Why is the Mona Lisa the Most Famous Painting?

You may have heard someone say: 'I would notimages. On cave walls in Australia, the oldest
have a reproduction in my home. If I cannot affordartworks known - dated at 40,000 years - are the
the original, I would rather have nothing!' But being anhand stencils of long-gone Aboriginal artists. Stencilling
art snob makes no sense. Better to enrich your wallsis used in sophisticated forms today, which include silk
- and your life - with reproductions of great art thanscreen printing. Kids are introduced in kindergarten to
nondescript originals that were only chosen becauseintaglio or relief printing with halved potatoes or
the price was right.cardboard. It's a primitive form of the processes we
In my childhood home there were two originalcall woodcuts or lino cuts. Many masters - Rembrandt
paintings. Bequeathed by a distant relative, theyfor one - extended their body of work with etchings,
showed two slightly different views of anmade by a complex process requiring help from a
anonymous river. The colours had faded, the papersskilled metal worker.
had darkened over time. It hardly mattered. TheyA highly regarded form of printmaking is the
were so boring they might have put me off paintinglithograph. Using a greasy ink or crayon, the artist
for life.draws an image on a smooth stone. Put simply, this
Fortunately, my parents also had chosen to hangprocess depends on the fact that grease and water
two great works of art that showed me what ado not mix. As the treated stone is dampened with a
painting could be and they still live in my memory.sponge and ink is rolled across it, the ink is deposited
One shows a landscape with a lone tree made nobleonly on the greasy drawing, not the wet stone. The
by one shaft of golden light. The other was of apreparation and the printing is a more complicated
vase of flowers that make you think of all that isaffair than I have described here, and calls for the
Beauty. The still life was by the 17th century Dutchhelp of highly skilled technicians, under the close
master Jan van Huysum. Who made the landscape issupervision of the artist. Allowing for the use of a
a mystery because the artist's signature had beengreater number of colours, it produces a more
cut off by the framer. You see, these artworks'painterly' effect than other printing techniques and is
were printed reproductions.favoured by certain collectors.
It is true that no technology can reproduce in full theAlso, there are rubbings, the drypoint, mezzotint,
brushstrokes, the richness of colour in an oil paintingaquatint and many other sub-categories of prints.
or the subtle changes that occur with a change ofThe 'purest' form of all is called the monoprint (or
light falling on an original. But a good qualitymonotype) because it gives a single, unique print. It is
reproduction can come very, very close.Some artproduced by painting onto metal or glass, then
lovers collect only Prints.This is an ideal option fortransferring the still wet image to paper. In this way,
those with a limited decorating budget but with athe artist can achieve a luminous quality that is quite
desire to surround themselves with beauty andunlike the result of painting directly on paper.
quality rather than settle for the mediocre.All of these Prints come in necessarily small quantities,
What Is A Print? What is the difference between aat high prices. None looks even remotely like an oil
Print and a reproduction; a Limited Edition and anpainting. So, the next question has to be: What is a
Open or Poster Print? Today's art market is filledreproduction? In another article, I will show you The
with so many choices, it is easy to see why so muchquickest way to cut through the fog of confusion on
confusion has arisen.that question.
Printmaking is an ancient way of producing multiple