Leonardo da Vinci Was Not Methuselah When He Painted Mona Lisa

Leonardo da Vinci Was Not Methuselah When He Painted Mona Lisa

Many images and now AI videos of the greatest artist of all time, Leonardo da Vinci when he painted the Mona Lisa showed a grand old man with flowing long gray hair and long white beard.

This is totally historically wrong depiction of him, because Leonardo da Vinci was 51 years old when he began painting the portrait of Lisa del Giocondo in 1503. And he continued working on it off and on for many years—and kept it with him until he died—he was 67 years old when he finished or stopped working on the portrait in 1519.

Timeline of the Painting
Born: April 15, 1452
Started (1503): Age 51
Initial period (c. 1503–1506/1507): Ages 51 to 55
Final refinement/Death (1519): Age 67

Mona Lisa, Lisa del Giocondo, born Lisa Camilla di Antonmaria (June 15, 1479 – July 14, 1542) was an Italian noblewoman and member of the Gherardini family of Florence and Tuscany. Her name was given to the Mona Lisa, her portrait commissioned by her husband and painted by Leonardo da Vinci in the Italian Renaissance.

The Mona Lisa is the best known, the most visited, the most written about, the most sung about abd the most parodied work of art in the world.

Images:

1. Mona Lisa.

2. This portrait of Leonardo da Vinci attributed to Francesco Melzi, c. 1515–1518, is the only certain contemporary depiction of Leonardo.

3. Montage of the details of Leonardo da Vinci painting the Mona Lisa at 51 and image of him at 67 making the portrait with  Lisa del Giocondo sitting nearby 

by my description to ChatGPT.

My own images cannot be copied, duplicated or reproduced without my authorization and permission. All rights reserved.

#art

#leonardodavinci

#vinci

#monalisa

#portrait

#painting

#florence

Florence Yemi Fawaz: So Unforgettable

Florence Ibiyemi 'Yemi' Fawaz

So Unforgettable

Over twenty years ago, I was searching for a place on Adelabu Street in Surulere on the mainland of Lagos, Africa's largest megacity when I met the most beautiful model from Nigeria, Yemi Fawaz in her residence and restaurant, Double 4.  She was the 

first Nigerian international supermodel with a career from the 1970s to the 1990s. One of the pioneers of professional modelling in Nigeria. She was also a fashion designer, beauty promoter/consultant, actress, trade show organiser, chef, restaurateur, and deacon.

We became friends. I was attracted by her beauty and she was attracted by my honesty which she said was a rarity among majority of Nigerians. We became closer friends and she wanted me to join her in the management of her restaurant. But I couldn't do so, because I was a vegetarian who would not eat or sell meat to anyone. She thought she could change my mind. 

She did for me what nobody ever did when she hosted my only solo salon art exhibition that I did not prepare for. She cooked and served all our invited guests, but when she served me, I openly rejected the food of rice with stew and beef. 

"You know I don't eat meat. So, why did you give me a nonvegeterian food?"

She apologized. But she was not happy about it. We became closer. But my vegetarian life and refusal to run the restaurant with her made us to part ways before I left Lagos for Bonny Island on Rivers State in 2004. She had relocated to the United States of America before I left Lagos. She was still in America when I returned to Lagos in 2008. She returned later before she succumbed to colon cancer and passed on to eternal glory on February 20, 2019 at the Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. 

I can never forget Yemi Fawaz.

"Unforgettable

In every way

And forever more

That's how you'll stay."

- Nat "King" Cole.

- By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima,

March 9, 2022.