texture and suppleness Of the
skin.
"A stone back balustrade separates
the figure from the landscape, and
serves to incline it toward at the
same time leaving it connected witt
tie background. Many and deep are
the distances which We see in these
blue mountains, and it is a Landscape
of fantastic dreamland far beyond our
reach, for the little bridge is t.
indicate distance and seems to lead tc
other worlds"
The marvellous beauty and mystery
Of the original can be seen by the ma
jority of people only as it is portrayed
in reproduction but even the spirit oil
the painting as conveyed by thsse is q
revelation. 1t is joyful news to know
that the original canvas is still intact
its subtle and infinite inspiration pre-
served for the souls of men in the
present and coming generations.
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