Mona Lisa

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See also: Mona-Lisa

English

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Italian Monna Lisa (literally “my lady Lisa”), named after Lisa del Giocondo, whom it portrays.

Pronunciation

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Proper noun

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the Mona Lisa (plural Mona Lisas)

  1. A painting by Leonardo da Vinci, widely considered to be the most famous painting in history.
    • 2005, Zvi Rappoport, Joel F. Liebman, The Chemistry of Cyclobutanes‎[1], page 18:
      This small and deceptively simple, but extremely interesting molecular system was rightly characterized by Cram and coworkers as ‘The Mona Lisa of Organic Chemistry’, because of its ability to elicit wonder, to stimulate imagination and, last but not least, by its enigmatic elusiveness and numerous outstanding features.
    • 2007, Tiffany Christensen, Sick girl speaks!: lessons and ponderings along the road to acceptance, page 128:
      I told him I didn't care if the painting was a Mona Lisa or pure nonsense, I just wanted him to have the experience of painting on canvas.
    • 2011, Duncan J. Watts, Everything is Obvious, Crown Business, →ISBN, page 56:
      For centuries, the Mona Lisa was a relatively obscure painting languishing in the private residences of kings—still a masterpiece, to be sure, but only one among many. Even when it was moved to the Louvre, after the French Revolution, it did not attract as much attention as the works of other artists […]
    • 2012, “[Connoisseurship: Critical Comparisons] The Vital Importance of the Columns”, in Mona Lisa: Leonardo’s Earlier Version, The Mona Lisa Foundation, →ISBN, page 204, column 1:
      If one were to ask the rhetorical question as to why one of the two original Mona Lisas has columns, and the other does not, the logical answer is that they are two separate compositions – with certain deliberate similarities, and with certain distinct differences of which only the artist was aware – and never intended to be copies of each other.
    • 2021, Kate Biberdorf, Hillary Homzie, “An Educated Guess”, in The Birthday Blastoff, Philomel Books, →ISBN, page 10:
      Now, in fifth grade, I’m still drawing stick figures and she’s making Mona Lisas.
    • 2022, Beatriz M. Mikusinski Zawislak, translated by Adriana Krainski, Mona Lisa and Her Mysteries, Editora AGE, →ISBN, page 97:
      In order to better discuss the hidden portrait, discovered under the Louvre Mona Lisa, Figure 35 presents both the Louvre Mona Lisa and the Isleworth Mona Lisa beside Raphael’s drawing; then, Table 4 below raises some points of reference of this drawing (without considering the garment drawn by Raphael): (1) the columns, (2) the hairstyle, (3) the age of the model and (4) the landscape. These points will be considered in both Mona Lisas painted by Leonardo and in the model of the hidden portrait, seen in Figure 34.

Translations

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Noun

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Mona Lisa (plural Mona Lisas)

  1. (figurative) A woman who resembles the subject of this painting, renowned for her beauty and enigmatic smile.
    • 1972, John Newton Chance, The dead tale-tellers, page 111:
      She let him take it and sat on, smiling very faintly. It was a Mona Lisa effort.
    • 1985, Bob Dotson, ...In pursuit of the American dream‎[2], page 4:
      […] found Florence Thompson, the Mona Lisa of the 1930s, a migrant mother whose picture haunted the nation.
    • 2000, Edward A. Molnar, Shadows on a Mirror, page 188:
      They saw each other at the same time, and their gazes met and held. […] Alex's heart beat faster and harder. He smiled what felt like a Mona Lisa smile […]
    • 2005, Ariel Lewin, The Archaeology of Ancient Judea and Palestine‎[3], page 84:
      The panels depicting scenes from the life of Dionysos are framed with acanthus leaves, some of which form medallions, including one showing a fascinating woman who has come to be known as the Mona Lisa of Galilee.
    • 2020, Michael Shenk, Always A Brother, page 108:
      It was all enhanced by Melissa's thin smile as she continued working like a Mona Lisa on Red Bull.

Derived terms

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References

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  1. ^ “Mona Lisa”, in Collins English Dictionary.

Further reading

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Anagrams

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