Jocund Lady

Next to Franklin Roosevelt's and the Cheshire Cat's, perhaps the most famous smile in the world is that on Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa Gioconda, which hangs in the Louvre in Paris. Dr. Maurice Goldblatt, Chicago art connoisseur, believes her expression is a tremendous trick achieved with a compass, the ends of the lips being turned up in arcs which, if extended, would precisely meet the corners of the eyes.

In 1910, La Gioconda was stolen from the Louvre and her smile disappeared from the world for three years. The painting was recovered in Italy through a dealer, returned to France.

Last week La Gioconda's, smile was for a time in danger of disappearing forever. Fire broke out in some wooden scaffolding in the Pavilion de la Tremoille, where hang priceless Rubens and Rembrandt. The Mona Lisa was only 20 feet from the blaze. Workmen carried pictures hurriedly out of the room, covered others with canvas so they would not be damaged by firemen's hoses. When the excitement was over, not a single picture had been damaged. La Gioconda smiled on.

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