"Increased security after the recent heist has made the queues at the Louvre even slower, yet on this rainswept, very wintry morning, no one grumbles. After all, the Mona Lisa is waiting inside for all these tourists who have come from the world over. Leonardo da Vinci's woman swathed in dark cloth and silk, smiling enigmatically as she sits in front of a landscape of rocks, road and water draws crowds like no other painting."
"But if the Mona Lisa can attract such attention fully clothed, what would the queues be like if she was nude? Strangely, this is not just amusing speculation because in 18th-century Britain, she was. An engraving issued by a publisher called John Boydell gave libertine Georgians the opportunity to hang Joconda in their boudoir. It must have been popular because many copies survive."
Increased security after a recent heist has slowed Louvre queues, yet tourists endure to see the Mona Lisa. Leonardo da Vinci's sitter, swathed in dark cloth and silk, smiles enigmatically before a rocky landscape and draws unmatched crowds. In 18th-century Britain an engraving by publisher John Boydell reproduced a version of the Joconda half nude, popular among libertine Georgians. Many copies survive. The print's caption claimed it reproduced a painting by Lionardo da Vinci hanging at Houghton. Houghton Hall once housed Sir Robert Walpole's famous oil collection, catalogued by his son Horace, who described the Joconda as mistress to Francis I who often posed half naked.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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