Ron Piccirillo - SOLVING MONA LISA: Cracking The Code of Da Vincis Mysterious Painting

Ron Piccirillo

Copyright Ron Piccirillo 2019

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by an electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.

Softcover, second edition, color illustrations, May 2020

For special discounts on bulk purchases, or to book an event, email solvingmonalisa@yahoo.com.

The events and conversations in this book have been set down to the best of the authors ability, although some names and details have been changed to protect the privacy of individuals.

www.ronpiccirillo.com

ISBN-13: 978-1-7330372-5-9

In memory of my dog Ginger

2009-2011

: Mona Lisa s First Clue

: The Mountains Lion

: The Lion, Ape, and Buffalo?

: Find Felix

: Secrets of the d-Point

: The Artists Game

: Leonardos Eye

: Ah, You See?

: Monas Transfiguration

: Confirmation

: Leonardo Wasnt Alone

: Invidia

: The Art Museum

: Let the Story Fall

: Gingers Mysterious Death

: The Devil is in the Detail

: Let the World Know

: The Interview

: Pride

: Distorting the Picture

: Unbelievable

: The Wolf in the Mirror

: The Today Show

: My Fathers Blessing

: If God Were to Speak

: The Scene From Above

: The Case of Lisa Gherardini

: The Dark Renaissance

: A Walk Through the Woods

: Dantes Divine Comedy

: Reading Between the Lines

: The Lust of Venus and Mars

Contents

: The Banquet Disguise

: Mapping Mona Lisa s Background

: The Envious Blind

: When in Rome

: The Portraits Third Woman

: Water from a Rock

: The Other Bridge

: Fables of the Beast

: Fool Me Once

: Borgias and Black Crepe

: The Question

: Heading Towards the Truth

: Whats the Point?

: Facing Judgment

: Have Faith

Epilogue: The Smile

Authors Note

Notes

Bibliography

Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci (c. 1503-c. 1517).

The Mysteries

For over years, the identity of Leonardo da Vincis Mona Lisa has remained unknown. It has been argued that she could be one of several women, but some experts strongly believe she is Lisa Gherardini. The portrait was in Leonardos possession until his death in 1519, but its believed that he left no explanation about the painting in any of his thousands of pages of writings.

The reason for the womans smile has baffled everyone.

RON PICCIRILLO

g

We to the place have come, where I have told thee

Thou shalt behold the people dolorous

Who have foregone the good intellect.

And after he had laid his hand on mine

With joyful mien, whence I was comforted,

He led me in among the secret things.

Dante Alighieri,

The Divine Comedy

( Inferno , Canto 3.16-21; Longfellow)

anamorphosis | an mrf s s |

noun (plural anamorphoses | -f sz | )

a distorted projection or drawing that appears normal when viewed from a particular point or with a suitable mirror or lens.

There was nothing I loved more than art. My earliest memory was when I was perhaps 11, scribbling in a coloring book, the crayons pressing against the pages over a formica table. A humid, summer breeze was blowing through the open windows, causing the drapes to slow-dance like ghosts. In the room were spools of thread that Id carefully touch and wonder why the different colors felt the same. Ma was working at a cast iron sewing machine next to me that shook the room like a passing train. Long pins radiated from her lips like toothpicks. A dress was magically coming alive as she sewed pieces of fabric together.

Where did you learn to do that? I asked.

In Italy before I came to A-me-ri-ca . She sang the word in her thick, Italian accent, and explained how she and Papa came from Italy years before to live in our quiet neighborhood in Western New York, not far from the Great Lakes before my siblings and I were born. My grandfathers brother was settled here already, and eventually convinced my parents to move to America. They were farmers, their shoes were constantly mud-ridden, and the chance at a better future appealed to them. We wanted clean shoes, Ma later told me. She came to America before Papa because he had to wait for his papers.

Speak of the devil, she said as she heard Papa pulled into the driveway. I gotta make some food for your daddy. She hurried down the hall toward the kitchen, her short curls of hair bobbing and her clogs slapping the wood floor as she disappeared to go make his lunch.

It wasnt long after Papa was home that they started arguing. Ma was short in height, and wore her usual pink apron, and didnt look intimidating, but her wailing still echoed off the walls like small explosions as the sounds of kitchen drawers would begin to slam, the utensils inside clanging against each other. Papa, with his cryptic smile and soft, wavy James Dean-like hair, resembled St. Thomas from Leonardos Last Supper. Like the saint in the painting, Papa would point his finger when he spoke, waving it around like a wand.

I didnt know what they were arguing about since their Italian words were spoken quickly, making it difficult to tell where the sounds of words ended or began, but their fights always caused a tightening feeling in my chest. Yet, there was something hypnotic about Papas calmness and Mas chaotic movements. Like watching the control of a lion overtake a baby elephant on Wild Kingdom

Mona Lisas First Clue

RON PICCIRILLO

as it bit and clawed into its gray, leathery skin with unemotional ease.

I huddled over my coloring book, forcing every bit of concentration into the world drawn on those pages, fueling my imagination and forgetting about the real one around me. As usual, my parents arguing ended just as quickly as it had started. I continued coloring madly afterward, as if the crayon could erase my emotional strain. Yet, the anxiety could only be tucked away, never really disappearing at all. Im not sure if that had any connection to my desire in being an artist, but I eventually knew I would spend my life as one.

Originally, I wanted to be a comic illustrator, and dreamt of penciling issues of The Amazing Spider-Man. Drawing pads and pencils kept me content for years as a child, but I never felt my illustrations would be good enough, and so I turned to graphic design as a more practical route. But it was still a way to feed my artistic passion. For most of my career, I enjoyed hiding behind a computer monitor, doing what I loved. But over the years, I felt a lack of appreciation for the creative process. Things like office politics and incredibly tight deadlines, as if I were working on an assembly line meant to quickly pump out work in large quantities, caused my inspiration and determination to fade. I began to feel like my life was missing something.