What We Discuss in this Video:

00:00 Intro

05:13 About Mona Lisa’s Daughter

06:52 What “Mona” Means

09:51 Why Mona Lisa is so famous?

15:22 What technique is being used for Mona Lisa?

16:18 How much is Mona Lisa?

17:35 How many Mona Lisa paintings exist?

18:27 Why is this painting so magnetic? 

21:02 A new way to render a portrait

22:27 A mystery about the background

23:34 The Mona Lisa’s Daughter

27:39 What is the symbolism behind Mona Lisa’s Daughter

 

[00:00:00] Welcome everyone to another amazing episode of my podcast. We’re talking about art and today , I have the amazing Stacy Francis. She’s here with me. Hi, Stacy. 

Hi. 

Thank you for having me. 

You’re welcome. So before starting , and by the way, this conversation is about a painting of mines Mona, Lisa’s daughter. I want to host Stacy in my podcast because she’s connected and directly implicated in this creation. Let’s say that 

implicated.

That’s funny. 

That’s, but before everything I wanna introduce Stacy. Stacy’s an amazing artist as well. One of the top 10 voices of United States, let’s say, or the world. 

That’s very nice. 

Yeah, absolutely. She has a great curriculum. She sang with Madonna, Aretha Franklin Prince.

Am I missing someone? 

No, I mean, those are, that’s pretty epic, those names. I, I’ve been very blessed to be in front of major [00:01:00] stars and sing with them and perform with them and be on stage and sing while they’re there. Stevie Wonder was on stage with me and I sang to him. So yeah, it’s. It’s been a pretty amazing career, and everyone can go to my website at: stacy-francis.com to learn more about that, but I really came here to speak to you because I’m very blown away with this piece, and I really wanted to come and talk to everyone about it because.

I think, obviously people can see your work and they say, wow, he’s super talented. But what I think this, what’s beautiful about this podcast is that your knowledge of art history and your knowledge of art and what you’ve grown up to learn will come to fruition on this podcast because obviously your art shows that you’re very knowledgeable.

But when I walk through a museum with you, As well as our 12 year old Anastasia, it’s very amazing to have a tour guide like you because you’re super, super [00:02:00] educated with art history and I’m glad you’re doing this podcast because I think that I think people will be blown away with your knowledge of art history and how much they can learn about art.

History on this podcast is very valuable. 

Thank you. Thank you so much. 

You’re welcome. 

Well, 

this is what I think

Art is a very important component of life, and even if it, we don’t realize it, we deal with art daily. For example, let’s say aesthetic as an extension of art. You want to be pleasant when you go outside the door of your house.

And you are dealing somehow , with art. Yeah. The art of making yourself pretty enough to meet other people. 

That’s true. 

Or, yeah. Or when you buy something, when you buy a piece of furniture, for example, you’re dealing with art. Now, there’s a degree of art and for example, a chair has a degree of art, but has also a function, a direct function, which is: “get yourself comfortable [00:03:00] on” and 

um, “

match your house” and things like that.

It’s different for a piece of art when, where the decoration part is less and less. For this reason, it’s very important to understand that the purpose of art is to enlight a person or share an idea or share a message. And so because of that, every piece , it’s connected with the story, with a message. 

uh, 

It doesn’t have to be 

uh, 

a big deal. It’s just a story. 

But I think I, I think it goes back to what you just said, that art always has a function. And I think that’s what’s beautiful about your artwork. Like you’ve made it clear that the function of your artwork is to impinge on the viewer, whether it’s to inspire them or tell them a story.

You, you definitely have a function for your works. Yes. As. You mentioned with other pieces of furniture, but yes, I, 

you’re right. I don’t believe in art for the sake of art. [00:04:00] I believe that art has a purpose and which is entertainment can be whatever. We can, assign a purpose to art, but most of the time is to share a message. 

Yeah. I feel that way about music. It’s also art, right? Yes. Just to inspire people. And that’s what I love about your work. Like you, you really you do the work. And it’s funny because I get to watch you create some of your pieces. I’m in your studio with you and I get to watch you um, create them.

And sometimes not until almost the end of it, do I know where you are getting your inspiration from. And I watch it unfold in front of me and I think, wow, that’s, Incredible. And then when you actually tell me what inspired you, then it even takes it to another level. 

Yes. Because sometimes the message comes to fruition while I’m creating. 

Oh, wow. Okay. 

So don’t I, it’s like a song, right? You have the main direction that you want to go. But then the route that you take to get to the exact [00:05:00] position and location Yeah. Come to fruition while you are driving to that direction.

Yeah, I understand that. I mean, I, I recorded songs that way where they started out one way and I had this vision, and then it turned into something completely different. 

Yeah. 

So today we’re here to discuss about Mona Lisa’s daughter. First of all, we just came back from New York City and the New York City was a blast because Oh my god.

Yeah. This piece, It was um, displayed on a digital billboard. A ginormous digital billboard. Yeah, it was a hundred feet 

tall. 

I think it was bigger than a hundred feet. Like it was massive. Like I honestly, we need to Google and see how big that it was so ginormous. It was the biggest billboard in all of Times Square.

Yes. And it, I think it would be hard to find another billboard bigger than that. Yeah. 

Yeah. It was massive. 

And so because of that, because that um, extraordinary achievement if you allow me to say, even if I’m [00:06:00] talking about myself… 

but it was an extraordinary achievement. It’s okay to say that.

Yeah. 

And so I want to explore more the message behind and hopefully help people that are listening to this podcast to get into the story, to get into the the behind the scenes that brought us to the final result. Yeah. And so, I know that you had a few curiosities about it and um, we’re here to talk about this painting.

Yeah. We can start, we can go backwards or we can start from the beginning. And when I say that, I mean like you, when you were creating the piece you thought that you wanted to name it Mona Lisa. So tell me, I, I guess I could turn the interview around on you and say, Hey, what did you, what were you thinking when you thought, okay, I want this to be Mona Lisa, because Mona means what?

Mona means: lady. 

Lady. So you wanted it to be another. Mona Lisa, what were you thinking like when you thought of that? 

Let’s [00:07:00] say that I was looking for a modern and classic portrait that could become an icon. 

And so 

like the, the original Mon Lisa.

Yes. And so for that reason, I realized that I wanted to go on that direction. Mm-hmm. Now keep in mind that I really. The thing that I’m working right now is to try to explore and see if I can, in a new different way, bring back what is great from my country.

As you can tell, I’m completely American with an American accent …italian, 

and that’s funny. Now I’m the one with the most American accent in this conversation. 

And I and I’m the one entitled to say, 

“Mario, it’s me”. 

That’s cute. 

And, but yeah. When I started, this

I thought, okay, what am I entitle to talk about? Since art is a communication way to tell a story, [00:08:00] what kind of story I want to talk about, what kind of things I feel are important. 

Yeah. 

For me to say as Italian, 

right? 

I don’t want to come in America and pretend to be an American, tell the stories about Americans.

It will feel awkward… 

and Americans love Italy, so everything made in Italy is like, Amazing. So you already come in with people loving you because you’re Italian, so… 

yeah, and I Italian loves Americans too. 

Yeah, I know. I know. It’s a very beautiful thing. And I just wanna give a shout out to Allison who gave you the modern renaissance comeback name. So she’s, one of the one of our friends who said, Alex, I feel like is a modern day Renaissance comeback. Like the Renaissance. And I think that’s exactly what Alex wanted. Yes. I think that was your vision. Like you wanted like Da Vinci and those all your forefathers before you.

Yeah. If I might say those artists before you, you wanted to bring that element of. The Renaissance back. 

I love it. Yes. I like, I really like it. And so, the first step [00:09:00] that I did was trying to identify what works was interesting to me to bring up again. And so the first piece I did was the David, the Michelangelo’s David, because I thought at the time it was …

and who created him again? 

Michelangelo. 

Okay. 

I thought. And I explained this so many times to all the people that came to see my art tours. It was a key moment of a development for Society for Humanity .

The reason why I picked the Renaissance was because a bunch of artists reshaped the entire world.

So that’s why I was picking those icons, from the past. 

I understand that. That’s really awesome. And when you talk about Michelangelo, and I think you were talking even to me about the Sistine Chapel, how that came about. I mean, These are future podcasts that I think you should really get into those.

Yes. Because I think it’s so fascinating. 

Very exciting.

It’s very exciting. Now, when we talk about focusing on Mona Lisa, for example, yeah. I’m gonna ask you some questions because you taught me some things about Mona Lisa, and I think the [00:10:00] audience would be very like keen to hear. So first of all, why do you think she became so famous?

What was so special about that piece? 

You will be surprised to know that Mona Lisa wasn’t so famous before 1900. 

What do you mean?

it was known as a painting. But not famous as today. 

Okay. Well, Let’s go back so Da Vinci painted her… 

Da Vinci painted uh, the portrait.

It was commissioned by a local Citizen of Florence. And uh, he wanted a portrait of his wife. And his wife’s name was Lisa Del Giocondo. 

Wait, that’s Mona Lisa’s name? Yeah. Say it again? 

Lisa Del Giocondo. 

Luisa Del Giocondo. That’s Mona Lisa’s name. And I know people listening don’t know that’s her name.

Okay. So that’s Mona Lisa’s name. And so this guy in Florence was like, oh, I’m gonna get this other dude Da Vinci to paint my wife. 

Yeah. 

Okay. 

So one other thing that you might don’t [00:11:00] know is that Leonardo da Vinci wasn’t very famous as someone that carry on commissioned art. 

Oh.

As a matter of fact, he didn’t complete most of his commissioned art.

Okay. 

Because his main interest was uh, the pure research. Mm-hmm. his the entire life, he tried to find patrons to let him explore. 

Okay. So Patron is a person that would fund his his ideas basically, right? 

Yeah. 

Mm-hmm. Someone that says, okay I’ll give you a salary.

Mm-hmm. And you stay, under my… 

right 

under my protection. And um, whatever. 

Now let you create and explore.

Yes, I trust you. I like what you’re doing 

right. 

And I just, 

okay.

Wanna 

see you. 

So he must have been popular at the time this person commissioned him, at least because, this guy found him and said, okay, I want you to do a portrait of my wife now.

She was about 19 years old. Is that right? In that picture or no? 

Okay. So, Let’s [00:12:00] not get ahead. 

Okay. Sorry.

Let me finish the story. 

Okay.

And then I’ll tell you how old . She was Lisa Del Giocondo in that painting. Okay. Go ahead. He wasn’t famous to complete the paintings he was commissioned, but he completed the painting Uhhuh the funny thing is that he brought this painting into France. 

And At that point in 1911, a guy that was working for Louvre Museum stole the painting and brought it back to Italy. 

Claiming that. Okay. Oh, so the painting was at the Louvre?. Yes. In 1911. Yes. And someone stole it from the Louvre Yes. And took it back to italy. 

Yes. And this is this tells you that the painting wasn’t so protected. So it wasn’t as important as today for the, 

right 

now.

I mean, You can’t just definitely walk into the Louvre today and take the Mona Lisa off the wall. 

You can’t even go close to the painting 

because, that’s true. Remember we went, it was like a, it was like 

there’s a, couldn’t even go closer. Yeah. There’s a, a separation. Yeah. And. There’s now a glass.

Yeah. And there’s [00:13:00] um, protective glass on, on the painting itself. Because several time, I think probably Five times. If I’m not mistake making any mistake you get attacked. 

Oh, like somebody threw food on it or something. 

Yeah. They tried to ruin the painting.

Wow. Yes. That’s horrible. Five for sure. Wow. That I remember. Wow. Yeah. And um, that is the 

incident. 

So this Italian came into France and took it back to its home country, basically. Yes. 

And uh, leave it under his bed for a year. 

What? 

Yes.

Did he put it under his bed? Yes. Yes. 

Wait in a box. 

So he comes to France, he takes it back. He’s this is ours. And he puts it in a box under the bed? Yes. He put it. Okay. And it stayed there for a year? Yeah. Oh no. 

Yeah. And so that’s funny. And so, France newspapers and worldwide newspapers start to talk about this painting and the journey of this painting.

Oh. And that is the way the Mona Lisa became famous, the Mona 

Lisa. 

Oh, so she became famous [00:14:00] cuz she was stolen. Yes. Wow. Yes. Okay. That makes sense. 

You don’t, it doesn’t mean that when I say it wasn’t so famous, it doesn’t mean it’s, it was still a painting from recognized as a painting.

If it was at the Louv, 

obviously was still, you’re not 

the, of course, obviously it was important. Yeah, of course. Course. 

But it became bigger because it got stolen. Yes. And had all this media attention. It would be the same way today if something like that happened. 

And another thing that was interesting is that the guy claimed that the reason why he stole it was just to bring it back in the own main country, which he thought because Italians are proud, the po.

But then, but then he tried to sell the painting, so that was another Oh, no. Yeah, so he tried to sell the painting, the art dealer, which he contacted for the sale, recognized the painting and the value of the painting. And so he called the police and that was the, 

and the [00:15:00] police arrested the dude.

Yeah, of course. 

Oh my God. It’s, do you know how much Mona Lisa’s worth today by any chance? 

The, it’s not for sale. Oh. And so there’s no, but the, I know that the insurance for the painting is a hundred million, something like that.

Wow. Think, yeah. Something like that.

Wow. Okay. So it’s pretty up there. 

Yeah. Okay. I it’s probably the most expensive artwork ever. 

Really? It’s probably. Yeah. Wow. Okay. That’s incredible. Okay. Let’s talk about the technique. Do you, do, yes. Do you know much about the technique? Is it oil, acrylic? What is it? Okay, so 

the technique. Is an oil on a panel. It’s a poplar 

panel. What does that mean? You have to talk like kindergarten to me 

it’s poplar. Poplar is a specific tree. Oh, that grows in Italy. Like a wood?

Yeah, it’s a wood. 

Oh, so she’s on, she’s painting on a wood. Yes. Wow. That 

was very, that was normal. 

It was normal to paint on wood? Yes. Okay. Yeah, we don’t do that really today, right? No. Like you do more canvas. No. 

Yeah. But ,the canvas technique came [00:16:00] after because it was easier. They found out that it was easier to carry around.

It was easy to, oh, work on. But before that, Either either was on the wall or on a wood panel, 

so they would cut down a tree or something. Yeah. That’s really interesting. 

Yeah, that’s, it was a rigid support that was ready to receive the oil painting. 

Okay. So we googled. And to see what her worth is. Can I read it? Mona Lisa is one of the most valuable paintings in the world. It holds the Guinness World records for the highest known painting, insurance valuation history at a hundred million a year, which is what you said? In 1962, equivalent to 1 billion as of 2023.

Oh, okay. 

Okay. No, even the, it just tell you the value of, based on the 

insurance, right? Like it’s not even telling us what it’s paint painting is worth 

itself. Yeah. Which if you pay 1 billion in insurance, definitely you pay a 

billion in one insurance and something’s going on. Okay. So we got, she’s on wood.

Yeah, she’s oil on wood. Oil on wood? Okay. Yes. Okay. She’s oil on wood. 

Yes. It’s [00:17:00] very small. It’s 30 inches by 21, so it’s pretty small. It’s not a big, it’s not a big painting. Wow. And that would facilitate the guy to be able to steal the painting and Right. That’s very 

helpful.

Yeah. So what year was she created in? So I think it was like, And from what I remember you telling me like the 14 hundreds, right? Or 15? 

Yeah. It says 1500. It’s literally at the beginning of the 1500. Okay. And The age of Lisa Del Giocondo seems to be 30 years old in this painting. Oh, okay. 

I thought she was much younger than that.

No, there’s another painting, right? Bef I think before this one there’s different theories, but a list two mono Lisas are recognized, created by Leonardo vinci, 

which was very surprising to me when you told me that because I was like, what? So there’s two. There’s two. 

Where’s the other one? The other one I think is in the UK.

Oh, for real? Yeah. Where do you know? Is in a museum as well, or, [00:18:00] yeah. Somebody owns this thing or what? Yeah. No 

I think it’s in the UK 

you’re teaching us some good stuff today.

And so in that painting one, Lisa is 16 years old, so she looks 

much younger. 

So wait, he did two paintings.

This guy, or he just, 

there’s at least two, but they think four. Four people For real? Yes. He was very, or he was inspired. Okay. Not all of them are recognized as from Leonardo DaVinci. Mm-hmm.

We’re getting to the painting. Why is this painting so magnetic? 

Have you ever noticed that this painting somehow follows you? Around it looks like she’s looking at you. Yeah. She’s like much more alive. Yeah, exactly. And so this comes straight from the genius of this man, which means… 

…and the genius of you, because I gotta tell you, you feel the same way when you see Mona Lisa’s daughter, but we’ll talk about her later.

Mm-hmm. Yes. But it’s. The same genius that I feel you have because Anastasia even one time came into the living room and she went to get [00:19:00] some water and she was like, I feel like she’s watching me. Yeah. So that’s the very genius of an artist to be able to achieve that. And I feel like, especially in your paintings, you definitely capture the eyes very well.

Oh, 

that’s great. I love it. This comes straight for the genius o Leonardo Vinci because he applied several techniques that he studied by his, own, and um, those are little tricks. let’s say, that altogether make this amazing hypnotic painting. 

And do you think that’s because of the anatomy study that you guys have done?

Because I know that you are, you had to really learn anatomy in, in painting, and we talked about your frustration in that as a young man having to learn the anatomy. Like as young as when you were in a ninth grade having to know the anatomy of the body. And I know he was very famous for.

The anatomy and what his research had shown based on what he learned about the anatomy. Yeah. Do you think that’s because of that, that you guys can capture the eyes so well, or is this [00:20:00] some other thing? 

No. , I think there’s something else. There were many artists, very skilled artists before. Leonardo DaVinci. But their method was to add details. As much as they could 

In order to render a face. 

But if you notice before 1500, most of the paintings look like statues. 

They don’t really feel alive. The feeling is that you’re looking at. statue or something. Static. 

Like a structure. Yes. Very structured. Very structured. Very. 

Which is what with the David, obviously. 

But David is a sculpture I’m referring right now on paint specifically to painters. Okay. And don’t get me wrong, They were amazing painters and more technical than him.

Before him. Vandyke for example, this kind of painters that could easily paint, every single [00:21:00] intricated detail of the figure. Mm-hmm. So he realized that , the solution to create an alive portrait. Mm-hmm. Wasn’t to add more details, but actually Oh, take away details.

Okay. So the reason why her face, for example, is so smooth. And you don’t see basically anything. He he’s stripped away everything in her face. And let the person that look at the painting add with his own imagination details of the painting. It’s an interesting, it’s a very interesting technique that he used.

He intentionally left these parts of the painting. Very smooth. So you have to do an extra effort with your mind, with your eyes to add those details.

For example, did you know that the mouth of mono Lisa is not perfect, right? one side [00:22:00] don’t match with the other. 

That, what’s that makes that the mono Lisa smile a little interesting, right?

Right. Is it, Is it a smile? That’s what was always the question, right? Is it a smile? Is it a cynical get this over with No, I’m joking with this. This 

kind technique, this guy, I’m just, yeah. With this kinda, with this kind of technique. One would not know if it’s a smile or not. You see the eyebrows, there’s no specific expression. Yeah. So it adds 

a mystery. 

A mystery. Another mystery is the background. For example, same technique. It used two different backgrounds for the left and for the right . Every time you move your eyes around the painting mm-hmm. the painting change. So if that’s this idea of third dimension, and evolution and movement that happens only inside your mind. Wow. That’s pretty cool. And that was genius. 

So Liz Del Jodo had a life, was a living person, and we found out that I had a baby. That is also one, one detail that you [00:23:00] might find my blowing is that the original painting, mono Lisa, she’s wearing a sort of scarf. Did you notice? Mm-hmm. And that scarf was wear for people that were. Pregnant or delivery or just deliver a baby. Really? Yes. Oh, I didn’t know 

that. Alex. Yes. So she could have been pregnant in this picture, or she just delivered a baby? Yes. Okay. That’s, that adds a very interesting 

I know idea. I know you would like it.

Yeah. So, Okay. So back to my painting.

Let’s get into the painting, your painting. Yeah. Let’s talk about your 

painting. 

So I tried to use the same technique. So this is the reason why.

You have the same effect. You feel like she’s watching you. If you look at her eyes, their eyes are not perfect. But creates the feeling where you complete the painting with your eyes. And that’s where I feel very proud. And this is why I feel this painting is. I hope creates the same effect in the terms of a viewer. And I [00:24:00] stripped away the background. I create a much more green tone background. If you see the mono Lisa right now, it’s like greenish. Yeah. It’s orange greenish. Yeah. Those kind of, 

because and that’s the colors you put into Mona, Lisa’s daughter.

Yes. I see. The oranges. And the greens. Yes, exactly. Okay, so let’s talk about it. Let’s talk about Mona Lisa’s daughter and let’s talk about how, let’s talk about it. How she came to be named that. So you, at some point during your creation, cuz you said earlier in the conversation that you. As you create, you start to have the idea of where you want to go with this.

Yes. So at some point during your creation, you thought, I wanna name this Mona Lisa. Yes. Why did, why what came, what made you come? 

Cause the pose was very similar. The idea that I wanna study was very similar. And I want to create 

something that was, you wanna do a modern day Yeah.

Version, 

and Yes. And I wa and I wanted to make something. Alive. They’re 

very alive. And I remember us having the conversation and I said there’s a [00:25:00] famous Mona Lisa already. What did you think? Yeah. What did you think about that? When I was like what about we named her Mona Lisa’s daughter?

Like what? What was the idea? Because I know you are very Sensitive. Not in a bad way, but very sensitive and keen to not allowing anyone else to cross over into how you create things. Cuz I know I’ve seen some things and I go, but Alex, and you wanna keep going? Sometimes like when you’re painting it, I’m like, but Alex, it’s perfect right now.

And you look at me, you go look. It’s mine. If I wanna destroy it right now, I can’t. And I’ll always back off because I know, as a singer I don’t want anybody coming into the studio going, don’t sing the note that way. Why did you give me the ability to help you name it?

as an artist and I want to be the supreme creator when 

it comes to, 

but you didn’t, but you let me name 

her. Yeah. But when I decided. When I decide by myself that there’s a specific space when allow you to be in. And um, and let you create a will uhhuh that is where, 

I just wanna just publicly thank you for [00:26:00] allowing me, so just so everyone knows, I like to brag about the fact that I named Mona Lisa’s daughter.

Yeah. I l a chief. Thank you because okay, so he wanted to name him on Lisa, and I was like, Alex, why don’t we name Ramona Lisa’s daughter, you know? Yeah. yeah. Yeah. And 

um, And then we tried to, and then we start working on that direction and it was an amazing direction. It 

became so magical, right? Yeah. So I.

I was thinking, okay, we could come up with this really fictitious story. Maybe Mona Lisa had a secret love child and her lover went to the monastery and he left not knowing that he had a baby. I was like coming up with all this crazy stuff. and then we were, you were creating on it.

And then you started doing research and you’ve actually found out that Mona Lisa actually had a baby daughter Yes. In 1499. Yes. That actually passed away a birth. Yes. Which I was like blown away by, which then the painting became even more significant because now we have a painting that you have [00:27:00] created in honor of that baby that she’s lost.

And what you feel in the creative’s eyes she might look like today if she Yeah. Not today, but if she had lived Yes. During that time, what she might look like at that time. And so now you have the birth of Mona Lisa’s daughter. Alive on canvas. And so let’s talk about it because I think that’s really beautiful.

Like when we come from the place of a tribute piece, because a lot of people don’t know that she lost a baby at birth. Yes. So now you have a tribute piece. And my dream is to have her at the lube with her mother. Like people come see her and know that was, her baby. She lost in the creative’s eye what she would look like had she lived.

Let’s talk about her arm and let’s talk about the colors, like her arm is gray and the painting you painted tell me about why you left her arm gray. Yeah, 

we When I start considering this idea of the Mon Lisa’s daughter and the fact that we’re talking about, eh, a mom that lost [00:28:00] her child.

And so it’s um, dramatic experience, you know, and you see this painting this person smile, smiling, and um, the veil that she has on her hair. Testified that she is a mother. Oh, she’s about to become a mother. Wait, what 

veil? What do you mean? Oh, this is a veil on her head.

Oh, wow. We’re looking at them. Mona Lisa, just so you guys know. Yeah. Oh, I see it now. Yeah. Okay so this, the actual Mona Lisa was, as we stated, was like 1503. And she had lost her first I don’t know if it was her first baby, but she lost a child in 1499. Yeah. So this was after the loss of her baby, this painting.

And it looks like apparently she might be pregnant now in this picture. I don’t know. Based on, Based on what you’re saying as sort of symbolism. Yeah. Okay. 

Okay. And uh, and so, on March 5th in 1495, a 15 years old, Lisa get married with um, this [00:29:00] guy named Francesco Deja Kondo, which she 

trying to, he’s the one that, he’s the one that obviously commissioned Da Vinci. 

Yes. So in 1499, so a few years later. Lisa lost her 

baby daughter, so we can assume that it was her first child, 

she had several babies, right? I think she had five babies. I’m not sure if it was the first.

Okay. I’m not really sure. Okay. But she had she had a prolific life in terms of be being a mother. Okay. And so my painting became a sort of a sort of idea of life and death and. To render this idea, you see very colorful part of the painting where it’s very well refined. For example, the face her hair. And as you go down on the painting, that things started getting less refined, more gray. Yeah. And it’s a symbol of uh, those.

Opponent forces like life and death. Hate and love. Mm-hmm. And, you know, [00:30:00] and, um, things that are resembling the he and young that are part of life. And a sort of idea of different forces that are separate but still 

connected.

Connected, interconnected. Exactly. 

Mm-hmm. I understand that. For example, male, female. Dark light. Young and old. Life is full of these things. 

Right. And you wanted the painting to convey that in different ways. Yeah. By the colors. It 

was a, yeah, that was okay. That was my the message.

That’s pretty cool. That’s a genius. Thing you’ve done. Okay. I love 

it. 

All right. So I think we did a good job in exploring the background and some, and I’ll give you some Things that you didn’t know Probably about the Mono Lisa. Oh, you gave me a 

lot. Like I think, I think people are gonna be very fascinated with the fact that she got stolen and put under the bed in Italy.

Yes, that’s, that was a big deal, right? Like now she’s worth like a billion dollars a year in insurance. And at one point she was under some dude’s bed in Italy is like very funny to me. So she was under this guy’s bed and then he was stupid enough to [00:31:00] try to go sell it and then he got. In trouble.

And then she became super famous. It’s so funny cuz someone reached out to us the other day about Mona Lisa’s daughter. Like they wanted a print. Which by the way we are doing a limited series of the prints for 250 prints, right?

Yeah. And um, this person was like, maybe, maybe you should report that she got stolen. And I thought that was really funny. I was like, no. But I see why he’s saying that now. Pe I guess paintings would be very famous if it’s reported that it got stolen. Oh yeah. And it becomes like this big deal.

Oh, yeah. However, we don’t need to do that. I think my biggest dream is, as I stated at the beginning of this interview, Is that we put her at the Loof Museum with her mom one day. That’s, that would be fantastic. That’s the goal. And I think that she’s really beautiful, Alex, and I wanna commend you for the vision on this and the creation because she’s really beautiful.

And I love what you just talked about, the yang and yang, and. And the beauty and the whole painting in her eyes and her face and how you took inspiration from the orig, the original painting. You’re, I think you’re really genius and I think it’s really [00:32:00] incredible. 

Thank you so much. If you want to know more about this painting, I guess we should head our listeners to my website. Yeah. www.alexrighetto.art. And um, you can find more about this painting if you have any questions, just, don’t hesitate and shoot me an email and I, I can create another podcast if you guys have more questions about either the Mona Lisa

Or Mona Lisa’s daughter. And um, yeah, you can also order your print if you want. 

Yeah. I’m super, I’m very excited. I’m super excited about it and I’m super proud. And you guys, thanks for tuning in and keep tuning into Alex’s.

Podcast, he’s gonna educate you and inspire you through art, history and art. And thank you for being on my podcast station. Thank you for having me. It’s fine. Yes. I want, the reason I wanted to come on your podcast, honestly, is because we have these fascinating conversations off the podcast.

Yeah. [00:33:00] And I was like, wow. I, I really think that your audience would love to. Here’s some of the questions that I have and how you respond. And I think, they can learn a lot like that because you’re so well informed when it comes to these things and I just wanted to share it with your public.

Thank you so much. Okay. So thank you for tuning in and um, this is Alex logging off and um, I hope to hear from you, just email me or, write me on Instagram and um, see you on next week, on the next episode. Bye.