Mona Lisa's Identity Confirmed
University of Heidelberg Library Work References Leonardo's Sitter
The identity of "Mona Lisa" by Italian Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci has been confirmed by notes in a University of Heidelberg Library 15th-century manuscript.
Germany's University of Heidelberg Library announced on January 14, 2008 that two years ago, a manuscript expert uncovered written evidence that apparently identifies the subject of Mona Lisa (1503-1516) by Italian Renaissance master Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) as Lisa del Giocondo (1479-1542/51).
The Evidence
The Florentine official Agostino Vespucci, a friend of Leonardo, wrote notes in October 1503 about the portrait's sitter in the margin of a 1477 Bolognese printed copy of Epistolae ad familiares by the Roman statesman and philosopher Cicero (106-43 B.C.) while the artist painted Lisa del Giocondo's likeness. They confirm her tentative identification by Italian Mannerist painter and biographer Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574); his Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors and Architects (1550, 1568) relied heavily on anecdotes about the model. Leonardo left no known writings about Mona Lisa. The discovery of Vespucci's notes was made by library researcher Armin Schlechter in 2005.
In Search of Mona Lisa
Previous attempts to determine the identity of Mona Lisa were frustrated by questionable references to Leonardo da Vinci's famous portrait in 1517, 1525 and 1540. Among various Renaissance personalities purported to be the sitter were:
- Cecilia Gallerani (1473-1536), mistress of Ludovico Sforza (1452-1508), Duke of Milan;
- Isabella d'Este (1574-1539), the Marquesa of Mantua; and
- Caterina Sforza (1463-1509), illegitimate daughter of Galeazzo Maria Sforza (1444-1476) of Milan, wife of Girolamo Riario (1443-1488) and Countess of Forlì.
Scholars also proposed that the painting was Leonardo's representation of a fictitious ideal female, most notably the art critic Walter Pater in 1867.
The Woman in the Painting
Lisa Gherardini was the third wife of successful Florentine textile merchant Francesco del Giocondo (1460-1528/39), twice widowed and 14 years her senior. She was 16 years of age at the time of their marriage on March 5, 1495 and the mother of his five children: Marietta; Piero (b. 1496); Camilla (b. 1499); Andrea (1502); and Giocondo (b. 1507). Both daughters entered the convent, members of a religious order. Lisa's husband commissioned Leonardo to paint Mona Lisa, his spouse's monumental half-length portrait, upon the purchase of the couple's new home and the birth of Andrea, their second son.
A French national treasure in Paris' Musée du Louvre, the oil on poplar composition, with its enigmatic smile and imaginary landscape, has most recently been the subject of intense scientific investigation. The results were displayed in Mona Lisa Secrets Revealed, a special exhibition that presented definitive findings about the painting's original appearance.
Sources:
- Bambach, Carmen (ed.), et al. Leonardo da Vinci: Master Draftsman (exh. cat.). New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2003, 3, 183, 234, 239, 240, 375, 433, 434, 575, 636.
- Kemp, Martin. Leonardo. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004, 5, 6, 12, 106, 139, 148-50, 210-14, 216, 219, 221, 223, 244-45.
- Pallanti, Guiseppe. Mona Lisa Revealed: The True Identity of Leonardo's Model. Milan: Skira Editore, 2006.
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