MART-701 Lessons

It’s a bright new year at Hogwarts and, for some students, it’s their last year before heading out into the great unknown of the wizarding world. The halls are full of students bustling around and catching up with their peers while heading to class. It’s a normal sight to see… well, except for Professor Rosenquist rushing up the Grand Staircase and mumbling why the stairs couldn’t move any faster. The tall, blonde professor appears to have just left an Alchemy lab, judging by the goggles sitting on top of her head and the fact that she’s still wearing her dragonhide gloves. Every time she reaches a new landing, she taps her foot impatiently for the next set of stairs to move over. Eventually, she reaches the fifth floor and runs to her classroom, only to create a hush over the Seventh Years who were already in their seats. The room is void of any themed decorations, though the soft light filtering in from the stained glass windows is covering the room in warm tones. The class remains silent as Professor Rosenquist clears her throat and walks over to her desk. She opens her mouth to address the class, but a Gryffindor in the front of the classroom points at the goggles on the professor’s head, prompting a laugh from the professor. Professor Rosenquist quickly removes the lab equipment and tosses the goggles and gloves on her desk before continuing.

Sorry for the tardiness! One of the Fifth Year Alchemy labs ran a little late and boy do those stairs take their time when you are in a hurry. Anyway, hello and welcome to not only your second year of Magical Art, but also your last year in general! I’m sure you all are feeling a mix of emotions: the excitement of almost being done with your Hogwarts education, the fear of the unknown afterwards, and the overbearing stress of N.E.W.T.s are probably among said emotions. While it is a trying time in your life, don’t forget the professors and your peers are here to support you if you need any help. Although there is a N.E.W.T. for this course, try not to worry too much about it in class. Think of our time together as a time to relax, take your mind off of things for the moment, let the creativity flow, and do some art. This, however, doesn’t mean I will tolerate any slacking off in my course. Hopefully that reminder wasn’t necessary since you all are in your Seventh Year. I see some nodding, good. Anyway, I digress; here are the topics we will be covering this year. 

Like last year, we will go over as much as we can, but if anything interests you in particular, I highly recommend doing extra research or practice on your own time. Perhaps even take a chance to look into further study so you can go into that particular field after you leave these halls. Speaking of, let’s briefly touch on professions in magical art.

Along with the obvious profession of being a studio artist that specializes in a particular art form (painting, photography, printmaking, ceramics, etc.) or a magical art professor, there are so many more options in the career field to pick from. For those of you who also love magical history, an art historian is always a good choice! If you ever want to specifically work in an art museum in the wizarding world, art curators are in demand from time to time to plan exhibits. Working in the media also opens up several options for magical publications such as a media photographer, illustrator, graphic designer, and, for those of you who like gossip, the paparazzi (though this particular profession is usually frowned upon). I’ve even seen magical art students become designers of fashion or costumes and sets for theater productions. 

This is only a few of the many possible professions and, if you are considering a career in magical art, my advice is to save every piece you work on. I’m not talking about only the assignments I give you, but also the art you work on in your free time. Most of these jobs require you to submit a portfolio when applying, and the more artwork and the more variety that you have to show, the better the chance you have at getting the job. The other piece of advice I have is to find an internship. Unfortunately, Hogwarts is not a wizarding school that primarily focuses on the arts. You only have two years of a general overview with me, whereas schools like Da Vinci’s Academy for the Magically and Artistically Inclined and the Wizarding Academy of Dramatic Arts (W.A.D.A.) go into much more depth for a longer amount of time so that the students really hone their skills. An internship will help you get professional experience and also help you artistically as you will be getting critiques from magical artists who have been in the industry for years.

Hopefully as you are nearing the end of your classes and ever closer towards N.E.W.T.s, you can venture about and think about whether a career in magical art is right for you. Anyway, enough of my rambling, we need to start our actual topic before time escapes us.

Unfortunately, as we all know, even though we would like to think the world is generally good, bad people do exist and commit crimes in both the magical and non-magical worlds. Luckily, a majority of these are petty crimes such as shoplifting in Diagon Alley or trespassing into someone’s gnome-infested yard, but sometimes they’re far worse, such as the heinous crimes committed by Voldemort during the First and Second Wizarding Wars. One that falls into the category of major crimes is art theft, or sometimes known as artnapping. Now, it’s not as detrimental as the murder committed by the Death Eaters, but it’s definitely more serious than not paying for your butterbeer. Art theft is the act of stealing works of art (particularly paintings and sculptures) from galleries or museums. Famous and priceless pieces of art are often targeted and only a small percentage of stolen art is ever recovered. This phenomenon plagues both Muggle and magical art museums, and thieves will either try to hold the art for ransom, sell the artwork for millions of Galleons (or whatever Muggle currency they fancy), or the art goes missing completely. The method of stealing art can also be extremely damaging as well. One particular method that is common, and makes me quite angry, is when art thieves cut paintings off of frames and roll them up into a tube carrier for transport. Not only was a piece of history stolen, but also it was potentially ruined for one’s selfish gain.

While there are several cases of art theft throughout several centuries, today I would like to highlight one in particular. It’s probably one that you have heard of before! I’m referring to the highly popular and infamous theft of Mona Lisa.

Unless you have lived under a rock your whole life, you are most likely familiar with Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, a portrait of Lisa del Giocondo that da Vinci started painting back in 1503 C.E. and is currently one of the most valuable paintings in the world. Even if you haven’t viewed this wonderful portrait at its current home, the Louvre, you have definitely seen Hogwarts’ own copy which I brought into this very classroom last year. Even before the infamous art heist, Mona Lisa has always been shrouded in mystery. Nobody knew who exactly “Mona Lisa” was for centuries or even when da Vinci painted it. It wasn’t until 2005 that a note written by Agostino Vespucci, a contemporary of da Vinci, was found in the margins of a 1477 text by Cicero, a Roman philosopher. This note stated that Leonardo da Vinci was working on a painting of Lisa del Giocondo and it was dated October 1503.

Lisa del Giocondo was actually a member of the Gherardini family, a prominent noble family of Tuscany, who married Francesco del Giocondo, a merchant of silk and other fine textiles. According to Muggle historians, the painting was most likely commissioned by her husband not only to celebrate the birth of the couple’s second son, but also their new home. The del Giocondos had five children in total, and Lisa outlived her husband who was roughly twenty years her senior. That is where the Muggle history stops, however magihistorians have dug up so much more on Lisa del Giocondo within the past few decades through recently uncovered notes and the family history of the Gherardinis. The Gherardini family is an old Italian wizarding family that has been around as early as 856 C.E. that rose to power, founded the Republic of Florence, and eventually branched out into other cities in Italy. Originally, the Gherardinis were purebloods that cared deeply about blood purity, even going as far as restricting who could marry into the family. Over time, however, they became significantly less picky, marrying anyone with magical ability, Muggle-borns included. This might have been due to the rising tension with Muggles that eventually led to several European witch hunts. The Gherardinis were constantly in the public eye due to being a prominent noble family, which made them an easy target for accusatory Muggles and political enemies. In order to blend in better and to stay under the radar, they fully lifted their self-imposed marriage restrictions towards the early 1400s, which was why Lisa was able to marry her husband, a Muggle.

So how did this lead up to Francesco commissioning a portrait from one of the greatest artists of all time for his wife? Da Vinci had made quite the name for himself, not only among Muggles but also in the magical community, for his realistic artwork and his technological ingenuity. Although only fifteen of his paintings have survived to the present day, personal journals and diaries of other reputable witches and wizards during the Renaissance talk about how he really brought his art to life through magic: from fully animated sculptures that acted almost sentient, to breathing personality into even the finest details in the background of his paintings. It was no wonder that his art was heavily admired. With that being said, at this current point in time, da Vinci didn’t have a steady source of income, which quite possibly led him to accepting private portrait commissions. Francesco had a flair for the arts, and he had gotten to a comfortable enough position in terms of income to do a bit of lavish spending a few years after his election to the Dodici Buonomini, an elected council of the Signoria (or government) of Florence. In 1503, Francesco commissioned a painting from da Vinci as a gift to his wife, since the couple had reached a few new milestones within the past few years (Francesco’s election, the birth of their second child, and a new house). Ironically enough, although Francesco was fully aware that his wife was a witch, as this was before the International Statute of Secrecy, he had no idea that da Vinci had any ounce of magic in him. Da Vinci started the painting in 1503, but it was put on the backburner for a few years in favor of a more expensive commission. Art historians estimate that the portrait wasn’t finished until 1516 while da Vinci was in France.

Let’s skip forward a fair bit to August during the year of 1911. The Mona Lisa was in its current home, the Louvre Museum in Paris, France, as it has been since 1797. The portrait seemed to act like any normal mundane painting, unlike the copy we have at Hogwarts, and it hadn’t reached anywhere near the fame it has today. In fact, the Mona Lisa wasn’t deemed to be a masterpiece of the Renaissance until the 1860s and even then it was still pretty unknown to the public at the time. That all changed one night when the painting disappeared. The Louvre was closed for a week because no one knew what had happened to the portrait. They falsely arrested Guillaume Apollinaire, a French poet, for stealing the painting and then implicated Pablo Picasso, who also did not steal the painting. Both, fortunately, were let go and the real culprit turned out to be a Louvre employee named Vincenzo Peruggia. Peruggia believed the painting should be returned to Italy, da Vinci’s home country. He was one of the workers who constructed the glass case for the Mona Lisa, so he walked into the museum during normal hours, hid in a broom closet, and walked out with the painting after the museum closed. According to Muggle reports, Peruggia had the painting in his apartment for two years, in hopes of selling copies of the original for an inflated price after a period of time, before being caught trying to sell it to the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy. Unbeknownst to Peruggia at the time, the first month he was in possession of the painting would be the worst month of his life.

Now, while the Mona Lisa didn’t move or speak like other magical portraits, the original was actually a magical portrait. When Lisa del Giocondo went to model for the portrait, she and da Vinci had a talk on the intricacies of the painting and how it was going to look. Magical art historians believe that Giocondo insisted she did not want her portrait to move or act like her due to her husband’s new position as a government official, which meant the amount of people visiting their house had multiplied. A lot of these people were Muggles, who were growing more and more wary of witchcraft. Her feelings on the matter turned out to be justified as the first of the two biggest Italian witch trials, the Val Camonica witch trials, started just two years after da Vinci started the painting. However, due to her husband’s rising influence, she wanted something to protect this portrait so she asked da Vinci to cast Anti-Theft Charms on it. Da Vinci agreed and casted complicated deep charm forms on the painting that activated in the case it was removed from its frame, damaged, or handled carelessly, or touched by a Muggle. Since it did not act like your typical magical portrait, it went mostly unnoticed by a lot of witches and wizards over the years, and art historians assumed it was a mundane portrait for centuries until the theft incident.

Speaking of the theft, let’s get back to that. Now, Anti-Theft Charms are what I would personally call “sibling charms” to Copyright Charms, or they are related at the very least. As you can imagine, this can encompass a broad variety of charms with different effects. Harmless Anti-Theft Charms tend to be more preventative in nature, such as simple locking charms on containers and doors, and do not harm the thief. On the other hand, Anti-Theft Dark Charms are cast with the intent to harm the thief, and they can range in severity from jinx to curse. While some are immediately triggered, many will instead give off subtle effects initially before growing in severity. This can happen over a set period of time or, in some cases, continue until canceled. In this case, the charms on the Mona Lisa are in the latter category, and Peruggia, who was a Muggle, activated these charms unknowingly. According to reports from the Italian Ministry of Magic, Peruggia began feeling a slight stinging sensation in his hands when he took the portrait. That stinging sensation became a burning sensation the longer he held onto the portrait. He chalked it up to having an allergic reaction to something on the painting and had to grip onto it using his coat until he got back to his apartment in Florence, Italy. The painting acted normal for a couple of days until Peruggia realized that the police were coming to question him. In a panic, he tossed the painting in a trunk before they arrived.

A few days later, Peruggia was trying to sleep one night and heard a loud rumbling sound from his living room. When he went to check it out, the sound was coming from the corner containing the trunk. When he neared the trunk, the rumbling stopped, which struck him as odd, but since that corner was connected to another apartment he decided his neighbors were causing a ruckus in the middle of the night. The rumbling continued every night for the next week before Peruggia had enough and opened the trunk to see what was causing it. When he opened it, green smoke shot out and started permeating the apartment. Peruggia began feeling that burning sensation he originally felt when he stole the painting, but all over his body. His skin turned green and erupted into painful welts. Luckily enough for him, a bystander outside (who fortunately happened to be a wizard) noticed green smoke filtering out of the apartment window, as well as Peruggia’s screams, and alerted the authorities. The Italian Ministry of Magic had to step in and recover the Mona Lisa from the apartment, as well as treat Peruggia, who at this point had passed out. Due to the incident, the Ministry had to create a copy of the painting, using the Doubling Charm, and place it back in the trunk of Peruggia’s apartment and when Peruggia recovered from his ailments, he was Obliviated. It was this copy that Peruggia kept for the remaining time that the Mona Lisa was deemed missing.

Afterwards, the theft went on as reported by Muggles. Peruggia was caught when he tried to contact Alfredo Geri, an owner of an art gallery, about the mundane Mona Lisa copy and wanted a reward for returning the painting to Italy. Geri contacted Giovanni Poggi, who was the director of the Uffizi Gallery, to authenticate the portrait. The two men held it for safekeeping and alerted the authorities, who then promptly went to arrest Peruggia. The Mona Lisa was displayed at the Uffizi Gallery for around two weeks before it was returned to the Louvre. In all actuality, the large scale investigation and the huge press the theft attracted had skyrocketed the Mona Lisa into being one of the best known artworks in the world. The original Mona Lisa was eventually transferred back to the French Ministry of Magic and presented along with other magical artworks in a wing of the Louvre for wizardkind. Due to its fame and the amount of tourism it brings, the mundane copy that resulted from the heist is still on display for Muggles to also view.

As I’m sure you’re bubbling with excitement to go talk with the Mona Lisa that we have in the castle, please do remember to complete your assignments for this lesson. You have a short quiz regarding the information we discussed today, as well as an optional essay regarding your potential career plans. As always, if you need any help, please contact either my PAs or myself, and if you’d like to learn more about Anti-Theft Charms, you can always knock on Professor Laurel’s door for a nice discussion over tea. Other than that, you are free to go. See you next lesson!

Lesson written by Professor Serafina Rosenquist