Two Great Ladies
Review by Dr. Jerry Flack
“Jackie” (Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy) and the Mona Lisa (Lisa Gherardini) are two of the most beloved women in the world. Jackie Kennedy is perhaps the youngest and most glamorous First Lady in the history of the United States. Today’s children and their parents may well be far too young to conceive of just how popular and influential Jackie was in the United States and around the world. Photographs of her graced the covers of major magazines such as Life and Vogue. Women everywhere wanted to dress and look like Jackie. She was one of the most highly educated First Ladies ever. She spoke at least three languages fluently and she was passionate about her love for poetry, dance, drama, music, history, and art. She was particularly fond of anything French. She had spent the junior year of her college education studying in Paris.
As a young girl, Jackie visited the White House on a school field trip. She judged the presidential residence to be drab and sadly lacking in furniture and art symbolic of the history of the United States. In 1961, two decades later, the White House became her home. She was disappointed to find that the nation’s Executive Mansion remained colorless and uninteresting. She began a campaign to completely redecorate the White House and to transform it into a living museum. She searched the White House basement and federal warehouses for furniture, paintings, and other historical artifacts related to past presidents and their families. She found original paintings of Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, gilded furniture used during the presidency of James Monroe, and valuable rugs from Teddy Roosevelt’s White House incumbency. In 1962, one of the year’s most highly watched television programs was Jackie’s guided tour of the newly renovated White House.
Jackie loved the arts. World leaders who were guests of the White House from 1961-1963 witnessed ballerinas on the South Lawn, enjoyed Shakespeare performed on the ballroom stage, and listened to music shared by America’s most celebrated musicians. Her influence was not limited to the White House. She encouraged millions of Americans to visit the nation’s museums, concert halls, and theater stages.
On a presidential visit to France, Jackie acquired a new passion. She wanted to bring the Mona Lisa, the world’s most famous painting, to the United States. Leonardo da Vinci’s 450-year-old portrait was extremely fragile and had only been moved from her permanent home in the Louvre Museum in Paris under extraordinary circumstances (See Home and School Activities). Particular care was used to transport the Mona Lisa to the United States, where she was viewed by millions of visitors drawn to Washington’s National Gallery of Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
Murphy, Debbie Rovin. Jackie and the Mona Lisa. Illus. by Jen Bricking. Ann Arbor, MI: Sleeping Bear Press, 2022.
Just as Jackie had captured the hearts and minds of Americans as First Lady, so, too, there was a Mona Lisa craze. Moreover, attendance at other art museums in the U.S.A. soared.
Despite the tragic end of Jackie’s tenure as the nation’s First Lady, she continued to celebrate the arts. She played a major role in the creation of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in the nation’s capital. Later, she campaigned to save and preserve New York City’s Grand Central Station. She also became a celebrated book editor in her final years. Throughout her adult lifetime, Jacqueline Kennedy remained a tireless promoter of museums and the fine arts.
Author Debbie Rovin Murphy concludes her fine historical picture book with additional factual information about two phenomenal ladies, Jackie Kennedy and the Mona Lisa. Jen Bricking’s cartoon-style and colorful illustrations capture the joie de vie (the joy of life) of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy’s too brief role as America’s First Lady, a time many historians describe as Camelot.
Home and School Activities
One of the advantages of fact-based picture books is that they serve all ages of gifted readers. Children can simply enjoy the story line and acquire new information. Older readers can use such books as points of departure to engage in fascinating research. Jackie and the Mona Lisa is just such a book. Related scholarship invites gifted readers to learn more about Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy, the White House, Leonardo da Vinci, the Mona Lisa, the Renaissance, the Louvre Museum, and art thefts and protection. Challenge students to investigate such topics and find creative ways to share their new knowledge with others.
The Mona Lisa is the most famous painting in the world, yet little is known about its creation or provenance. The painting is believed to be a portrait of Lisa Gherardini, the wife of Francesco del Giocondo, a wealthy silk merchant in Florence, Italy. It was painted by Leonardo da Vinci sometime between 1503-1506. It is considered an extraordinary example of paintings created during the Italian Renaissance. Leonardo never sold the painting. He carried it with him throughout most of the remainder of his life. Although the artist and the subject were Italian, the Mona Lisa was purchased by King Francis I of France and is now the property of the French Republic. It has been displayed in the Louvre Museum in Paris since 1797.
The Mona Lisa has been stolen, damaged, or in danger on several occasions. Both Napoleon and the French Revolution threatened the world’s greatest work of art. In 1911, an Italian patriot, Vincenzo Perugia, posing as a Louvre worker, planned an elaborate theft of the Mona Lisa. Perugia believed the world’s most famous painting truly belonged to Italy. The masterpiece was secreted away for two years. Two children’s books of note, The Mona Lisa Caper (Tundra Books, 2005) by Rick Jacobson and The Stolen Smile (Creative Editions, 2004) written by J. Patrick Lewis. chronicle this little-known historical event that created a sensation during the time Perugia hid the treasure in his humble apartment. He was tried and convicted of theft and the Mona Lisa was returned to Louvre Museum. Both books are delightfully written and illustrated and are filled will details of the theft. Happily, they remain in print.
Perhaps the greatest ever danger to the Mona Lisa was the failed attempt of the Nazi Army to steal the painting when they invaded and then occupied France for most of the duration of World War II. One of Adolf Hitler’s greatest ambitions in his crazed mind was to create the largest and greatest art museum the world would ever know after he had won the war. The Nazis looted the great works of art of all the European nations that they invaded. French Resistance leaders moved Leonardo’s masterpiece at least six different times to protect her. Rescuing Da Vinci (Laurel Publishing, 2006) is an adult “coffee table” book that has the apt, if long, subtitle: Hitler and the Nazis Stole Europe’s Great Art – America and Her Allies Recovered It. Authored by Robert M. Edsel, this impressive book remains in print. It was the basis for the movie, The Monuments Men (Sony, 2014) written and directed by, and starring, George Clooney.
Encourage gifted readers of all ages to explore the exciting history of the world’s best-known work of art. Suggest further print and online research. One example: How much is the Mona Lisa valued at today?
Creative readers will no doubt find imaginative ways to share their newly acquired knowledge with their families and school classmates.
Invite students to research the life of “Jackie” or Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy. One excellent juvenile biography is Bonnie Bader’s Who Was Jacqueline Kennedy? (Penguin, 2016). A great amount of information can also be located online about this famous former First Lady. Essentially a shy person, Jacqueline Kennedy became one of the most famous women in the world during the 1960s. Magazines loved her, her radiance, glamour, and even the way she dressed. (She considered fashion design an art form.) She was honored for the projects she created such as the renovation of the White House and being an advocate for the arts. She founded the White House Historical Association that continues to flourish today, sixty years later. Prompt readers to translate the new knowledge they gain about “Jackie” and write and illustrate a magazine cover story about her life, particularly during her tenure as the nation’s First Lady (1961-1963).
Another line of inquiry may be a study of the White House and its exceptional history. Challenge gifted readers to learn which First Lady actually lived in the presidential mansion or Dolly Madison’s heroic action in 1814 during the War of 1812 when British Troops stormed the nation’s capital. Who served as Thomas Jefferson’s First Lady since he was a widower when he moved into the White House in 1801? Which president was married in the White House? The Oval Office was the brainchild of which president? Which presidential daughter held her high school prom in the White House Ballroom? Countless books and websites give a history of the White House. If possible, locate and read Chuck Fischer’s The White House Pop-Up Book (Universe, 2004). Suggest to gifted students the creation of a drawing of their favorite public room in the White House or write and illustrate a story about a comical moment in the mansion’s history, such as when one president became stuck in a White House bath tub!
The Louvre Museum (Musee du Louvre), home to the Mona Lisa, is perhaps the most famous museum in the world. The Louvre owns 460,000 art artifacts. Despite its fame, security was breached, especially in 1911, when its most famous treasure was stolen. After students have read a history of the Louvre, they can put their creative skills to work by writing a mystery story about young sleuths who discover a plot to steal any of the Louvre’s famous works of art. Jennifer Howse’s The Louvre: Museums of the World (AV2 Media Enhanced Books, 2014) is an interactive book that directs students to use multimedia as part of the reading experience.
