Meet the Mona Lisa of the Prado, the earliest known copy of Da Vinci’s best portrait. Similarity in the undersketch of the painting indicates that this was very likely painted concurrently with the original Mona Lisa, by a student of Da Vinci.
There is much controversy in the art world over the question of whether or not to clean the fragile Mona Lisa, but her sister has been restored and some fairly odd later alterations removed to show the original vibrant colors and lighting. Some details, such as the sheerness of her shawl and the pattern on the neckline of her dress, have become utterly obscured in the original, but in the restored copy they’re perfectly clear.
It blows my mind a little bit to look at these two sisters side-by-side and imagine how much vivid detail could be hiding in the Mona Lisa under 500 years of rotten varnish.
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Leaving London for a week–– I always miss the city, looking forward to being back already (and who can blame me, just look at this light in the library)
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Smell of the old books.
Toronto, Canada.
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This kind of smart, walkable, mixed-use urbanism is illegal to build in many American cities
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red beneath the dust jacket 🌹
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bookish cats
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09.04.23 | Easter 🕊️
Happy Easter if you celebrate! I’m currently an Erasmus student, so this year I’m spending it differently. It’s my first time away from family during the holidays so I’m feeling a bit lonely today. Nonetheless, I’m loving my time here, visiting new places and roaming around, and I’m glad I got the opportunity to enjoy this once in a lifetime experience!
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the new librarian looks somewhat stressed
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Spent the morning organizing my bookshelves. I took out all the Tetrised books to make my shelves look cleaner, but now half my tbr pile is just chilling on my coffee table…
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