Does the "Mona Lisa" show secularism?How?

Question

Does the "Mona Lisa" show secularism?How?

Answer 1

At the time of when Leonardo Da Vinci painted Mona Lisa and his other works, most works of art were done for the church and many private collectors often asked for scenes depicting religious themes and stories.  

The Renaissance was a era when a lot of art was starting to pull away from religious themes.  Portraits were starting to become more popular, and were usually of wealthy people with some power.  

The portrait of Mona Lisa, however, is not of a wealthy or a particularly important person.  She has that whimsical smile and devilish side glance in her eye.   She is not regal, or ebullient of the mother of Christ.  We see genuine expression of the amusement and flirtation of a friend.  

Caravaggio shocked his contemporaries by painting simple working men in taverns, an everyday nonreligious secular painting, just as is Mona Lisa, a woman of means, but not very important dressed nicely for a portrait.

It seems so simple, but trust me, it was a big deal.  It exalted the mundane.  

  

Answer 2

Largely because of its subject matter. It's a painting of a woman, not a religious figure. Up until the renaissance, artists tended to draw religious figures. So celebrating the beauty of a woman without using any religious iconography was unusual.