A A Gill, Columnist

Solution to Europe’s Crisis Lies in Mona Lisa’s Smile: A.A. Gill

February 8, 2012 at 12:05 AM UTC

A.A. Gill is the television and restaurant critic for the Sunday Times of London and a contributing editor with Vanity Fair. Gill is the author of 10 books and collections, most recently "A.A. Gill is Further Away" and "Previous Convictions: Assignments from Here and There." Born in Scotland, he lives in London.

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They discovered another Mona Lisa at the Prado in Madrid, just hanging about in the stock room. “What do you think that is?” asked some Spanish curator. “Let’s clean it and see. Caramba. It’s another Mona Lisa,” painted contemporaneously by Leonardo da Vinci’s favored pupil, perhaps his significant other.

It’s been a good year for Leonardo. His exhibition at the National Gallery in London was praised as the greatest in living memory. There were lines around Trafalgar Square and a thriving black market for tickets. The show came as a startling reminder, even to people who work in the art world, of what a toweringly subtle and moving painter he was. We get blase and forget.