Multiple people believe the Mona Lisa is an exceptional painting that was highly appreciated even when Leonardo was still working on it. Indeed, the Mona Lisa is a realistic portrait, and the painter devoted particular attention to the delicate skin of Mona Lisa’s palms (Keshelava, 2020). However, the details alone are not enough to make picture the most famous painting in the world. Despite the mass appreciation of the artistic qualities of this picture, I truly believe that Mona Lisa is overrated. Although the image is realistically made, it stands in line with other fine arts belonging to realism, and many pictures are more beautifully made than Mona Lisa.
There is an opinion that Mona by Lisa’s high rating is brought about because the picture comprises many secrets, and a veil of mystery surrounds it. However, the vagueness and legends adjoining the painting and appealing to a large audience do not present a valid criterion for evaluation since it does not state anything about the artistic beauty of the piece. While there is no denying that the Mona Lisa appeals to a large number of people in an artistic sense, I cannot say that the picture is captivating or impossible to forget. My experience and the other people not believing the Mona Lisa to be the most impressive they have seen confirms that it is not universally appreciated artwork, which means that it might have an overrated status.
As seen in Figure 1, the picture “Mary Magdalene” by Jan van Skorel belongs to the period of Northern Renaissance and can effectively replace the Mona Lisa as the most famous picture in the world. Indeed, the woman in the picture is no less mysterious, and her face visually resembles Mona Lisa. In addition, Mary Magdalene is dressed in beautiful and lustrous clothes, demonstrating decorative value, while the Mona Lisa’s picture does not catch the eye of a viewer to the dress. Moreover, there is a beautiful landscape in the background of the painting that can be favorably compared against Da Vinci’s background to Mona Lisa.
References
Keshelava, G. (2020). Analysis of Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa del Giocondo. International Journal of Health Sciences, 8(3), 17-20. Web.
Van Skorel, J. (1530). Mary Magdalene [Illustration]. Web.