What was the meaning of the smile of Leonardo’s Mona Lisa for his contemporaries? What were the reactions to his masterpieces —such as the Lucrezia Crivelli, the Lady with an Ermine, the Saint Anne and, again, the Mona Lisa—when they were seen for the first time in Milan, Florence and Paris at the beginning of the 16th century?

In this lecture, Carmelo Occhipinti, Associate Professor of the History of Art, Museology and History of Art Criticism at the University of Rome Tor Vergata, will discuss the early history of these paintings, starting from the celebratory verses that poets wrote about the smiling faces painted by Leonardo when he was working for Ludovico il Moro in Milan, in the Republic of Florence and then at the Paris court, where Leonardo died in 1519.

We will explore the mysterious and compelling smile of the Mona Lisa, the Lady with an Ermine, the Lucrezia Crivelli and the Saint Anne through the poetic verses that Bernardo Bellincioni, Antonio Tebaldeo and Gianus Lascaris dedicated to Leonardo as they tried to understand his art by making comparisons between his paintings and masterpieces of Greek statuary.

The lecture is held in partnership with the Società Dante Alighieri and is under the patronage of the Italian National Committee for the celebrations of the 500th anniversary of Leonardo da Vinci's death.

Date: 2 May 2019

Time: 5:00 – 6:00 PM

Language: Arabic and English 

Target Audience: General public

Seats are limited, please click the button below to register.