Mona Lisa

And yet again, Mona Lisa has another one who falls for her, very hard!This time it is a young nobleman, Philippe de Bougainville, who is part of Marshal Louis de La Trémouille's entourage to gather objets d'art for Louis XII. As he becomes obsessed in finding the woman in the painting, willing to do everything so he can profess his love to her, things escalate quickly.Alexander Lernet-Holenia wrote this gem in 1937 and the translation into English was by Ignat Avsey (well known for his translat [...]

MONA LISAWritten by Alexander Lernet-Holenia 1937 (reissued JUNE 14, 2016); 96 PagesGenre: fiction, art, novella, historical fiction(I received an ARC from the EDELWEISS in exchange for an honest review.)​​★★★★This thin volume of 96 pages packs a lot of punch. I have always liked Leonardo Da Vinci and been fascinated with his artwork and mind. In fact, my mom says the first book I picked out all by myself was a big Da Vinci art book. This story was first written in German, 1937. Push [...]

I received an ARC from the publisher via Edelweiss.This book is a very slim volume and can be read in an hour or so. It attempts to answer the question that has been nagging historians and artists for centuries: Who, exactly, was the woman Mona Lisa that Da Vinci made so famous in his painting? In this plot it is a French aristocrat that becomes obsessed with the mysterious woman in Da Vinci’s painting.In 1502, King Louis XII of France has dispatched his Marshal Louis de La Trémouille and a s [...]

I have not been reading since mid-March and once I started to read this, I can't stop. Mona Lisa is a short read, yet a very addictive one. Started it on my Monday commute to work and finished it on the way back the same evening.This book was written in German by Alexander Lernet-Holenia in 1937. I'm honestly surprised it took so long for it to be translated and published in English. It's a short story on the famous painting Mona Lisa, and how a man (Philippe de Bougainville) while on a campaign [...]

Received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I lost count of how many times I rolled my eyes at the sheer male arrogance and dramatics of Bougainville. From a single glance at a painting he managed to "fall in love" and invent an entire story of his "beloved" being a damsel in distress and needing his help.

A few years ago I was captivated by Alexander Lernet-Holenia’s novella I Was Jack Mortimer, a fast-moving, offbeat crime story set in 1930s Vienna. I read it pre-blog but it’s been widely reviewed elsewhere (especially since the release of a new edition in the Pushkin Vertigo livery towards the end of last year). Back in November 2015 Pushkin Press published another of Lernet-Holenia’s works, Mona Lisa, which I was lucky enough to receive for Christmas. It’s hugely enjoyable story told w [...]

Alexander Lernet-Holenia (1897-1976) was an award-winning Austrian poet, playwright, screenwriter and novelist who was a protégé of Rainer Maria Rilke. Despite this Bohemian connection and the publication of his 1941 novel The Blue Hour (Die Blaue Stunde) a.k.a. Mars in Aries (Mars im Widder) which was banned by the Nazis, he managed to keep a low profile for most of the war until removed from public position in 1944. He had, as a redrafted reservist, taken part in the invasion of Poland, and [...]

I was approved an ARC of this book by the publishers via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This review was originally posted at eclectictales: eclectictales/blog/201Wow, I was absolutely stunned by this novella. Spanning about 88 pages long (in the eARC at least), the storytelling was tight as it focused on the young Bougainville and his quest to first uncover the identity of Leonardo da Vinci’s elusive portrait and then to save her. I really felt for Bougainville, he really was cert [...]

This slim novella is about a French nobleman who meets Leonardo Da Vinci, becomes obsessed with the real woman behind The Mona Lisa, and persists in pursuing her well beyond the bounds of rationality. The book is compellingly written, feels like a tiny slice of real renaissance life, while having a plot that is more than interesting enough to sustain a book this length.

A really enjoyable novella, amusingly telling of the French soldiers en route to liberate Naples from the Spanish, and who think on the off-chance to pop in on Leonardo da Vinci's rooms in Florence, where they find a captivating picture of a beautiful woman… What follows may be quite breathless at times, the pell-mell action coming across really easily in this small, large-print (and illustrated!) volume, but it's good fun for the whimsy. In the end it offers grand discussions about the value [...]

This is a quite strange but compelling novella, or perhaps short story, which gives a possible explanation for the Mona Lisa’s enigmatic smile. Written in 1937 by Austrian writer Alexander Lernet-Holenia (and we have the wonderful Pushkin Press to thank for reviving the fortunes of yet another writer who had largely disappeared from view) it tells of a French campaign in 1502 led by Marshal Louis de Trémoille which arrives in Florence and begins to look for booty to take back to Louis XII. On [...]

A pleasant but very light-weight tale set in Florence in 1502. On a visit to da Vinci's home, a young French soldier falls in love with the painting we know as Mona Lisa. Captivated by her beauty, he refuses to believe that the sitter is dead, and convinces himself that she must be kept under lock and key by her cuckold husband. His suspicions turn to certainty once he's raided her tomb and found it empty. His assault on Giocondo make him so unpopular with the Florentines that his commanding off [...]

Marshal Louis de La Trémouille attempts to put some gilt on his second-rate invasion of Italy by stopping at the workshop of Leonardo da Vinci to pick up some worthy souvenirs for his king, only to have one of his young officers, Philippe de Bougainville, become obsessed with a painting he spies in the back room of the painter's house. This is a fictionalization of the context of the creation of the Mona Lisa, with lofty theme of love and honor crossed with the realities of patronage, toadies, [...]

Great book.

Cute little story, but likely forgettable