June 13, 2016 02:00 PM
by Jessi
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Arguably, the two most recognizable paintings in the world today are Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa and Grant Wood’s American Gothic. Both have been reproduced and lampooned ad nauseam, and while most everyone can name the author of the Mona Lisa, not everyone can as easily recite the name of Grant Wood, even though they instantly recognize the image of the dour looking bespectacled farmer with pitchfork in hand and his spinster daughter. For a vast multitude of reasons, most would logically assume that these two painters have very little common, yet they do share one similar circumstance – very few oil paintings by either artist exist. For Da Vinci, there are perhaps a dozen oil paintings whereas there are hundreds of his drawings and for Grant Wood at best there are perhaps only two dozen easel size finished oil paintings from his mature (post American Gothic) period, and it is believed that of those only three are in private hands.
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