Italian Mob take over the Louvre

The mob of people headed to the Italian painting galleries to see her majesty.


The Louvre may be a French museum, but the massive crowds are there to see the Italians. And why not? Long after Marie Antoinette lost her head, there still remains an immortal Queen holding court in this former Royal Palace. And mon dieu, she's not even French! Her name is Lisa del Giocondo, and she has, one could easily argue, the most famous face in the world. I think the Mona Lisa is absolutely incredible, and that she deserves all the attention she commands. Unlike her fellow celebrities over in the New World who get photographed exiting limos whilst knicker-less, or videotaped cavorting with ill-bred commoners; Mona Lisa never loses her poise. And what poise! She shames the crowds who gawk at her, pushing cameras in her face, blasting millions of flashbulbs into her delicately rendered eyes. Through it all she sits calmly, smiling just so, in a way that suggests she has seen more and knows more than we could ever imagine. The kind of knowledge that only immortals know. And in some miraculous way, in spite of the seas of people in front of her, she can communicate with you directly, look into your soul, and give you only as much as you're willing to give her. Skeptics may disagree and instead focus on the size of her canvas, or get annoyed by the crowd's barbaric behaviour, or only look for clues to crack the fictional Da Vinci code (in fact, the Lourve rents out headsets based on the popular novel.) But if you approach her without an agenda, try to see her for what she is - versus the monumental myth built over a lifetime of multi-layered memories of billboards and magazine advertisements - she will not disappoint. In this picture, you can see how some people choose to perpetuate the myth by having their picture taken in front of her, as if they were standing in front of Niagara Falls or above the Grand Canyon. She is similar to these phenomena, in that a photograph cannot do her justice. But, she differs in that unlike the natural world, we actually know her maker: Leonardo (with whom we're on a first name basis), who, over 500 years ago took a brush, some pigments and oil, and created a legend.