Mona Lisa or La Gioconda, by Leonardo da Vinci, hand-painted miniature copy, Fedoskino. Size of the box: 92 mm x 79 ...

Mona Lisa or La Gioconda, by Leonardo da Vinci, hand-painted miniature copy, Fedoskino. Size of the box: 92 mm x 79 mm x 33 mm; Among the works created by Leonardo in the 16th century is the small portrait known as the Mona Lisa or La Gioconda, the laughing one. In the present era, it is arguably the most famous painting in the world. Its fame rests, in particular, on the elusive smile on the woman's face, its mysterious quality perhaps due to the subtly shadowed corners of the mouth and eyes such that the exact nature of the smile cannot be determined. The shadowy quality for which the work is renowned came to be called "sfumato", or Leonardo's smoke. Vasari wrote that the smile was "so pleasing that it seems more divine than human, and it was considered a wondrous thing that it was as lively as the smile of the living original."[‡ 9] Other characteristics of the painting are the unadorned dress, in which the eyes and hands have no competition from other details; the dramatic landscape background, in which the world seems to be in a state of flux; the subdued colouring; and the extremely smooth nature of the painterly technique, employing oils laid on much like tempera, and blended on the surface so that the brushstrokes are indistinguishable.[118] Vasari expressed that the painting's quality would make even "the most confident master ... despair and lose heart."[‡ 10] The perfect state of preservation and the fact that there is no sign of repair or overpainting is rare in a panel painting of this date.[119] Fedoskino miniature (Russian: федоскинская миниатюра) is a traditional Russian lacquer miniature painting on papier-mache, named after its original center Fedoskino (Федоскино), an old village near Moscow widely known from the late 18th century. The contemporary Fedoskino painting preserves the typical features of Russian folk art. The use of oil paint, typically applied in many layers, is a distinctive feature of a Fedoskino miniature, as well as the use of mother-of-pearl, pure gold or silver leaf under segments of the background to create the effect of a shimmering glow or silvery sparkle. Many boxes are painted inside and outside in imitation tortoiseshell, birch bark, mahogany or tartan. The heyday of Fedoskino miniature fell in the second half of the 19th century, and the works of that time are known as 'lukutins', named after the merchants Lukutins, who owned the Fedoskino factory at that time. Petr Lutukin inherited the factory in 1824 and it remained in the families ownership until 1904. After a brief interlude in the hands of former Lutukin workers ('The Fedoskino Artel of Former Lutukin Factory Workers') the factory effectively ceased trading until after the revolution, when in 1923, Fedoskino wares were awarded a diploma for 'superb artistic skill' at the All Union Exhibition of Agricultural, Industrial and Cultural Products; which was held in Moscow in that year. Some of the factory craftsmen had artistic education, and many of them had come from icon-painting studios. In 1931 the opening of a vocational school of miniature painting at Fedoskino ensured the perpetuation of the art form, which allowed the continued development through the following years. Stylistically the Fedoskino factory is distinct from the other schools of miniature lacquer painting: notably those of Palekh, Mstera and Kholui. [1] The popular motifs used in Fedoskino miniature are all sorts of tea-drinking with samovar, troikas (carriage-and-three), and scenes from Russian peasant life.