Em 2019 celebramos 500 anos da morte de Leonardo da Vinci. Em São Paulo, há uma exposição incrível que abriu o novo espaço de arte de São Paulo: o MIS Experience. Há réplicas de várias de suas invenções e pinturas. Um salão imersivo com vários telões que contam um pouco sobre suas obras e, óbvio, um espaço dedicado exclusivamente para a Mona Lisa.

Além dessa, há outra exposição, essa é do artista plástico Dilson Cavalcanti, intitulada Mona Lisas Brasileiras. Está na estação Trianon-Masp do metrô, linha verde, até o dia 30/12.

Para quem gosta de arte, esta é uma oportunidade de estudar inglês e, ao mesmo tempo, saber mais sobre Leonardo Da Vinci e a Mona Lisa. É possível estudar gramática neste primeiro texto com um pouco da biografia e vocabulário com o artigo sobre a Mona Lisa. Ainda selecionei um vídeo para treinar compreensão oral.

Primeira atividade:

Leia essa breve biografia do artista e encontre os 6 erros de gramática:

 Leonardo da Vinci - Italian, 1452-1519

He is one of the foremost artists in the history of Western art, famed for painting the Mona Lisa (ca. 1503-6), and for his meticulous, dynamic drawings of various mechanical devices, animals, and imagined machines, as well as his portraits and writings on art and science. A founding father of the High Renaissance style, he is admire for his virtuosity like a painter and draughtsman in the handling of space, depiction of light and shadow, and expert use of sfumato, in which tones and colors shades gradually into one, producing softened outlines. Although few works seem to have being finished, and even fewer survive, Leonardo’s writings and sketchbooks offer glimpses into the life of a ingenious polymath. “Painting,” he wrote, “is poetry that is seen rather then felt.”

Segunda atividade:

Leia essa breve biografia do artista e preencha as lacunas com as palavras do quadro abaixo:

1. Steady (constant)
2. Fortuitous (happening by accident)
3. Worship (admiring devotion)
4. Baffled (perplexed)
5. Depicts (represents, describes)
6. Hoax (deception or fraud)
7. Cunning (exhibiting ingenuity)
8. Bulletproof (impenetrable by bullets)
9. Secluded (removed, kept apart)
10. Jostling (forcing your way by pushing)
11. Stint (a length of time spent in a particular way)
12. Gag (joke or humorous story)
13. Conundrums (paradoxical, insoluble or difficult problem, or dilemma)
14. Flocked (to go in large numbers)
15. Fuss (confusion; complaint; objection)
16. Gape (open the mouth wide)

Five centuries after Leonardo da Vinci painted the Mona Lisa (1503–19), the portrait hangs behind _____________ glass within the Louvre Museum and draws thousands of _______________ spectators each day. It is the most famous painting in the world, and yet, when viewers manage to see the artwork up close, they are likely to be _____________ by the small subdued portrait of an ordinary woman. Much has been said about her smile and gaze, but viewers still might wonder what all the __________ is about. Along with the mysteries of the sitter’s identity and her enigmatic look, the reason for the work’s popularity is one of its many ________________. The Mona Lisa’s fame is the result of many chance circumstances combined with the painting’s inherent appeal.

The Mona Lisa is a very realistic portrait. Although the sitter’s ___________ gaze and restrained smile were not regarded as mysterious until the 19th century, viewers today can appreciate her equivocal expression. Leonardo painted a complex figure that is very much like a complicated human.

External events also contributed to the artwork’s fame. That the painting’s home is the Louvre, one of the world’s most-visited museums, is a _______________ circumstance that has added to the work’s stature. It arrived at the Louvre via a circuitous path beginning with Francis I, king of France, in whose court Leonardo spent the last years of his life. The painting became part of the royal collection, and, for centuries after, the portrait was _______________ in French palaces until the Revolution claimed the royal collection as the property of the people. Following a ___________ in Napoleon’s bedroom, the Mona Lisa was installed in the Louvre Museum at the turn of the 19th century.

The identity of the portrait’s sitter soon became more intriguing. Although many scholars believe that the painting ______________ Lisa Gherardini, wife of the Florentine merchant Francesco del Giocondo, no records of such a commission from Francesco exist.

The writers of the 19th century aroused interest in the Mona Lisa, but the theft of the painting in 1911 and the ensuing media frenzy brought it worldwide attention. When news of the crime broke on August 22 of that year, it caused an immediate sensation. People ______________ to the Louvre to ___________ at the empty space, the museum’s director of paintings resigned, accusations of a ______________ splashed across newspapers, and Pablo Picasso was even arrested as a suspect! Two years later the painting was found in Italy with Vincenzo Peruggia, an Italian immigrant to France, who had briefly worked at the Louvre fitting glass on a selection of paintings, including the Mona Lisa.

Some scholars argue that Marcel Duchamp’s postcard reproduction in 1919 brought attention back to the Mona Lisa and started a trend that would make the painting one of the most recognized in the world. He played against the _______________ of art when he drew a beard and mustache on the lady’s face and added the acronym L.H.O.O.Q. (meant to evoke a vulgar phrase in French) at the bottom. That act of irreverence caused a small scandal, and other ______________ artists recognized that such a __________ would bring them attention. For decades after, other artists, notably Andy Warhol, followed suit.

Although the Mona Lisa is undoubtedly good art, there is no single reason for its celebrity. Rather, it is hundreds of circumstances that have all worked together with the painting’s inherent appeal to make the Mona Lisa the world’s most famous painting ever.

Adaptado do artigo publicado no site: https://www.britannica.com/story/why-is-the-mona-lisa-so-famous

Terceira atividade

Assista ao vídeo quantas vezes forem necessárias e escreva sobre o que mais chamou sua atenção:

KEY

Primeira atividade

He is one of the foremost artists in the history of Western art, famed for painting the Mona Lisa (ca. 1503-6), and for his meticulous, dynamic drawings of various mechanical devices, animals, and imagined machines, as well as his portraits and writings on art and science. A founding father of the High Renaissance style, he is admired for his virtuosity as a painter and draughtsman in the handling of space, depiction of light and shadow, and expert use of sfumato, in which tones and colors shade gradually into one, producing softened outlines. Although few works seem to have been finished, and even fewer survive, Leonardo’s writings and sketchbooks offer glimpses into the life of an ingenious polymath. “Painting,” he wrote, “is poetry that is seen rather than felt.”

Segunda atividade

Five centuries after Leonardo da Vinci painted the Mona Lisa (1503–19), the portrait hangs behind bulletproof glass within the Louvre Museum and draws thousands of jostling spectators each day. It is the most famous painting in the world, and yet, when viewers manage to see the artwork up close, they are likely to be baffled by the small subdued portrait of an ordinary woman. Much has been said about her smile and gaze, but viewers still might wonder what all the fuss is about. Along with the mysteries of the sitter’s identity and her enigmatic look, the reason for the work’s popularity is one of its many conundrums. The Mona Lisa’s fame is the result of many chance circumstances combined with the painting’s inherent appeal.

The Mona Lisa is a very realistic portrait. Although the sitter’s steady gaze and restrained smile were not regarded as mysterious until the 19th century, viewers today can appreciate her equivocal expression. Leonardo painted a complex figure that is very much like a complicated human.

External events also contributed to the artwork’s fame. That the painting’s home is the Louvre, one of the world’s most-visited museums, is a fortuitous circumstance that has added to the work’s stature. It arrived at the Louvre via a circuitous path beginning with Francis I, king of France, in whose court Leonardo spent the last years of his life. The painting became part of the royal collection, and, for centuries after, the portrait was secluded in French palaces until the Revolution claimed the royal collection as the property of the people. Following a stint in Napoleon’s bedroom, the Mona Lisa was installed in the Louvre Museum at the turn of the 19th century.

The identity of the portrait’s sitter soon became more intriguing. Although many scholars believe that the painting depicts Lisa Gherardini, wife of the Florentine merchant Francesco del Giocondo, no records of such a commission from Francesco exist.

The writers of the 19th century aroused interest in the Mona Lisa, but the theft of the painting in 1911 and the ensuing media frenzy brought it worldwide attention. When news of the crime broke on August 22 of that year, it caused an immediate sensation. People flocked to the Louvre to gape at the empty space, the museum’s director of paintings resigned, accusations of a hoax splashed across newspapers, and Pablo Picasso was even arrested as a suspect! Two years later the painting was found in Italy with Vincenzo Peruggia, an Italian immigrant to France, who had briefly worked at the Louvre fitting glass on a selection of paintings, including the Mona Lisa.

Some scholars argue that Marcel Duchamp’s postcard reproduction in 1919 brought attention back to the Mona Lisa and started a trend that would make the painting one of the most recognized in the world. He played against the worship of art when he drew a beard and mustache on the lady’s face and added the acronym L.H.O.O.Q. (meant to evoke a vulgar phrase in French) at the bottom. That act of irreverence caused a small scandal, and other cunning artists recognized that such a gag would bring them attention. For decades after, other artists, notably Andy Warhol, followed suit.

Although the Mona Lisa is undoubtedly good art, there is no single reason for its celebrity. Rather, it is hundreds of circumstances that have all worked together with the painting’s inherent appeal to make the Mona Lisa the world’s most famous painting ever.

Lígia Velozo Crispino, fundadora e sócia-diretora da Companhia de Idiomas (https://www.companhiadeidiomas.com.br). Graduada em Letras e Tradução pela Unibero. Curso de Business English em Boston pela ELC e extensões na área de Marketing na ESPM, FGV e Insper. Coautora do Guia de Implantação de Programas de Idiomas em empresas e autora do livro de poemas Fora da Linha. Colunista do portal Vagas Profissões. Mobilizadora cultural à frente do Sarau Conversar na Livraria Martins Fontes. Quer falar comigo? https://www.linkedin.com/in/ligiavelozocrispino/

Meu e-mail é ligia@companhiadeidiomas.com.br e Skype ligiavelozo.