The Mona Lisa

The Mona Lisa painted by Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) in 1503 is probably the most famous work of art in the world.  Why has the Mona Lisa become so famous?  Let's examine what it is that makes this rather small (30.31 x 20.87 in, 77 x 53 cm) oil painting on a wood panel painted at the turn of the 16th century so compelling to viewers worldwide.  

Mona Lisa, (La Gioconda), Leonardo da Vinci, 1503-06, The Louvre

The Mona Lisa is the portrait of Lisa Gherardini, the wife of Francesco del Giocondo.  Mona was a contraction of "Madonna" meaning "my lady", a title of respect.  In the Louvre where this is located the painting is called La Gioconda, this is both a feminine version of her husbands last name and a word in Italian that tranlates into "the joyful one" referring to her slight smile.

Leonardo was born and raised in Tuscany and studied art under Andrea del Verrochio in Florence.  After leaving his master's workshop he acquired fame as an artist in Florence, where he lived until he was 30 years old.  Then he was sent by the influential Medici family to live in Milan where he worked for both the Medici and Duke Lodovico Sforza.  The Mona Lisa was painted during the three year period when Leonardo returned to Florence.  It was commissioned by another Florentine, Francesco del Giocondo who was a wealthy silk merchant. Leonardo returned to Milan in 1506 and brought the portrait with him.

Leonardo had painted only a handful of private portraits in his career, some earlier works are below. From left we see the Portrait of Ginevra de'Benci (1474-78), a portrait known as the Lady with an Ermine (c-1490, thought to be the mistress of Lodovico Sforza the Duke of Milan, Cecilia Gallerani) and the unknown sitter called La belle Ferronière (1490-96).

All three are beautifully painted with oil on a wood panel and show the sitter in a 3/4 view.  I have arranged them in the order they were painted chronologically and the Mona Lisa would have been painted nearly 10 years after La belle Ferronière and 25 years after the de'Benci portrait.  The later two have no background which highlights the face of the sitter, the earlier work had the landscape background made popular in Florentine painting of the mid to late 15th century.

While all are extraordinarily lovely portraits, the Mona Lisa still remains one of the most famous works of art in the world which leads me back to my original question- Why has the Mona Lisa become so famous?

One reason this is so well known is that this portrait was painted using techniques ahead of its time.  When compared with portraits by other artists painted around this time the Mona Lisa is startlingly realistic.  Let's look at some examples of Italian Renaissance portrait painting from the late 15th century.

Giovanna Tornabuoni, Ghirlandaio, 1489-90, tempera on panel, 

Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum (Madrid)

We can compare the Mona Lisa to earlier egg tempera portraits such as the one by the well known Florentine painter Ghirlandaio (above).  The style he used in his portrait of Giovanna Tornabuoni was quite popular during the 1400's, the profile was influenced by Ancient Roman coins which were commonly collected in the Renaissance.  The Mona Lisa was painted less then 15 years later, Leonardo uses the more realistic 3/4 view of his sitter.  In comparison to the lovely portrait of Giovanna Tornabuoni, the Mona Lisa is a much more convincingly naturalistic representation.

Portrait of a Lady, Ghirlandaio, 1489-90, tempera and oil on panel, Clark Art Institute

But Leondardo was not the first to use the 3/4 view, here is another portrait by Ghirlandaio which is similar to the Mona Lisa in composition.  The sitter also sits on a balcony and has a panoramic landscape behind her.  Yet this work too does not match the realism of the Mona Lisa.  One reason is that Leonardo's use of oil paint gives his work a richness of color and sense of depth that cannot be achieved with egg tempera.  

 Portrait of Francesco delle Opere, Perugino, 1494, Uffizi Gallery (Florence)

The artist Perugino was a contemporary of Leonardo da Vinci, it is thought that they both studied under the same master, Andrea del Verrochio.  In the above portait Perugino also uses a similar composition, his sitter seems to rest his hands on the frame of the painting and again we see a sweeping (if not Italian) landscape in the far background.  Perugino worked in oil paints and he has captured many lifelike details faithfully.

But why does the Mona Lisa still look more lifelike?  Leonardo pioneered several painting techniques, one was known as "chiaroscuro" which used light and dark to model form rather than using flatter outlines such as painters like Ghirlandaio and Perugino.  Leonardo's other innovative technique of "sfumato" meaning smoke created a painting with many thin glazes or layers of oil paint rather than the bright and flat washes of egg tempera.  Leonardo also famously dissected corpses to do a thorough study of human anatomy, which allowed him to fully understand the facial structure of his model and the underlying muscle and skeletal structures of all the figures he drew and painted.

When we line them up side by side these comparisons can help the modern viewer see the Mona Lisa with fresh eyes and fully appreciate the work for the innovative type of portrait that it was.  At this time portraiture was rather common and many painters contributed a variety of techniques.

But in fact there have been many innovative painting styles and techniques through the ages and Leonardo himself painted a number of other well executed portraits.  This leads back to my examination of the fame behind this now iconic work.

Leonardo da Vinci was considered to be a genius in his own time and he still is.  He did work as a painter, but he also worked on a wide variety of other things and so didn't create very many paintings, only around 25 exist today.  Therefore his unique painting methods combined with the scarcity of his work means that each work is considered extremely valuable and that sentiment has been true of Leonardo for a long time.
 

That idea ties into yet another reason why the Mona Lisa is so famous, the scandal that was created when it was stolen from the Louvre over 100 years ago.
 
The "Cult of the Mona Lisa" so to speak may have begun in 1911 the year it was stolen from the museum.  King François I of France invaded the Duchy of Milan while Leonardo was employed in the Royal Court of Milan under Sforza rule.  The French king was quite impressed with Leonardo and brought him back to France with him.  As Leonardo had never given his portrait of the Mona Lisa to his patron, he brought it and other works with him to France where he lived out the remainder of his life.  Due to this the Louvre museum in Paris has an impressive number of his works in its collection, at least six paintings as well as dozens of drawings.

That very fact angered a man named Vincenzo Peruggia who was working at the Louvre, he was Italian and felt that the Mona Lisa should be returned to Italy.  As an employee he was able to take it from the frame and sneak it out of the building. A day went by before workers realized it was in fact stolen and when word got out about the theft of the Mona Lisa the public was shocked. It was said that more people came to the Louvre to stare at the empty frame in the month it went missing than came to see the painting in the entire previous year.

It wasn't recovered for another two years and when it was finally returned the artwork was considered even more priceless and beloved than before.  Today it hangs behind protective glass and is surrounded by a constant crowd of viewers.  

It is one of the most copied and parodied works of art.  Marcel Duchamp made a version in 1919 with a mustache and beard and Andy Warhol made a silkscreen in 1963 of multiple images entitled Thirty are Better than One.

Whether it is seen as a paragon of Renaissance beauty, an innovative work by a genius or an iconic painting, the Mona Lisa continues to intrigue and inspire viewers more than 500 years after Leonardo da Vinci painted her.






 

Ninety-nine Years Of Fiscal (cliff) Policy

The Senate spent an intense and grueling 3 whole minutes pouring over the American Tax Payer Relief Act of 2012 before voting and passing the bill, 89-8. Our Senators are truly amazing as they must have read one page per second and still spent 26 seconds discussing it. Congratulations are certainly in order as both parties came together in a collegial spirit of compromise and goodwill to do the work of the people. Now we can all expect tremendous financial recovery since our politicians have saved us all from the ‘fiscal cliff’…a dreadful combination of porkless spending cuts and tax increases. The proverbial can has been kicked merrily into the distant future. We can all breathe easy and forget about it until March. No doubt, by that time, our servant-leaders in Washington D.C. will then spell out specific cuts and increases, agree on a new debt ceiling and good times will be here again. Historians will be writing about the miraculous recovery implemented by the most brilliant and responsible economic geniuses to grace humanity in 6,000 years.

Specific numbers are coming out and the spin doctors are now explaining to us who the winners and losers are from the bill. But we only need look at two numbers and compare them to know we have all lost again. The annual tax increase is projected to be $62 billion. Last year’s budget deficit was $1.1 trillion (or $1,100 billion). This leaves our politicians with only two choices. Government can take a massive pay-cut, essentially bankrupting itself. Or it can arbitrarily raise the debt ceiling one more time.

The truth is, America has been on this losing streak for a century. Ninety-nine years ago, the powers that be created the fiscal cliff. In December of 1913, President Woodrow Wilson signed a bill that gave away control of America’s money supply to the largest privately owned banks in the world. We call it the Federal Reserve System but there is nothing federal or reservist about it. Created to eliminate recessions and depressions, the exact opposite has occurred over and over again. Instead, the Federal Reserve marked the beginning of fiscal cliff policy—the monetization of debt.

This is how fiscal cliff monetary policy works. When the government needs more money (and when does it not?) it must raise taxes. But raising taxes is usually not politically expedient. So instead, the government goes to the Federal Reserve, hat in hand. In the hat are treasury debt certificates, or T-bills. The Federal Reserve purchases these notes of indebtedness. They create money out of nothing, pass it on to the government, and then proceeds to charge the government interest on this money that does not exist. The government uses the counterfeit dollars to buy votes. This counterfeit money makes its way into the money supply and the government’s back-door tax increases begin to take effect. We call it inflation. The American people get higher prices, higher interest rates, higher unemployment, economic slow-down—a recession. This creates a boom-bust cycle that intensifies in pain on a regular cycle or is delayed by more debt purchasing. This cannot go on forever. The real cliff will eventually be reached and Biblical laws of cause and effect that exist in the realm of finance MUST push us over.

Our fiscal cliff monetary policy violates biblical principles concerning debt, just weights and measures, stealing, coveting, partiality, rules on collateral, multiple indebtedness and the insanity of fractional reserve banking to name a few. All of these will be dealt with in more detail in future articles. Needless to say, it will take massive national repentance from the top down to avoid our coming fiscal cliff. I’m talking the kind we read about in the book of Jonah. But I don’t see our president sitting in sack-cloth and ashes and that goes for your neighbors too.

I can’t help but be reminded from a scene in the movie, Dumb and Dumber every time I think or write about debt monetization. Lloyd and Harry recover a million dollars that was supposed to be used as ransom money to recover a kidnapped man. While working their way to the rightful owner of the money, they decide it would be okay to spend some of the money along the way. When the kidnapper finally catches up with Lloyd and Harry, pistol in hand, he demands they open the case. What falls out of the case are dozens of slips of paper. The kidnapper is furious but Lloyd confidently assures him that, ‘the slips of paper are better than cash…they are IOU’s.’ Needless to say, the guy with the gun wasn’t buying it.

Professional Liability Insurance Costs for New Architectural Firms

A ubiquitous concern among architects who wish to start their own practice is "How much will my professional liability insurance cost?" Coverage costs vary by:

· State in which the practice is located,

· The limits of coverage purchased,

· Project types being designed, and

· The experience loss history of the Architect applying for coverage.

The cost of insurance also varies annually as the insurance market hardens or softens.

What should an architect expect upon applying for PLI (professional liability insurance) for the first time? Professional liability insurance protects firms against claims and/or allegations of negligence, errors or omissions in delivery of professional services. In order for an insurance company to evaluate and price their risk in insuring a firm, they require completion of an application. The application captures information about business locale, annual revenue, the discipline and project mix of the firm, and the risk management protocols implemented to help minimize exposure to claims. They will also inquire regarding claims history.

When in the process of starting a new firm, the underwriter will expect estimates of anticipated business. A solid business plan goes a long way in terms of providing underwriters comfort, so submitting a brief narrative stating goals and direction for the new firm is crucial. Previous project experience will also be highly relevant. In order to qualify for Architects Professional Liability insurance, you must hold a registered and/or licensed architectural license.

To get a quote, one must submit:

· A complete application. Be judicious, as submissions compiled hastily tend to be priced higher or declined by underwriters.

· A resume showing representative projects, education and any Society/Association affiliations held. Associations convey professional commitment to the insurer. Engagement in continuing education has a similar effect.

· A mission statement including the direction intended for the business goals for growth.

Once committed to purchasing a policy, annual renewal will be necessary to maintain coverage on work performed under the new firm. Professional liability insurance is written on a "claims-made" basis. This means a policy must be in force at the time a claim is made in order for coverage to apply. Also all policies contain a "retroactive date", which is the inception date of the initial professional liability insurance policy.

It is not possible to get coverage for work that you performed before applying for professional liability insurance. In essence, the key to covering architectural professional liability is to purchase from a trustworthy provider, and to do so immediately upon inception of a practice.

Professional Indemnity Insurance - Why Is It Necessary for Professional Service Providers?

Professional Indemnity (PI) insurance is associated with providing protection for professionals who sell their skill or knowledge. At times, in course of professional work, errors are prone to occur which attract a liability. PI insurance is meant to protect you against such liabilities.

Professionals like architects, chartered accountants, software consultants and the like are at risk. Some of the causes which can lead to liability are inadvertent disclosure/loss of data, malfeasance, infringement of copy rights and professional negligence. Howsoever expert you are in the area of specialization, you are at risk because of the reasons just stated. It is for this reason that you, as a professional, should buy PI insurance of appropriate cover.

Things covered under the policy
• Professional negligence: PI insurance offers you protection against law suits because of your professional negligence which entails some loss to your client. It covers problems arising from accidental mistakes, which are not within the purview of your personal control; say, your employee inadvertently deletes data from the database while in course of work, which leads to the loss of crucial data. The insurance provides the needed financial indemnity that ensues in the event of a legal liability.

• Circumstances unforeseen: Many of the faults that take place are not done by the professional intentionally. They are very much unexpected, but may lead to huge financial loss. As one is not prepared to face this unforeseen financial burden, having professional indemnity insurance can be of great help.

Apart from the financial compensation that you have to pay in case of litigation, professional indemnity insurance will also take care of precautionary advice which you, as a professional, deserve. These differ widely across professions. It will point to the remotest possible error on your part that may cause you to suffer a lawsuit.

• Lawsuits with malicious intent: At times, businesses or people with a malicious intent might drop you in trouble by suing you. In such cases, you can neither ignore the severity of the case, nor do you have the competency given the manoeuvring tactics at court of law. PI insurance would play the role of a lifebuoy at such predicament.

Who needs PI insurance?
PI insurance is meant for professionals who offer their knowledge, experience or skills as a paid service. Architects, engineers, brokers, solicitor, financial advisers, accountants are a few professionals who can take advantage of PI insurance. Above all, self-employed professionals should buy it at any cost, as they are solely responsible for their profession.

The clients can sue you because of your professional negligence of any sort.

Other benefits offered by the policy
Note that the law suits raised because of negligence on your part are difficult to handle in terms of time, resources and professional expertise. Sometimes, these legal claims might be too big to pay yourself, unless you have enough financial strength. Further, it may go to the extent to bring disrepute to you as also to your profession.

PI insurance is hence advisable for you, as it covers all the accidental mistakes which are potential enough to give rise to legal suits and claims for compensation. It avoids financial crippling in case of claims, saves reputation and enables smooth run of business.

Professional indemnity insurance may prevent you from having needless strain and your business from having a debilitating effect. Buying this insurance might cost a little, but the benefits thereof are manifold which you take into account.

5 Things To Ask Yourself Before You Buy Professional Indemnity Insurance

Professional Indemnity Insurance is designed to protect you when a problem arises with any professional work you have done. In today's litigation culture, this form of insurance is becoming increasingly relevant for a range of professions. Are you thinking about Professional Indemnity Insurance? Before you buy, it pays to consider the crucial 5 questions:

What exactly is Professional Indemnity Insurance?

Professional Indemnity (PI) Insurance is designed to protect you in the case of professional error. In the course of your working life an instance may occur where unfortunately, the professional skill you exhibit is deemed inadequate. In this situation, a dissatisfied client may seek some form of compensation, resulting in financial implications for you and your business. This is where PI Insurance comes in: it provides financial support for defense costs, withheld fees and any compensation which may be awarded against you. In simple terms, Professional Indemnity Insurance is financial protection against professional error.

Why do I require PI Insurance?

This type of insurance is typically relevant for professionals who regularly give advice to their customers, and/or who are responsible for customers' data and other intellectual property. It can loosely be regarded as protection against non-physical but nonetheless detectable damages. PI Insurance can be voluntary, but it is mandatory for some professions, such as Architecture, Accountancy and some IT Consultancy.

How does PI Insurance benefit me?

If you are at all liable to be challenged in the competency of your work, or there is scope for your services failing to meet the expectations of your client, then PI Insurance will certainly benefit you. PI Insurance will provide you with financial support if you are accused of professional negligence, misuse of intellectual property, loss of data, dishonesty and defamation incurred by your business. Despite best intentions, no one is immune to mistakes or accusations of mistakes - PI Insurance tackles the consequences of these errors.

When does the cover come into action?

Most forms of PI Insurance work on a claims-made basis. This means that the insurance only covers the claims made during the policy period. If an incident occurs whilst you hold the policy, but the claim is made after you have discontinued the insurance, then the claim will not be covered. On the flip-side, if an incident occurred before the time of holding the policy, but the claim is made once you have the insurance, then you can be protected. Each claim is treated individually - as the policyholder, you can usually select your own limit of indemnity.

Where are there exemptions and conditions?

To ensure the most comprehensive insurance, it is advisable to thoroughly research the policy options available. Many providers of PI Insurance offer industry-specific policies. Requirements are different for each sector: for some, cover is restricted to business carried out within the EU, for example. The policyholder will usually be required to pay an excess for each claim, and the amount varies according to policy. Suitability of Professional Indemnity Insurance can be achieved by the varying levels of cover available. This suitability can be further tightened by bespoke policies which can be continually amended.

It is important to tailor Professional Indemnity Insurance to the requirements of your individual business. The insurance is ultimately designed to protect you in the case of professional mistakes - choosing the right Professional Indemnity policy is the first step towards annulling these errors.

How Trading Binary Options With Traderxp Rebates Or Bbinary Rebates Works

In today’s world, more and more people are finding that they are dissatisfied with their single income stream and are constantly seeking ways to augment their income with secondary income streams. One of the best ways of doing this is through trading and among the increasingly popular financial products to trade are binary options. In order to trade binary options, you need the services of a broker, and almost all brokers charge a fee for the use of their services. With Traderxp rebates and Bbinary rebates, however, you can reduce the overall amount that you pay for the services of a broker because you get rebates when you sign up for their services.

Binary Options

The origin of options actually comes from producers who wanted to achieve greater financial certainty so that they could better plan their activities throughout the financial year. In order to do this, they had to fix the prices of the materials that they required for production. A manufacturer that required iron, for example, might estimate the amount of iron necessary for production over the entire year and the times at which that iron would have to be purchased. Based on market predictions, it would then estimate what the cost of iron should be at those times. The manufacturer would then enter into an agreement with an iron supplier to buy iron from them at that particular price on a particular date. This agreement came to be known as an options contract.

Binary options, however, function in a different manner from simpler options mentioned above. Instead of being an option to purchase a particular product, binary options have two outcomes. The first outcome is a win for the trader, and involves a payout of a certain percentage of the value of an underlying asset. The second outcome is a lose for the trader and simply means that he or she gets nothing back. Some brokers offer a certain percentage of your money back on losing trades, but that is a feature of the particular broker rather than of the binary options themselves.

Getting Money Back

As with most online service providers, brokers require that you sign up for an account and pay a fee in order to trade in binary options. With the sheer number of binary options brokers operating online, however, some brokers have had to market their services aggressively in order to attract customers. One way that they have done so is through partnerships with broker databases that offer rebates for sign-ups. This way, the brokers are able to attract more customers while customers feel greater satisfaction at having gotten some of their sign-up fee back.

It was common practice for database websites to receive a commission in return for each sign-up that they successfully referred to a broker. As more database websites were created, the databases themselves encountered heavy competition. Some of the better databases then started to share their commissions with their customers in order to attract more customers. When you sign up with Traderxp or Bbinary through the right database website, you will get your brokerage membership and enjoy Traderxp rebates or Bbinary rebates at the same time.

Exhibit: The Body Beautiful in Ancient Greece

"Man is the measure of all things."  So said the Ancient Greek scholar Protagoras in the mid-5th century BC and his statement rings true in the current exhibit at the Portland Art Museum: The Body Beautiful in Ancient Greece.

There are over 100 objects from Ancient Greece, all from the British Museum in London.  There is a focus on Classical (510-323 BC) and Hellenistic (323-146 BC) Greek art, but the objects are from a wide variety of eras and locations.  Included was a Cycladic figure from c.-2,500 BC as well as Etruscan and Roman objects.  The emphasis is on the human figure, shown in a wide variety of forms, including life-size marble sculpture, painted amphoras, small bronze figurines and plaster casts of famous marble sculptures such as The Spear Bearer by Polykleitos.  The exhibit is broken up into several sections such as: The Male Body Beautiful, Aphrodite and the Female Body, The Divine Body, Athletes, Birth, Marriage and Death, Sex and Desire and The Human Face. 

Townley Discobolus, original by Myron 450-440BC

Roman copy from 2nd cen AD

Much of what we know of Greek sculpture today is due to the surviving Ancient Roman copies of originals.  Ancient Greek sculptors made many of their most beautiful sculptures from bronze, however they were later melted down to reuse the valuable metal.  Many of the works in The Body Beautiful were later Roman copies of Greek art from the 1st and 2nd centuries AD.

One of the things I found to be really interesting was in reading about the famous Discobolus from the British Museum.  The bronze original from 450-440 BC was created by a Greek sculptor named Myron and has never been found.  Today there are several Roman copies that did survive, the one in the British Museum is known as the "Townley Discobolus" and the head is actually from a different Roman sculpture.  The two were both found broken and it was incorrectly assumed that they went together.  Also the head was attached facing the wrong way, it should in fact be looking at the arm that is about to throw the discus.  The Townley sculpture was excavated from the Emperor Hadrian's villa in Tivoli outside of Rome in the late 18th century.  The Discobolus is rather unique as the figure is in motion instead of standing still.

Victorious Athlete, Roman Copy c.-1st cen. A.D 

from the original 430 B.C, British Museum

Another figure also from the Classical period is known as the Victorious Athlete (pictured above).  His static standing form is more typical and his ideal form and beauty are hallmarks of this time in art.  This is a good example of Ancient Greek art from the Classical Period as it has an emphasis on perfect beauty and harmony seen through the body of a muscular young athlete. 

As the wall text says in the exhibit-
"The realism of 5th century BC Athenian art tended to generalize human types.  Artists set out to represent the values of the city (polis) and its ruling class of soldier citizens, rather than to portray individuals."

Bust of Aphrodite, Roman copy of original from 360 BC

The same was true of idealized gods and goddesses.  There were many variations on the perfect beauty of the Venus (Aphrodite in Greek) type, but they all had in common a type of portrait or figure showing the perfect beauty of the eternally young Venus, nearly always shown nude.  The 4th century BC sculptor Praxiteles in particular was renowned for his skill in creating the ideal female body through his many Aphrodite figures.

 Part of a sculpture of two boys fighting over a game of knucklebones, Roman, 1st cen BC

The above sculptural fragment is of a decidedly different style, that of Hellenism.  When Alexander the Great expanded the Greek empire into Asia Minor there was a cross cultural shift in styles and upon his death in 323 BC the period known as Hellenism began.  Rather than the "perfect beauty and harmony" found in the earlier Classical Style, Hellenistic art focuses on the individual and becomes more naturalistic.  While Classical Greek art was "realistic" in the sense that it appeared convincingly real, naturalistic refers to observing life in nature rather than the ideal.  Examples include bodies that are aging, grotesque, scrawny or obese rather than the perfect ideal youthful athletes, heroes and gods of the previous century.

Another characteristic of Hellenism is that it often took a humorous or dramatic turn such as the fragment above of two boys fighting during a gambling game.  Still in this work the ever present theme of "the body" is on display with the surviving figure's interestingly contorted pose.
 

The Sphinx of Lanuvium, British Museum, 120-140 AD

The following text is taken from the Portland Art Museum's website-

The Body Beautiful in Ancient Greece

October 6, 2012 – January 6, 2013

The Body Beautiful in Ancient Greece explores the human form through exquisite objects from the British Museum’s famed collection of Greek and Roman sculptures. This collection rarely travels due to its size and value.  London’s British Museum is one of the oldest and most celebrated museums in the world with a collection of more than seven million objects exploring human history and culture from its beginnings to the present.

Organized by the British Museum and curated by Director Brian Ferriso for its presentation in Portland. The exhibition is accompanied by a full color catalog.

This Exhibition has been made possible by the collaboration of the British Museum and Portland Art Museum.