da Vinci is the world's most famous piece of art. Kelly Grovier explores an overlooked object that offers a different perspective on the masterpiece.

Some things are so obvious you never really notice them. Take, for instance, the way the white space between the "E" and the "x" in the FedEx logo forms a big white arrow pointing forward. We've seen the sign whizz past us countless times without ever clocking its subliminal point. Another ubiquitous cultural image is the Mona Lisa. Leonardo da Vinci's inexhaustible portrait of Lisa del Giocondo, the 24-year-old mother of five and wife of a wealthy Florentine silk merchant who sat for the High Renaissance master in 1503, is doubtless the most famous work of art in the world. Yet how many of us have ever consciously noted the object in the painting that is closer to us than any other – the chair on which the mysterious woman sits? Never mind that the piece of furniture is the only thing that Leonardo's sitter grips in her hand (she's literally pointing at it with every finger she has), the chair must surely be the single most neglected aspect of the otherwise over-stared-at icon. Hiding in plain sight, it may also be the arrow that points the way to the work's deepest meanings.

Original text and copyright: BBC Culture

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