Mona Lisa Truth

 

 

March 23, 2004

 

E603B World Literature, Bump

 

 

 

 

 

Mona Lisa

True, Leonardo da Vinci painted the Mona Lisa. True, Leonardo was infatuated with the women of Florence: hence the portrait of a Florentine lady. True, this controversial work of art was “found in some out-of-the corner…late Orleans collection.” [1] But wait; are these facts of the Mona Lisa true?

Since its discovery in 1869 amid a collection of less spectacular paintings, the Mona Lisa continues to arouse considerable interest. Generation after generation seeks to identify the woman behind the “unfathomable smile.”[2] Others, uninterested in the nameless subject, seek to mock the Mona Lisa: everywhere you look, a desecrated Mona Lisa is ever present. Such mockery of the Mona Lisa is easily displayed and accessed via the World Wide Web. While surfing the Web one day, I came upon a mutilated Mona Lisa titled “meditating on mitosis:” the Mona Lisa had been divided beyond recognition.[3] Despite various maimed versions of the original work, the essential facts about the Mona Lisa that inspires such art, however hideous, remain the same—a portrait painted by Da Vinci and later discovered among the Orleans collection. I mention the Mona Lisa, for the mystery I’ve yet to unravel profoundly interests me.

 

University of Texas , March 19, 2003

Hello, diary. You shall be my confidant in research. Let me introduce myself. I’m currently a freshman at the University of Texas and am pursuing a double major in Women Studies and Business.[4] I am actively involved as president of the Women in Business organization on campus. During the first month of each fall semester, Women in Business holds a huge conference dedicated to honoring successful, working moms who are also UT alumni. These women are invited to speak at the annual conference on a new theme selected each year. This year’s theme is “Letting the Men Baby-sit.” The highlight of the conference focuses upon the growing number of men that are playing “moms” nowadays and working towards dealing with such revolutionary change. I am also part of the “Reprezent” party running for Student Government; I represent woman at large and propose to fight for gender equality on campus. Unfortunately, women are still seen and treated as objects not humans. Even today, men continue to whistle derisive catcalls at random, pretty passersby. Perhaps if women were to eliminate degrading occupations such as prostitution, then such derision would end. Although equality has come a long way, it has not yet been achieved; it still has a way to go. And if my role as an active feminist isn’t obvious enough, my all-time favorite song is “Independent Women” by Destiny’s Child. In addition to the uplifting lyrics, the funky beat is catchy! During down time as a librarian assistant, I enjoy researching feminist heroines at the PCL Library. One of my favorite historical heroines is the Queen Isabella of Spain who established the concept of equality to elevate the status of women. In the Spanish court, Queen Isabella was the first to set such equality standards; the impact efforts persist to this day.

­Queen Isabella was a woman whose accomplishments commanded respect and notice. In an age when women were regarded with little or no respect, Queen Isabella demanded spousal equality and chivalry: her ideals were highly regarded and honored among the Spanish court. The only man to slight her standards was her own husband, King Ferdinand. Often, “the Queen was jealous of the King’s paramours and saddened by his infidelities.”[5] Despite the King’s infidelity, the Queen remained loyal to the King in an imbalanced, matrimonial relationship. One book praises her exceptional purity in married life and emphasizes that she did not “‘yield to the wicked impulse of illicit passion.’”[6] Among the Spanish court, she alone epitomized courtly love and _ romanticism. It is noted that she had many admirers, both poets and artists.

 

University of Texas, March 23, 2003

One of the books elaborates upon Queen Isabella’s education. It noted, “The royal family seems to have set the example, for the daughters of Isabel the Catholic were renowned for their knowledge of Latin, although Isabel herself learned Latin as an adult”[7] under the guidance of a tutor _ named Beatriz Galindo.[8] During the fifteenth century, it was rare that women of that time earned an education; however, royal women were granted such privilege. What’s truly rare and admirable is the fact that Beatriz Galindo was a female tutor. Moreover, she must have been overly qualified to have been chosen to advise the Queen. This begs the question: who is Beatriz Galindo?

University of Texas, March 25, 2003

            While rummaging around in the back of the PCL Library, I came upon an antique, red booklet. The gold-trimmed edges of the yellowed pages had gone black through the years. I opened to the first page which reads, “She wrote a poem in Latin today.” Briefly skimming the contents and the inside of the front cover, I came to the conclusion that this was Beatriz Galindo’s diary! What an extraordinary find! I read on: “She learns quickly—even quicker than most of the University boys.

 

University of Salamanca, April 5, 1503

Even though she may be royalty, female erudition, especially knowledge of Latin, [is] seldom encouraged and even perceived as weird and dangerous…[9]

It is often said:

“Mujer que sabe latin rara vez tiene buen fin. Hija hilandera, hija casadera.” [10]

Salamanca University, 14th Century

By that saying, the worried daughters, fearful for their futures, studied to become great wives and ignored the study of letters. This particular adage, created by men, strongly advocates that girls should not attend the University, for they would merely be distractions to the male scholars.

These charges are ridiculous. Men and women should be treated equally and gain fair opportunities for education. In the interest of society, both men and women should learn and compete in hopes of further stimulating each individual’s thought process. From the male point of view, I would argue that man deserves a wife who complements rather than insults his intelligence; therefore, she should match him intellectually. By denying women education, men deny themselves and their children an environment conducive to erudition. The University turns a blind eye to such logical reasoning:

No university admit[s] female students, and the guild of primary school teachers taught reading, writing and arithmetic to boys only.[11]

For the betterment of the Spanish race, these changes need to begin at the University:

Learning Latin was a sort of Renaissance puberty rite for young boys that prepared them for a career in a public, male-gendered space, distanced from the maternal space where vernacular tongue was used and women were present.[12]

 

University of Salamanca, April 22, 1503

While giving an examination in the public square today, I noticed a young girl’s fascination with my examinee’s recitation in Latin. Her bright eyes hinted intelligence and curiosity. Before I could ask her name, my examinee told her off with a patronizing scowl.

The following day, I spotted my examinee walking before the public square with his mortar board on head, book in right hand, and gold ring in his left. Though I was happy for him, now a graduated scholar laden with honors, I felt a twinge of empathy for the girl with bright eyes. Poor girls like her were never given the chance to be educated. I was more fortunate thanks to my noble disposition: I could afford to study with a private teacher at home.

Not only should boys and girls attend universities together, but all girls should be given the same educational opportunities. All girls, regardless of economical or social status, should enjoy the privilege of education. I am no smarter than the girl I saw that day. I was merely more privileged, and thus have taken advantage of that opportunity to work my way up to become a university professor.

 

University of Texas, March 29, 2003

In comparing Beatriz Galindo’s university experience with mine, I observe the substantial advancement women have made in gender equality. Last week, the Women in Business on campus invited a co-ed panel of UT business graduates to speak on working two jobs—one as a businesswoman or businessman and as a “mom.” Out of the eight panelists, two were stay-at-home dads. These dads worked the untraditional, yet becoming more common-place role as “moms:” they care for the kids while mom works. The gender demographic has recently become more balanced in the home as well as in the workplace. For example, women have reduced their roles in predominantly “women professions” such as nursing to challenge the men dominating the world of business. On a less conspicuous level, take note of the rising number of females holding positions in various organizations across campus.

Since the fifteenth century, many changes have taken place. Despite laudable advancements, women are still being challenged today for “going against the grain.” I can only imagine that Beatriz Galindo must have faced hardships among a faculty of men as the first female professor at Salamanca. Her following entry confirms my suspicions.

 

University of Salamanca, April 20, 1503

Queen Isabella of Spain

Without the support of Queen Isabella, I probably wouldn’t be a professor at the University of Salamanca. I was lucky enough to have taught her and now am teaching her daughter, Princess Gabriella, as well as scholars at the University of Salamanca. As the only female professor among a faculty of men, I am constantly underestimated and tried. Fellow professors and administrators are stubborn and uninterested in what I, as a female, have to say.

The other day I approached them with the notion of lending used books to an impoverished girl who greatly desired to learn the classics. Without hearing another word, they dismissed me from sight and decried the heresy of a learned lady.

On the job, some professors don’t bother to disguise their disgust in working alongside a female. They treat me as if I were scum plotting to conquer the world. I have no fancy ideas. I am simply passionate for letters, medicine, and philosophy… At least Leonardo treats Isabella well.[13]

 

University of Texas, April 4, 2003

Isabella? What does she have to do with Da Vinci? The only other person Beatriz often mentions is Queen Isabella…

 

University of Salamanca, May 21, 1503

They are meeting tonight at the Escuelas Menores for the final touches on the painting. When all the students have gone for the evening, the Escuelas Menores becomes one of the quietest places on campus. Da Vinci must have chosen the spot because the grass patio opens to the boundless sky; the absence of rules feeds his artistic streak. Likewise, Queen Isabella feels her soul can breathe once again. Here, I can be the woman at heart; Da Vinci can be the artist he was born to be; and Queen Isabella can relax as a gentlewoman free from obligations.

Escuelas Menores

I stand in the center of the patio to admire the architect’s feat. Walking upon the lush grass, I feel as if I walk upon a grand carpet too perfect to be made by the hands of man. From the grass patio to the rectangular stone walkway enclosing it, I feel the rules and boundaries imposed upon me again. I am no longer a woman, I am a professor. Just as I sink back into reality, I look up. Heavy pillar head adorned with spires point to the starry sky, and then I am reminded of the limitless sky. If I reached my hand a little further towards the sky, I could run my fingers through the sea of stars.

Too bad the original background of Escuelas Minores was painted over. Da Vinci argues that the former background drew too much focus away from the subject. Now all that enhances his masterpiece is a blur of grassy landscape. Nevertheless, I love the portrait. The realistic portrait captures Queen Isabella’s glowing aura. Personally, I believe Da Vinci is in love with not the person Queen Isabella, but with the virtues she represents: she is the epitome of loyalty, romanticism, and courtly love. He’s caught up in admiration not love, and he doesn’t know it himself. He may even believe that she is the ideal female prototype.

 

University of Texas, May 31, 2003

Five centuries later Walter Pater would say concerning the Mona Lisa, “We might fancy that this was but [Leonardo Da Vinci’s] ideal lady, embodied and beheld at last.[14]” The Florentine subject is in reality Spanish royalty—Queen Isabella.[15] In Spain, fifteenth century courtly love seemed to be the only anomalistic ideal against the commonly accepted status of feminine inferiority: in courtly love, the woman was held above God himself. Since the introduction of spousal equality, gender equality sprouts forth from the very idea of courtly love, chivalry, and equality.

While Queen Isabella is admired for setting forth the standards of spousal equality, I’ve discovered a new heroine—Beatriz Galindo, the pioneer of women in education. Women have made great progress in fighting for equality especially in the field of academia. I hope to continue the cause and legend of these egalitarian women at the University of Texas. Word Count: 2,187

 

Notes