Summary

In Chapter 31, Isaacson turns his focus to the Mona Lisa, the painting he considers to be Leonardo's piece de resistance, and the culmination of his life's work. It is for this reason that he chooses to discuss the painting toward the end of the book even though Leonardo began working on it in 1503. However, because Leonardo continued to work on the Mona Lisa up until just before his death, Isaacson feels it "makes sense to consider the Mona Lisa near the end of his career" (475). This portrait of a merchant's wife is the epitome of Leonardo's "quest to portray the complexities of human emotion," as illustrated through the subject's famous smile and eyes (475). Isaacson returns to Leonardo's early portrait of Ginevra de Benci to compare the artist's ultimate evolution, not just as a painter, but "as a scientist, philosopher, and humanist" (477). The Mona...