Considered Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece, being the most famous and enigmatic piece of art of all time, the Mona Lisa gained a new theory, raised by the art critic of the English newspaper The Guardian, Jonathan Jones, suggesting that the model of the painting would have syphilis.
According to Jonathan, this thesis reveals much of the mysterious look of the woman behind the portrait. To reach this conclusion, he researched official records mentioning the name of Lisa del Gicondo, the person behind Mona Lisa, in a type of purchase note, where she acquired slug water.
A combination of different spices, mixing some species of slugs and earthworms crushed in water, as well as herbs, the mixture would be used at the time to treat syphilis, one of the sexually transmitted diseases that ravaged Europe at that time.
With the new discovery, Jonathan Jones started to use the infectious disease to explain the scenarios in the picture. The colorful and distant scenery in the background would be a reference to the New World (in this case, America – Europeans credited the people of the New World with the arrival of the disease on the continent). The characteristic morbid tone in the work of art would be a way of expressing the woman's sick appearance, without revealing the illness.
Jones also explores the difference in coloring between the model and the landscape in the painting. The shadows around the eyes would, for the critic, be signs of an illness. While the green light refers to a sick appearance.
One of Mona Lisa's hallmarks is her “almost” smile, which, for Jones, is a melancholic air for having enjoyed the pleasures of life (carnal), but having paid a dear price for it, acquiring the disease. This is because syphilis is a disease transmitted mainly through sexual intercourse without condoms. The author then suggests that Lisa contracted the disease through sexual intercourse.
Although enthusiastic about his discovery, Jonathan Jones admits that his theory is quite limited. The object of study, in this case Lisa del Gicondo's shopping record, is dated 10 years before Da Vinci painted the painting.
