# Mona Lisa \(detail\) [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [LEONARDO da Vinci]() - Date: 1451-1500 - Technique: Oil on panel ## Commentary In his treatise on painting, Leonardo wrote that in a good painting contours had to become more blurred the further into the background they were. This creates his famous sfumato, which makes all things look as if they were seen through a veil. There was nothing new in depicting landscapes as decorative or symbolic backgrounds to portraits, but Leonardo's skill lay in his ability to combine both pictorial elements into one harmonious whole by linking them to each other in various ways. The bridge, for example, is nothing more than a continuation of the archlike rising veil draped across the Mona Lisa's left shoulder. ## Related artworks - [Adoration of the Magi]() - [Allegory with wolf and eagle]() - [Anatomical studies \(larynx and leg\)]() - [Anatomical studies of a male shoulder]() - [Anatomical studies of the shoulder]() - [Anatomical studies]() - [Annunciation \(detail\)]() - [Annunciation \(detail\)]() - [Annunciation \(detail\)]() - [Annunciation \(detail\)]() - [Annunciation \(detail\)]() - [Annunciation \(detail\)]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()