One thing to consider: how does history intermingle with fantasy? We all associate the Game of Thrones with medieval history and yet is it? How many conspiracies have been spun about aspects of history, and how many Dan Brown books will be written? (P.S. Really liked 2013 summer hit Inferno, set in Florence!)
Who is the real Mona Lisa? We know that others have suggested that aliens built the pyramids, so why not try a bit of fantasy with the Mona Lisa (it's really da Vinci, etc.). Yet we have two primary sources that tell us about who Mona Lisa was. One, the book I passed around in class: Gregorio Vasari's biographical account of the greatest painters of the Renaissance. It is his book that sets the standard of Giotto as the first "great" and follows through Michelangelo, whose story was on the online click. Vasari establishes the myth of the Renaissance artist, that is largely true too. In the chapter on da Vinci, he tells us that this painter painted a great portrait of Lisa, the wife of a wealthy silk merchant. In addition the great mapmaker Amerigo Vespucci commented on watching da Vinci paint Lisa's portrait. The only item in dispute is whether all 4 of the remaining portraits of Lisa were all the same one being referred to in the text. One mystery is however how it did not end up in that family's hands, and instead was left for his apprentice, and therefore passed into the hands of the French.
One other item of note is the ice-caps in the back: most people don't really notice them. This is more "ideal beauty" than actual beauty, and a different sort of naturalism as well. Also her hands which appear awkward rest on a blanket, determined by extra xray laser a few years ago. Love those odd facts.
Is she the most iconic reproduced figure in art work? When I visited her last May, I bought a postcard with Mona Lisa listening to the beat with headphones on. You can see her on the door to my office. Always brings a smile.
