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I will explore two portraits by Leonardo DaVinci, The Mona Lisa and Ginevra Benci. The intent of my paper is to explore the ways in which Leonardo celebrates the status of women through portraiture and how he used different form of expression, setting, and style to enliven the spirit of the 15th century woman. I will explore the ways in which his sitter leveled with the audience, specifically in the way their eyes met the viewers and his decision to steer away from more traditional threequarter portraiture to add a level of intimacy and honesty to the painting. I will begin with contextual and interpretive analysis to both paintings, describing their setting, medium, date, and historical context along with my own visual interpretation. I will follow up my analysis with an informal description of 15th century women to support my thesis. The following will be a comparison of the two in conjunction with how the represent Leonardos unique style of female portraiture.
Who Was Ginevra de' Benci? Leonardo's Portrait and Its Sitter Recontextualized Mary D. Garrard Artibus et Historiae Vol. 27, No. 53 (2006), pp. 23-56 Carolyn Springer Reviewed work(s): Virtue and Beauty: Leonardo's "Ginevra de' Benci" and Renaissance Portraits of Women by David Alan Brown Renaissance Quarterly Vol. 56, No. 2 (Summer, 2003), pp. 475-477 Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of the Renaissance Society of America Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1261870 The Mona Lisa in the History of Taste George Boas Journal of the History of Ideas Vol. 1, No. 2 (Apr., 1940), pp. 207-224 Published by: University of Pennsylvania Press Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2707333 Womanhood in Art Phebe Estelle Spalding Fine Arts Journal Vol. 19, No. 12 (Dec., 1908) Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25587119 Review: [untitled] Sara Nair James Reviewed work(s): Virtue and Beauty: Leonardo's "Genevra de' Benci" and Renaissance Portraits of Women by David Alan Brown The Sixteenth Century Journal Vol. 35, No. 3 (Fall, 2004), pp. 923-924