It seems to you you’ve spent half your life waiting to see Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece, “Mona Lisa” in person. You have read virtually every book and article about the mystique surrounding the work. You saw “The da Vinci Code” thirty times, which is probably a world record. On several occasions, you have burnt the midnight oil studying reprints of the artwork. Now here you are — in Paris’ Louvre Museum, standing in front of one of the world’s most famous artworks! Your eyes zoom in on the magnum opus like a microscope, examining the details of the painting, inch-by-inch. You realize that something is wrong with Mona Lisa’s smile, but you find it hard to put a finger on it. Then, it hits you what the problem is. Her mouth is missing! A detail missing from such a masterpiece is like a formal outfit without the perfect designer cufflinks.
More than Mere Details
The brilliance of artwork masterpieces is in the details. In another of da Vinci’s works, “The Last Supper,” the artist includes extra details of the background, which provide the work with increased depth and realism. Each of...