Los Angeles herald., 1910-08-07
Art Notes
BY ELIZABETH wAGGoNER

BY ELILABETH WAGGONER
Since the reports of the theft from
the Louvre of Leonardo da Vinci's
Mona Lisa the world famous paint
ing for which an offer of $5,OOO,OO0 is
said to have ben refused, the many
solutions of the sphmxlike smile of the
woman in the picture are recalled.
What is she smiling at?" ever has
been the unsolved riddle. To artists
Mona Lisa's smile became in turn OBJ
viously saucy, sportive, flirtatious and
even naughty, while plain people called
her the "jocund one"
Taine discovered in the smile that
Mona Lisa had been at least flirting
with Leonardo da Vinci, flattering him
and railing against her husband.
Michelet the historian, said that he
used to go to the portrait ''in spite
of himself as the bird goes to the
snake" Theophile Gautier discovered
that the subject of the painting was
flirting with the whole world, "this
strange creature whose look promises
unknown joys and whose expression is
divinely ironic." "She smiles with
mocking voluptuousness on the thou
sands who admire her" was the com
ment of Arsene HouSsaye. manager of
the Theater Francais, who saw shin
ing from that smile only the soul of
Leonardo in love-"
Rommanan, who all but wrote book
about Mona Lisa, declared, "Those lips
have paled with love and bear the
traces of Kisses Gautier declared
darkly that "if Don Juan had met
Mona Lisa, he would have saved writ
ing on his list the names of 5000 wo-
men. He would have written one and
the wings of love would have refused
to carry him further. They would
have melted till their feathers fell in
the black sunlight of those eyes,"
CHI Clement said as he viewed the
painting: Thousands of men have lis
tened to lying words from those per-
fidious lips. That enchanting smile is
implacable; it promises unknown felic-
tiles, but it will never give happiness"
George Sands found the face as fright
ening as a Medusa or a sphinx.
Walter Platter revealed to the world
that it was an encyclopedia. I'm this
beauty" he said, "the soul appears
with all its affections. All the thoughts
and experiences of the world have left
their traces on 1.-THE animalism of
Greece, the lubricity of Rome, the
reVery of the middle ages. the return
of paganism, the sins of Borgias!'
And supplementing this, the illus
trious Italian Carotti declared: "She
is the emanation of the intellectual,
sentimental and poetic power of her
time, with all the mystery of the hu-
man soul and all its destiny"
The Mona Lisa" for four centuries
has stood a monument to French art.
Fsr four years-1501 to 1504-Da Vinci,
friend of Francesca del Giocondo of
Florence, spent his spare moments at
work on the painting. The model was
Mona Lisa Gherardini, third wife of
GiocondO.
In Europe the painting also is called
LA Joconde' and "Gioconda," and in
art circles it is considered to rank
second in value only to the Sistine
Madonna by Raphael. Both are price
less.
The California Art club held its regu-
lar meeting on Saturday evening in the
studio of Putnam & Valentine in Tenn
pie block, when the main subject of dis
cussion was the Art club evening to be
held during the Chautauqua exhibition
at Long Beach.
Mr.. and Mrs. Elmer Wachtel are
again occupying their delightful studio
on Mount Washington after several
months spent in sketching in various
portions of the southwest.
Carl Oscar Borg was in the city for
a few days recently, making prepara-
tions for his projected journey to Spain,
where he will gather material for a
series of illustrations, continuing his
sojourn in Europe indefinitely. Before
sailing Mr.. Borg will complete a number
of commissions in San Francisco, on
which he has been working since the
close of his exhibition in that city this
spring.
William L. Judson returned recently
from Catalina with a rich store of ma
terial for his exhibition to be held the
middle of September. Among his re-
cent canvases are scenes from TOpOngo
and Point Firmin, as well as the ISL
and, some of the strongest things he
has yet painted. The enterprising art
dealer, ]. F. Kanst, has already secured
two of these landscape and marines
for his gallery before the paint was
fairly dry on the canvas.
Douglas Donaldson sailed last week
from Montreal for several months
travel in Europe. Mr.. Donaldson has
been teaching with great success dur
ing the past year in Throop elementary
school and in the Batchelder School of
Design and Handicrafts in Pasadena,
as well as turning out some exquisite
jewelry from his own workshop, and
upon his return to California intends to
devote his time entirely to studio work.
The Gamut club had as its guests at
the meeting of last Wednesday evening
many of the artists of the city who
were invited to listen to Dana Bart
lett's lecture on "The City Beautiful"
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