The Mona Lisa

Valued in excess of $1 billion, the Mona Lisa, perhaps the greatest treasure of Renaissance art, is one of many masterpieces of High Renaissance paintinghoused in the Louvre. The painting is known to Italians as La Gioconda, the French call her La Joconde. The work is arguably the finest ever example of portrait art, and one of the greatest Renaissance paintings of the 15th and 16th centuries.

Despite being the most famous painting in the world, the Mona Lisa is - like all of Leonardo's works 

neither signed nor dated. Its title comes from the biography of Leonardo written by the 16th century Mannerist painter and biographer Giorgio Vasari (1511-74), and published around 1550, which reported his agreement to paint the portrait of Lisa Gherardini, wife of Francesco del Giocondo, a Florentine dignitary and wealthy silk merchant. Vasari also mentioned that Leonardo employed musicians and troubadours to keep her amused, which might explain her enigmatic smile. As usual, Leonardo procrastinated endlessly over the painting - notably the position of the subject's hands - and continued working on it for another 20 years. Sadly, La Gioconda has become so famous and so valuable that it is almost impossible to catch more than a quick glimpse of her, as she sits inscrutably in the Louvre behind the non-reflective glass of her temperature-controlled security box.

The portrait shows the subject sitting upright and sideways in a chair, with her face and chest turned slightly towards the viewer: a posture derived from the 'pyramid' image used to depict a sitting Madonna. Her left arm sits comfortably on the armrest of the chair and is clasped by the hand of her right arm which crosses her front. The slightly protective position of her arms, as well as the armrest, creates a sense of distance between sitter and spectator.

The background landscape behind the sitter was created using aerial perspective, with its smoky blues and no clearly defined vanishing point. It gives the composition significant depth, although its details reveal a clear imbalance between the (higher) rocky horizon to the right, compared to the (lower) flatlands stretching away on the left. This imbalance adds to the slightly surreal atmosphere of the picture.

Another slightly surreal feature of the Mona Lisa  is her lack of eyebrows and eyelashes. This was not a deliberate act of the artist, as scans indicate that originally she was given both. It is possible that the color pigment used for these facial features has since faded or been inadvertently removed during cleaning.

The Mona Lisa exemplifies Leonardo's contribution to the art of oil painting, namely his mastery of sfumato. This painterly technique involves the smooth, almost imperceptible, transition from one colour to another, by means of ultra-subtle tonal gradations. Evident throughout the painting, Leonardo's use of sfumato is particularly visible in the soft contouring of Lisa Gherardini's face, around the eyes and mouth. It was a technique of oil painting that he had already demonstrated with great success in The Virgin of the Rocks (1483-5).

The general impression created by the Mona Lisa portrait is one of great serenity, enriched by a definite air of mystery. The serenity comes from the muted colour scheme, the soothing sfumato tonality, and the harmony created by the sitter's pyramid-shaped pose and understated drapery. The mystery stems from a number of factors: first, her enigmatic half-smile; second, her gaze, which is directed to the right of the viewer; her hands which have a slightly unreal, lifeless quality - almost as if they belonged to a different body.

Created by one of the greatest Old Masters in the history of art, the Mona Lisa is a wonderful example of High Renaissance aesthetics of the early cinquecento, and has become an unmistakable icon of Western culture: a fact recognized by Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968), the father of modern art, in his parody entitled L.H.O.O.Q.

NO CURRICULUM IN HISTORY OF ART!!!

If you were not limited by the demands of the regional/national curriculum, what would you say is the most important thing you would teach your students about your subject (in a CLIL context)? How would you assess their learning? 

Firstly I want to explain that I am an Art History teacher in baccalaureate, and it is a very complicated subject because it is considered for more politicians as a second order subject. And this situation doesn’t make much more strict the curriculum with respect to this subject. 

But in the case that concerns us the curriculum isn’t exist, for this reason I would totally turn into the approach of History of Art in 2nd of baccalaureate. First of all the most important would be the knowledge acquired by the students, no go further in the art time line. Personally, I would foster the teaching of “Baroque Imaginary”, because in my opinion and the opinion of the other experts in Spanish art, there is no doubt that it is in the category that highlights our artist with respect to the art neighbouring countries. But nowadays, this point is taught very quickly without the detail that it deserves. Among other things, due to historical reasons, Spain is a country rich in religious art, and anybody can enter to the church or cathedral, and contemplate the different sculptures made in polychrome wood or processional steps that have been created and restored over the centuries. 

On the other hand, it is obvious to start with ancient cultures, like for example the Greek culture, but in my humble opinion there are other cultures very important as a Greek culture that have laid the foundations of world art as for example Egyptian culture or Mesopotamian culture. All of these artistic manifestations would have a place in my planning. Furthermore, I am also one hundred percent sure that this type of cultures have a special attraction for teenagers, since they are tremendously recurrent cultures in newscasts, social gatherings… 

All in all, say that Art History, in all its stages, is a subject which can be taken a lot and can be tremendously attractive for both, students and teachers, reaching a learning meaningful, if the curriculum of this matter wasn’t so strict with the subject with a final state exam.

The ELP in Secondary

Firstly, the ELP is closely related to Common European Framework of Reference Languages (CEFR in advance). It´s an advantage because develops unified guidelines on language learning and teaching for all European states to serve as a guide for both, pupils’ and teachers’. Also, it is a very well instrument to reflect on what language and languages are, on what it means to learn languages, on the abilities that must be developed in language learning and to carry out a follow-up of them. 

In addition, it encourages a learning and teaching linguistic more reflective, at the same time that clarifies and specifies the learning objectives in communicative terms. Simultaneously promotes self-assessment in the identification of acquired competences, linguistic needs or learning objectives. Furthermore, it fosters an educational change towards a teaching model that gives greater responsibility to the students in their own learning. 

On the other hand not everything is positive for the students also it is right for the teacher because among other things it increases their knowledge and teaching skills in the framework of the pedagogical approach(communicative, constructivist, cognitive, etc.). Besides it increases coordination among the different language teachers in the centers. 

However, not everything is advantages, some of the disadvantages nowadays is that ELP is not extended everything that should by the classrooms of Spanish schools, in fact a few schools incorporate this tool. In addition a handicap is only recognized in European states so, these students traveling outside the European Union find themselves with a legal void regarding to the identification and accreditation of the languages learned. 

In spite of this and to sum up, in my humble opinion I think that in general terms the ELP it is a good tool to train the student, while developing awareness towards diversity of cultures and therefore of languages.