The most famous painting in the world, Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa is 500 years old this year. The painting is 53 centimetres wide and 77 centimetres high. We, at Penguin Readers have been very lucky to organise an interview with the painting.
| Penguin: |
Good afternoon Mona Lisa. Thank you very much for talking to Penguin Readers. |
| Mona Lisa: |
Thank you. I know I am very famous, but this is the first time I have talked to Penguin Readers. |
| Penguin: |
I think that you have a very special birthday this year … |
| Mona Lisa: |
Yes, I am five hundred years old, this year. |
| Penguin: |
Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday dear Mona,
Ha -- |
| Mona Lisa: |
-- just call me Lisa. That’s my name. |
| Penguin: |
Really? Everybody thinks your name is Mona Lisa. |
| Mona Lisa: |
No, not everybody. French people call me La Jaconde. Italian people call me La Gioconda. |
| Penguin: |
‘Mona’ is an old word like Mrs. ‘Mona Lisa’ means ‘Lisa, the married woman. |
| Mona Lisa: |
But what is your real name? What was your name when you were a baby? |
| Penguin: |
My name is Lisa Gheradini. I was born in 1479. When I was 16 years old, I married Francesco Giocondo. So I became Mrs Giocondo, or ‘La Gioconda’ in Italian. |
| Mona Lisa: |
You got married when you were 16 years old? That’s very young. |
| Penguin: |
Five hundred years ago most girls got married when they were 16 years old. Some girls got married when they were 14 years old, or even younger. |
| Mona Lisa: |
That’s amazing! Where did you live? |
| Penguin: |
My family lived in a city called Firenze, in Italy. In English, the city is called Florence. |
| Mona Lisa: |
Oh yes. I know Florence. It’s a very beautiful city! Lots of tourists go to Florence when they are visiting Italy. |
| Penguin: |
My father, Antonio Gheradini was a businessman in Florence. |
| Mona Lisa: |
He was a rich man and so we had a very nice life. |
| Penguin: |
How did you meet your husband, Mr Giocondo? |
| Mona Lisa: |
Well, Francesco’s family were also in business in Florence. The Giocondo family was another rich family in the city. So, anyway, Francesco’s father and my father decided that we would get married. |
| Penguin: |
Tell me about the painting. When did Leonardo Da Vinci paint your portrait? |
| Mona Lisa: |
It was when I was about 24 years old. My husband, Francesco was quite rich because his business was successful. He decided to ask Leonardo to paint a picture of me. |
| Penguin: |
How old was Leonardo when he painted you? |
| Mona Lisa: |
He was a very old man! He was fifty-three years old. |
| Penguin: |
Fifty-three isn’t very old. |
| Mona Lisa: |
Yes, five hundred years ago, fifty-three was very old. Most people died before they were fifty years old. |
| Penguin: |
Anyway, Leonardo was a famous man. He was an artist and a doctor and an engineer. He worked for the Pope in Rome and many famous families in Italy. |
| Mona Lisa: |
Did he paint the picture very quickly? |
| Penguin: |
No, he started to paint my portrait in 1504 but he didn’t finish it until 1513. |
| Mona Lisa: |
But, it is a very small picture. Why did it take so long? |
| Penguin: |
Well, Leonardo wanted to make a new kind of portrait. He wanted me to be different from the ordinary portraits which other artists painted. After he started the painting he had to go to Rome for some work. He took me with him. Then he went to Milan and he took me with him. |
| Mona Lisa: |
You say “he took me with him?” What do you mean? |
| Penguin: |
I mean me. You are talking to a picture, aren’t you? |
| Mona Lisa: |
Yes, of course. You look so real, I think I am talking to a real person. |
| Penguin: |
Thank you. Leonardo Da Vinci was a great artist. |
| Mona Lisa: |
When did Leonardo die? |
| Penguin: |
He died in 1519 in France. He was doing some work for the king of France. He was sixty-seven years old. |
| Mona Lisa: |
What happened to you after Leonardo died? |
| Penguin: |
Leonardo sold me to the King of France. I lived in the King’s Palace at Fontainebleau and then I moved to another Palace in Versailles, near Paris. |
| Mona Lisa: |
What happened to you after the French Revolution in 1789? |
| Penguin: |
Napoleon, the new leader of France moved me to the Louvre Palace in Paris. That is where I live now. The Louvre is a museum and you can come to see me. |
| Mona Lisa: |
Can you tell our readers about any exciting things which have happened to you? |
| Penguin: |
Well, in 1911, somebody stole me from the Louvre. |
| Mona Lisa: |
Really? Somebody stole the Mona Lisa? |
| Penguin: |
Yes, a man called Vincenzo Peruggia was working at the Louvre. One day he took me off the wall and carried me out of the museum. |
| Mona Lisa: |
That’s amazing! Didn’t somebody stop him? |
| Penguin: |
No, he put me under his coat and walked out of the building! |
| Mona Lisa: |
Where did you go after that? |
| Penguin: |
Vincenzo Peruggia took me to his flat and he kept me there for two years.
Then he tried to sell me to a man who buys and sells paintings in Florence. |
| Mona Lisa: |
So you went home to Florence again? |
| Penguin: |
Yes, it was nice to see my home city again. |
| Mona Lisa: |
Did the police catch Vincenzo Peruggia? |
| Penguin: |
Yes, and after that I travelled all over Italy. I came back to France in 1913. |
| Mona Lisa: |
Have you travelled to other cities? Have you been to London? |
| Penguin: |
No, I have never been to London, but I went to the USA in 1963 and then I went to Tokyo, in Japan and Moscow, in Russia in 1974. |
| Mona Lisa: |
What an interesting life you have had! Happy 500th Birthday! |
| Penguin: |
Thank you. Now I want to go back to the comfortable glass box where I live in the Louvre in Paris. |
| Mona Lisa: |
Well, Lisa, thank you very much for the interview. |
| Penguin: |
It’s been a pleasure to talk to Penguin Readers. Come and see me next time you are in Paris! |
