Better
Know the Mona Lisa
I Lead-in
A)
What
images come to your mind when you hear the word “portrait”? Take 3 minutes to
write down the examples and then compare your lists with other students.
B)
What
are the characteristics of a portrait? Does it always show one person?
C)
What kind of people can you see depicted when you
look at famous portrait? Are they famous people or people without power?
D)
Do
portraits have to represent real individuals? Is
it necessary for a portrait to be made from real life?
II Study the active vocabulary and focus
on Ukrainian equivalents of English words.
flock злітатися
Renaissance man
людина епохи Відродження
height найвищий ступінь розвитку
mounting зростаючий
merchant купець
disposable вільний
income дохід
subject об’єкт
cloth merchant торговець
тканиною
feminine form жіноча
форма
married name прізвище жінки у шлюбі
conveniently зручно
invoke
викликати
derivative
похідний
agreeable
приємний
commission замовляти
on the occasion of з нагоди
put off відкладати
royal court королівський
двір
property власність
rightful законний
shuffle
перетасовувати
for safekeeping
для зберігання
stretcher носилки
ambulance
швидка
допомога
chateau замок
abbey абатство
cropped обрізаний
delicately делікатно
unremarkably непримітно
show off хизуватися
trend мода
look out виглядати
smudgy
смутний
haziness туманність
otherworldly
потойбічний
shading затінення
secular світський
hazily
туманно
expression
вираз
software
програмне
забезпечення
curvature викривлення
crinkle зморшка
disgusted що відчуває огиду
fearful
наляканий
empty порожній
knowingness знання
in spite of попри
turbulent бурхливий
indelible незгладимий
treasure скарб
superstardom
статус суперзірки
gaze погляд
stroke рух пензля
capture схопити
majesty велич
nude оголений
wane слабшати
reproduction репродукція
reinterpretation реінтерпретація, нове тлумачення
merchandisfication перетворення на ринковий товар
bastardisation викривлення оригінального
змісту
masterpiece шедевр
III Vocabulary
focus. Study the words and word combinations, check your understanding
using flashcards, practise
their translation, spelling. Check
your knowledge in the test. Play matching vocabulary game (match words to their translations
to make cards disappear) and save the planet from asteroids by typing in correct translation of the words.
husband; posed; Italy; peasant; humanism; Italian; royal court; ambulance;
sang; shuffled; property; warrior; towel; alley; feminine form; rightful; valley;
Louvre; song; museum; parodied; architect; home; popularized; museums; married;
famously; pleasant; Renaissance; painted; merchant; class; Florence; remained; war;
paid; children; important; France; put off; returned; definitely; portrait; continue;
parent; scientist; French; possession
Jay-Z and Beyonce 1)______ with her. Kardashians posed
with her. So did Tony Danza, Cara Delevingne, even Richard Simmons. Nat King
Cole 2)______ about her; so did
Will.i.am. She was 3)______ stolen
in 1911. Marcel Duchamp 4)______ her
in 1919. Someone more recently made a 5)______
out of her. But who is she? Why, after centuries, do we 6)______ to flock to her? Let’s better know the Mona Lisa.
Leonardo da Vinci – yep, the original 7)______ man, who painted “The Last
Supper” and was also an inventor, 8)______,
engineer, and 9)______ – began the
portrait in 1533, while living in 10)______.
It was the height of the 11)______ Renaissance,
when a mounting interest in 12)______,
as well as a growing 13)___ ___ with disposable income, had 14)______ portrait-painting. We call it
the “Mona Lisa,” “Mona” being short for “Madonna,” or “lady,” and his subject
is almost 15)______ Lisa del
Giocondo, a Florentine who
16)______ a cloth merchant at
the age of 15 and would have been about 24 when it was 17)______. Italians call the painting “La Gioconda,” the 18)___
___ of her married name. And the 19)______ likewise call it “La Joconde,” which conveniently invokes
the Latin “jocundus” and its derivatives, meaning “20)______” or “agreeable.”
Lisa’s 21)______,
Francesco, likely commissioned the 22)______
on the occasion of their moving into a new 23)______,
or possibly after the birth of one of their 24)______. But the portrait never actually got to them. Francesco
might not have 25)______ for it, or
Leonardo could have 26)___ ___ finishing it for a more 27)______ commission. But the painting
remained in the artist’s 28)______ until
his death in 1519, after he had joined the 29)___ ___ of King Francois I. From there, the
painting became the 30)______ of the
king. And, after a stay at Versailles, it eventually made its way to the 31)______, in the late 18th century.
There it has 32)______ – except when
this guy walked it out of the 33)______,
under his shirt, hid it for two years, and then tried to return the painting to
an Italian museum which he felt was its 34)______
home. Then it was back to the Louvre, until World War II came along, and it was
35)______ around France for
safekeeping, sometimes even on a stretcher in an 36)______. It went from a chateau in the Loire 37)______, to an abbey in the south of 38)______, to 39)______ farther
south, until it could finally be 40)______
to Paris after the end of the 41)______.
V Match the words with their meanings.
to flock; architect; scientist; income; Renaissance;
shirt; to put off; war; stretcher; ambulance; merchant; humanism; towel; inventor
3. the period of growth of interest and activity in art, literature, and ideas in Europe during the 15th and 16th centuries
7.
a doctrine cantered on human interests
or values
11. a piece of clothes for the upper part of the body
12.
a device for carrying a sick or injured
person
13.
a state of armed conflict between states
or nations
14.
a vehicle equipped for transporting
injured or sick people
VI Match the words from two columns to make
collocations used in the text. Use four collocations in your sentences.
1.
|
merchant
|
a)
|
name
|
2.
|
disposable
|
b)
|
occasion of
|
3.
|
cloth
|
c)
|
income
|
4.
|
feminine
|
d)
|
a new home
|
5.
|
married
|
e)
|
Renaissance
|
6.
|
commission
|
f)
|
way to
|
7.
|
on the
|
g)
|
class
|
8.
|
move into
|
h)
|
home
|
9.
|
royal
|
i)
|
merchant
|
10.
|
make its
|
j)
|
court
|
11.
|
rightful
|
k)
|
form
|
12.
|
Italian
|
l)
|
the portrait
|
VII Study the
transcript above and fill in the gaps in the phrasal verbs with the
prepositions. Use four verbs in your sentences.
1.
to move _____a new home
2.
the property _____ somebody
3.
_____an ambulance
4.
to shuffle _____
5.
to make a towel _____ _____something
6.
interest _____ something
7.
to sing _____somebody or something
8.
to pay _____something
9.
_____1519
10._____the occasion _____
11.to come _____
12._____a stretcher
13.the height _____something
14.to flock _____somebody or something
15.to pose _____ somebody or something
16.to put _____
17.to remain _____somebody’s possession
18._____the 18th century
VIII
Watch the part of the video and mark the sentences as True (T) or False (F).
1. Jay-Z and Beyonce
copied the Mona Lisa.
2. People made clothes
out of the Mona Lisa portrait.
3. Many people want to
see the Mona Lisa.
4. Leonardo da Vinci
began “The Last Supper” in 1533, while living in Rome.
5. We call the painting
the “Mona Lisa,” “Mona” being short for “Monica”.
6. The subject of the
painting is Lisa del Giocondo, a first
woman who worked as a cloth merchant.
7. Lisa del Giocondo was
about 24 when the portrait was painted.
8. Lisa’s husband,
Francesco, commissioned the portrait.
9. Lisa del Giocondo
moved the portrait to her new home.
10.The Mona Lisa stayed
in Rome, it eventually made its way to Paris, in the late 18th century.
11.During World War II people
tried to hide the painting for safekeeping.
12.The Mona Lisa went
from a chateau in the Loire valley, to an abbey in the south of France, to
museums farther south.
IX Watch the
part of the video and answer the questions.
1)
What
famous people posed with the Mona Lisa?
2)
What
did creative people do with the image of the Mona Lisa?
3)
When
was the portrait painted? What period in art history does the Mona Lisa belong
to?
4)
Why was the portrait painted? What was the
possible special occasion for the commission?
5)
Did
Leonardo da Vinci give the portrait to the merchant who had commissioned it?
Why or why not?
6)
Where
was the Mona Lisa kept after da Vinci’s death?
7)
What
does the name of the painting mean?
8)
What
are the associations with the name of the painting?
9)
What
museums did the Mona Lisa remain during its history?
10)
How
was the painting preserved during World War II?
X Watch the
video again and choose the correct option to complete the sentences.
While many portraits/portraiture/paint of the time were more closely dropped/cropped/creep and painted in pro
file/profane/profile, Lisa is oriented more frontally/front all/fronted and shown in half length. Her hands are
inclusion/included/include, with her
right resting delicately/delicate/deleted
over top the left. And she’s dressed fairly unremarkably/mark/remarks – not trying to show off with the latest attend/trends/branded. She’s seated in
a chaired/chairs/chair, in a loggia,
or an open-air room, which looks out over a scale/escape/ landscape. It was made with oil/foil/oiled paint on wool/would/wood
panel, using a technique Leonardo liked called “sfumato” – what a great word! Say it with me – “sfumato” – which is the kind of smudgy, smoked/smoky/slow key haziness you see,
especially around her eyes and
mouth. It contributes to the softness/lofty/soft
nests and realness of Lisa but also gives an atmospheres/spheres/atmospheric effect that is almost otherworldly. He used the same effect in some biblical/believe/unbelievably scenes. You
see it here in the shading around
the Virgin Mary’s neck. But our decidedly spectacle/spectacular/secular
subject, Lisa, while rendered hazily, is looking indicate/directly/director out at us – and with her famous smile/vile/smiled, if that’s what you call this impress/depression/expression.
In 2005, researchers/searched/researched ran the image through
emotion-recognition hardware/malware/software,
which rated features like curvature around the lips/flip/slips and crinkles around the eyes, finding the impress/expression/expressed to be 83% happen/happy/sloppy, 9% disgusted, 6% fearful,
2% angry/angrily/hungrily, less than
1% neutral, and 0% surprisingly/surprised/suppress.
So it’s a smile, but it’s not an empty/attempting/ample
smile. There’s a knowingness to it – a smile in spite of everything/nothing/some things,
as if she knows she’s caught in this painting, in her own brutality/turbulent/tumult time, looking out at us, whoever we are,
in our turbulent time. Which is perhaps what makes it so indelible an imagine/homage/image.
XI Match the words
with their meanings.
trend; indelible; to crop; fearful; expression;
researcher; turbulent; surprised; profile; crinkle; portrait; secular; angry; disgusted;
to show off; software
1. a picture of a person showing the face
2. to cut short
3. a side view of a person’s face
5. a new fashion in clothes
6. not connected with religion
7. the look on somebody’s face
9. computer programs
10.a small line or wrinkle
11.feeling extreme dislike
12.frightened or worried about
something
13.feeling anger
15.full of sudden changes or arguments
16.impossible to forget
XII Study the
transcript above and fill in the gaps in the sentences with the prepositions
from the list.
in; in; in; in; off; out; over; with; on; to; at of;
in
1. Many
portraits of the time were closely cropped and painted _____ profile,
2. Lisa
knows she’s caught in this painting, _____her own turbulent time.
3. The
painting was made _____oil paint _____wood panel.
4. Lisa’s
seated in a chair, in a loggia, which looks _____ _____a landscape.
5. The
technique contributes _____the softness and realness of Lisa.
6. Lisa is not trying to show _____with the latest
trends.
7. Lisa
is looking directly out _____us.
8. Lisa
is oriented more frontally and shown _____half length.
9. _____2005,
researchers ran the image through emotion-recognition software.
10.
Lisa has a smile _____spite _____everything.
XIII
Watch the part of the video and mark the sentences as True (T) or False (F).
1) Mona Lisa is like
other portraits of that time: cropped and painted in profile.
2) Mona Lisa shows the
woman’s hands.
3) Mona Lisa shows a
rich lady who wants to show off with the latest trends.
4) The subject of the
painting is sitting.
5) It was made with oil paint on canvas.
6) Leonardo used the
technique called “chiaroscuro”.
7) This technique
creates smudgy, smoky haziness around Mona Lisa’s eyes and mouth.
8) Da Vinci wanted to
show the softness and realness of Lisa but also give an atmospheric effect that
is almost otherworldly.
9) Mona Lisa is the
first example of “sfumato” technique in da Vinci’s paintings.
10) Lisa is looking directly out at viewers.
11) Researchers wanted to understand Mona Lisa’s
expression and used emotion-recognition software.
12) Computer programs
studied the colours in the painting to understand the emotions.
13) The expression was 83% sad, 9% angry, 6%
fearful, 2% happy, less than 1% neutral, and 0% hungry.
14) So Mona Lisa has no smile,
it’s an empty expression.
15) Mona Lisa is an indelible image.
XIV Watch the video and
fill in the gaps in the text.
It has always been one of the 1)______ of the Louvre 2)______, but it wasn’t until after its
1911 theft that it 3)______ superstardom.
In the two days after it was returned, more than 100,000 4)______ came to see it. And they really haven’t stopped since
then, with 5)______ meeting her 6)______ each year.
Many 7)______ of the painting exist, and much debate about who 8)______ them. Researchers recently
found that one 9)______, at the
Prado, was probably painted by an artist sitting right next to Leonardo,
following his 10)______, stroke by
stroke. But even that one, while striking, doesn’t capture the 11)______ and majesty of the 12)______. There are nude Mona Lisas
and, of course, many plays on the 13)______,
with 14)______ from Botero, who
painted a Lisa at age 12 and as an 15)______,
and Warhol, who drew the connection between this original 16)______ and the subjects of more recent paparazzi.
It doesn’t appear that our 17)______ to this painting is waning.
In fact, it might even be rising, as the 18)______
offers us countless reproductions, reinterpretations, merchandisfications, and
bastardisations. Which raises the 19)______
of whether, at this point, the “Mona Lisa” is 20)______ primarily because it’s a masterpiece or famous primarily
because it’s famous. It may be that our 21)______
with Lisa is more intense than ever, as we see around us more and more 22)______ of ourselves looking out,
staring into the eyes of unknown millions.
XV Match the words
with their meanings.
gaze; reproduction; masterpiece; attention;
celebrity; stroke; majesty; mystery; treasure; original
1.
a
very valuable thing
2.
a
long look
3.
a
mark made by brush when a person is painting
4.
a
secret
5.
impressive
beauty and power
6.
the
first one made, not a copy
7.
a
famous person
8.
notice
of or interest in something
9.
a
copy of a painting
10.work done with great skill
XVI Match the words from two columns to make
collocations used in the text. Use four collocations in your sentences.
1.
|
treasure of
|
a)
|
of the painting
|
2.
|
reach
|
b)
|
the connection between
|
3.
|
copy
|
c)
|
celebrity
|
4.
|
capture
|
d)
|
collection
|
5.
|
draw
|
e)
|
fact
|
6.
|
original
|
f)
|
superstardom
|
7.
|
in
|
g)
|
the mystery and majesty
|
XVII
Watch the part of the video and mark the sentences as True (T) or False (F).
1)
Mona Lisa is one of the treasures of the Louvre collection.
2)
The painting became extremely popular and famous after its 1921 theft.
3)
There are many copies of the painting.
4)
The copy at the Prado was probably painted by Leonardo himself.
5)
The copy at the Prado captures the mystery and majesty of the original.
6)
There are such reproductions as baby Mona Lisas and, a Lisa at age 78, and
a Lisa as Hollywood celebrity created by
Warhol.
7)
Our attention to this painting is weaker today.
8) In the Internet people can find reproductions,
reinterpretations, merchandisfications, and bastardisations of Mona Lisa.
9)
Today our identification with Lisa is more intense than ever.
XVIII
OVER TO YOU.
A)
Think
about Mona Lisa and the information you learnt from the video. Where can you
see the portrait today? Do you want to see the portrait? (If you’ve already
seen it, would you like to see it again?) Why or why not? Do you think your
impressions of the portraits would change when you see the original Mona Lisa painting
and not the reproduction? Why or why not?
B)
Think
about famous portraits you discussed in Lead-in. What kind of subjects do they
have? Get ready to focus on persons
of significance; religious figures; commissions; royalty; historic conventions;
symbols of power and privilege.
C)
Think of an inspirational portrait, a portrait
that you like. Get ready to discuss that portrait as well as to explain what
makes that portrait special for you, what subject it depicts, what characteristic
features the portrait has.
D) Look at the
portraits below. Match the images to the artists who created them. Choose one
portrait and think about the person it depicts. What is this person like? What
does this person feel, what is his/her life like? What impression does the person
want to create with the help of the portrait?
1) Oskar Kokoschka Self Portrait, 1917
2) Andy Warhol Robert Mapplethorpe, 1983
3) Johannes Vermeer
Girl with a Pearl Earring, ca. 1665
4) Jean-Auguste-Dominique
Ingres Napoleon on his imperial
throne, 1806
5) Raphael Count Baldassare Castiglione, author of "Il
Cortegiano," the book about the perfect courtier, 1514-1515
E) Choose one
portrait from task D and think about the person it depicts. Write 5 sentences
that describe this person ‘s typical day. Then write 6 interview questions you
would like to ask the person you see in the portrait.
F) If you could have
your portrait done by anyone (or any artist) who would it be and why?
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