Molina, Luis de (1535–1600) Iberian Jesuit theologian
Born in Cuenca, Spain, he entered the Society of Jesus in
1553, studied at Coimbra, Portugal, taught theology at
Evora, also in Portugal, wrote many substantial works,
and died as a professor at Madrid. His Concordia liberi
arbritrii (1588) attempts to solve the problem of the rela-
tionship between God’s grace and human free will. The
controversial solution posited became known as “Molin-
ism,” and became widely adopted by Jesuits. God grants
the ability to humans to act according to their own
choices, but does not predetermine their decisions. Hu-
mans must rise to God’s benevolence with proactive will-
ingness to receive grace.
See also: PREDESTINATION
Mona Lisa (La Giaconda) A panel painting executed by
LEONARDO DA VINCI(1503–06; Louvre, Paris). It depicts
the wife of a Florentine official, Francesco del Giocondo,
and ranks among Leonardo’s finest works. The psycholog-
ical content of the painting, epitomized by the sitter’s fa-
mous enigmatic smile, together with the fantastic
mountainous landscape in which she is set, profoundly in-
fluenced contemporary artists and effectively reformed the
portraiture of the period. Also notable for Leonardo’s SFU-
MATOtechnique of blending one color into another, the
painting later provided the base for RAPHAEL’s portrait of
Maddalena Doni. See Plate X.
Further reading: Donald Sassoon, Becoming Mona
Lisa: The Making of a Global Icon (San Diego, Calif.: Har-
court, 2001).
Monet, Jan (c. 1480–c. 1550) Flemish sculptor
Monet was born in Metz but by 1497 he was active in
Barcelona. In 1512–13 he was in Aix-en-Provence, but he
had returned to Barcelona by 1516. The following year he
worked beside Bartolomé ORDÓÑEZon the decoration of
the choir of the cathedral there, after which he may have
visited Naples. In 1521 he met DÜRERat Antwerp and the
following year Emperor Charles V appointed him a court
artist. From about 1524/25 until his death he was resident
at Malines. Monet’s chief works were alabaster altarpieces,
such as those at Halle (1533) and Brussels (1538–41). In
a sense, these works were the first Renaissance sculptural
altarpieces in the Netherlands, in that their architectural
and stylistic repertory consists entirely of classical or Ital-
ianate motifs. However, their overall compositions lack
classical repose and seem to seethe with an uneasy mo-
tion, more reminiscent of Spanish late Gothic than con-
temporary Mannerism.
Monluc, Blaise de See MONTLUC, BLAISE DE LASSERAN-
MASSENCÔME, SEIGNEUR DE
Montagna, Bartolommeo (Bartolommeo Cingano)
(c. 1450–1523) Italian painter
Born near Brescia, Montagna probably trained as a painter
in Venice and may have been a pupil of Andrea MAN-
TEGNA, by whom he was greatly influenced. He was influ-
enced also by Giovanni BELLINI, Antonio VIVARINI, and
ANTONELLO DA MESSINA. Montagna settled in Vicenza
around 1474 and was soon recognized as Vicenza’s leading
artist. His control of geometric composition and taste for
grand architectural settings is most clearly seen in his al-
tarpiece for San Michele, Vicenza (1499; Brera, Milan), al-
though subsequent portraits also underline his sensitivity
to character. His son Benedetto (c. 1481–c. 1558) was also
a painter and engraver of note.Montaigne, Michel Eyquem de (1533–1592) French
essayist
Montaigne was born at the château de Montaigne (near
Bordeaux), the son of Pierre Eyquem, a wealthy merchant
whose grandfather had bought himself into the nobility;
his mother, Antoinette de Louppes, was a Catholic of
Spanish-Jewish origin. For the first six years of his life he
spoke only Latin, his German tutor having no knowledge
of the French language. He subsequently attended the
Collège de Guyenne in Bordeaux and went on to study
law. In 1557, after three years’ service in the cour des aides,
Montaigne became a magistrate at the parlement of Bor-
deaux, where he made the acquaintance of Étienne de LA
BOÉTIE; the two men remained close friends until the lat-
ter’s premature death in 1563, an event that caused Mon-
taigne deep and lasting distress.
Never enthusiastic about his legal career, Montaigne
resigned his office in 1570, two years after the death of his
father, and retired to the family château to write. His
translation of Raymond de Sebonde’s Theologia naturalis
had already appeared in 1569; in 1571 he published an
edition of La Boétie’s works and began to set down in ESSAY
form the reflections inspired by his reading and his medi-
tations on life and death. After the publication of the first
two books of Essais (1580) Montaigne embarked on an
18-month tour of Europe, the subject of his Journal de voy-
age; although partly motivated by a writer’s desire to ex-
perience the world beyond his study, the journey also had
a medical purpose in that Montaigne hoped that the wa-
ters of spas in Italy and elsewhere would relieve his kid-
ney stones. On his return to France he served for four
years as mayor of Bordeaux. During a visit to Paris in
1588, possibly on behalf of Henry of Navarre (later Henry
IV of France), Montaigne was arrested and briefly impris-
oned in the Bastille; the main purpose of his trip had been
to supervise the publication of a new edition of the Essais,
containing the third volume. In the same year he met
Marie de GOURNAY, whom he called his fille d’alliance
(adopted daughter), who edited his final additions and33220 0 MMoolliinnaa,, LLuuiiss ddee