Mona Lisa in Camelot; how Jacqueline Kennedy and Da Vinci's Masterpiece Charmed and Captivated A Nation
Yousuf Karsh (Jacket photograph) and Annie Wells ( New York: Da Capo Press, 2008. First Printing [Stated]. Hardcover. x, 278 pages. DJ has minor wear and soiling. Corners of several pages had been creased. Includes Author's Note, Illustrations, Part One, Part Two, and Part Three, as well as Epilogue; Acknowledgments, Notes, Selected Bibliography, and Index. A charming and painstakingly researched account of Jacqueline Kennedy's pivotal role in bringing the Mona Lisa to Washington. Mona Lisa's story is intertwined with the sunlight and shadows of the John F. Kennedy presidency, cut short before its promise could be fully realized. Margaret Leslie Davis is a graduate of Georgetown University and earned her master’s in professional writing at the University of Southern California. Her award-winning books have been featured on Good Morning America and in the London Sunday Times and Vanity Fair. She has appeared on C-SPAN’s Book TV and the History Channel’s Modern Marvels, as well as on the Discovery Channel and A&E’s Biography. An experienced and sought-after public speaker, Davis has delivered addresses at many prestigious forums, including the New York Public Library, the White House Historical Association, and the National Gallery of Art. This book has been showcased on ABC's Good Morning America, excerpted in Vanity Fair magazine and featured in the Sunday London Times. Columnist Liz Smith called the book “an engaging and dynamite story” and an important addition to American museum and art history. In December 1962, Leonardo Da Vinci's Mona Lisa set sail from Paris to New York for what many knew would be the riskiest art exhibition ever mounted. The fragile painting, sealed in a temperature-controlled, bulletproof box, traveled like a head of state accompanied by armed guards and constant surveillance. The U.S. Secret Service escorted the Mona Lisa along a red carpet as the painting was removed from the SS France at New York Harbor on the morning of December 19, 1962. The driving force behind the famous painting's high profile visit was First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, who convinced French Cultural Minister Andre Malraux and National Gallery Director John Walker to share the masterpiece with the American people. She overcame the fierce objections of art officials who feared the journey would ruin the world's most celebrated smile, and “Lisa Fever” soon swept the nation as nearly two million Americans attended exhibits in Washington, D.C. and New York City. It was the greatest outpouring of appreciation for a single work of art in American history. And as only Jacqueline Kennedy could do, she infused America's first museum blockbuster show with a unique sense of pageantry that ignited a national love affair with the arts. Following a White House dinner in his honor, French Cultural Minister Andre Malraux is said to have whispered a promise to Mrs. Kennedy that he would lend her the Mona Lisa. Gathering rare archival documents acclaimed biographer Margaret Leslie Davis has woven a tantalizing saga filled with international intrigue and the irresistible charm of Camelot and its queen. Condition: Very good / Very good.
Keywords: Mona Lisa, Jacqueline Kennedy, Andre Malraux, National Gallery of Art, Edward Folliard, Madeleine Hours, White House, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Cuban Missile Crisis, John Walker
ISBN: 9780738211039
[Book #83254]
Price: $35.00