January 16, 2008

Mystery Solved?

mona.jpg

Is thou name actually Lisa?

I don't know that this is in any way, shape or form a definitive answer, but it's interesting nonetheless:

The University of Heidelberg in Germany says it has identified the woman in Leonardo’s “Mona Lisa”, The Associated Press reported. She is Lisa del Giocondo, wife of Francesco del Giocondo, a Florentine businessman. In a statement on Monday, the college said its library expert, Armin Schlechter, found the answer in a copy of the works of Cicero, where, in 1503, Agostino Vespucci, a Florentine official and friend of Leonardo’s, wrote in the margins that the artist was working on a portrait of Lisa del Giocondo. Surprise? For centuries the Mona Lisa has been known in Italian as La Gioconda. Though anecdotal evidence pointed to Giocondo as early as 1550, vague references in 1517, 1525 and 1540 pointed to others.

Although one wonders why some random Florentine official would have been marking up the columns of a perfectly good copy of Cicero with notes regarding DaVinci's latest project, it's still a pretty cool discovery.

Posted by Kathy at January 16, 2008 09:47 AM | TrackBack
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