January 15, 2008

Lisa Gherardini, La Gioconda

Because I own the real Mona Lisa, I am abnormally interested in various little mysteries that surround it. It looks like one of those mysteries is now solved. Scholars at Heidelberg University have discovered strong evidence that the Mona Lisa is a portrait of Lisa Gherardini.

Lisa Gherardini, the wife of a wealthy Florentine merchant, Francesco del Giocondo, has long been seen as the most likely model for the sixteenth-century painting.

But art historians have often wondered whether the smiling woman may actually have been da Vinci's lover, his mother or the artist himself.

Now experts at the Heidelberg University library say dated notes scribbled in the margins of a book by its owner in October 1503 confirm once and for all that Lisa del Giocondo was indeed the model for one of the most famous portraits in the world. [Reuters]

If you don't believe I own the real Mona Lisa, checkout my old post on the subject. You might also want to read the complete story on the new evidence that Lisa Gherardini posed for da Vinci.

Posted by Duane Smith at January 15, 2008 8:34 AM | Read more on Odds and Ends |

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Comments

Well, that's disappointing. I was rooting for the "Leonardo Da Vinci in drag" theory :)

Posted by: Glen Gordon at January 21, 2008 4:06 PM

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