Mona Lisa Quotes

“In Lisa’s lifetime, a galaxy of artistic stars—Michelangelo, Botticelli, Raphael, Perugino, Filippino Lippi—rivaled the heavens with their brilliance. None outshone the incandescent genius of Leonardo, who emerges from the fog of history as more of a cultural force than a mere human being.
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During Leonardo’s and Lisa’s lifetimes, largerthan-legend characters strutted across the Florentine stage: Lorenzo de’ Medici, whose magnificence rubbed off on everything he touched. The charismatic friar Savonarola, who inflamed souls before meeting his own fiery death. Ruthless Cesare Borgia, who hired Leonardo as his military engineer. Niccolò Machiavelli, who collaborated with the artist on an audacious scheme to change the course of the Arno River.”
― Dianne Hales, Mona Lisa: A Life Discovered

“Families routinely accepted illegitimate children so common in Italy that a foreign visitor at the time considered them one of the countrys defining characteristics. Nevertheless, bastards were penalized for being born out of wedlock. Leonardo, for instance, would not be able to attend university or to pursue professions such as medicine and law. Nor could he become a notaio like his father and great-grandfather.”
― Dianne Hales, Mona Lisa: A Life Discovered