The Mona Lisa Exposed: Mystery Identity

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Mystery Identity

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The mystery of the model's identity

Based on the mid-sixteenth century biography of Leonardo da Vinci by Giorgio Vasari, many historians believe the painting is a portrait of Madam Lisa Giocondo, wife of a wealthy Florentine. It is from Vasari that the painting received the name Mona Lisa, also known as La Gioconda in Italian or La Joconde in French. But Vasari published his book thirty-one years after Leonardo's death, and he was known to fill in fact with fragments of fantasy.

Before Vasari, the painting had been referred to as "a certain Florentine lady" and later, in the collection at Fontainebleau, as "a courtesan in a gauze veil." There are many other theories about who the sitter might have been, based on bits of scattered evidence. But the panel is unsigned and undated, and although most portraits of the time included something to indicate the sitter's family name or social status, no such emblem can be found in the Mona Lisa. Nor is there any record of a commission for the portrait among Leonardo's papers.

It is known that Leonardo worked and reworked the painting for over four years, carrying it with him during his travels and parting with it only at his death. If in fact it was commissioned, why was it not delivered to the patron who had commissioned it?

No theory satisfactorily answers these questions. Every kind of possibility, including the most far-fetched, has been envisaged concerning the model's identity. Some speculate that the Mona Lisa may be a portrait of Isabelle of Este, who reigned at Mantua during Leonardo da Vinci's stay there (we know a drawing by him showing her); a mistress of Giuliano di Medici's or of Leonardo himself. Others speculate that the Mona Lisa is not a portrait of one woman, but an artful composite of many, Leonardo's idealization of all womanhood. Others suggest it may have been one of Da Vinci's young male models in drag. Some even believe that the Mona Lisa is not a portrait at all, but instead what is known as a "finzione," an invention of Leonardo's extraordinary imagination or possibly a self-portrait.

Theories

Scientific Theory
Theory by students at JFK, Bronx N.Y. under guidance of team coach Steve Feld.

The Mona Lisa Profile Theory
Dr. Mark Andrew Lawrence DDS, MCLD
Mona Lisa/Leonardo da Vinci Profile Theory discovered December 10, 1998 and released to the public on September 26, 2000.

Some more theories:

If you have looked at Mona Lisa's eyes before, you may have noticed that no matter from which angle you are looking at them, they will appear to gaze back at you. This could be accounted for the fact the Leonardo Da Vinci painted himself by using something like a mirror. If you have looked into a mirror before, you might notice that no matter from which angle you look at your reflection, the reflection's eyes appear to be looking back at you.

Thus as Leonardo Da Vinci painted himself by looking at some sort of a reflective surface, the output or result of the painting would be that when you look at it, the eyes are always gazing back at you.

- Yeo Feng

Mona Lisa is a portrait of an ignored daughter Leonardo kept in shadow. Maybe an illegitimate one, but no doubt his painting must have some hidden reference to this daughter. The absent of any reference in his work to the model is intentional and intending to point to himself, but as younger and smiling, opposing his own portrait, in which we see him old, points out to a descendant. By other hand, is evident that, knowing Leonardo's spirit, the Mona Lisa must have it's resolution in itself. The fact that she was his daughter, explains how Leonardo's face can be reasonably transpose to Mona Lisa painting. But he couldn't be that obvious. Is evident that the more important fact is Leonardo's life was a hidden one, and the way to express to all world what he couldn't say, was painting the most genial he could. The object, undoubtedly, must be a son or a daughter. Obviously, Leonardo immortalize the people he wanted more been aware of what he was doing. That smile is not accidental.

It's like if Leonardo was saying: ok, I couldn't recognize my beloved daughter before people, but people of all times will surrender to the tender smile of my nice baby! A mind like Leonardo, would put everything together in just a piece of painting. So, I deduce Mona Lisa is Leonardo's daughter.

- Marco Arpon

I think she is Beatrice, the wife that the great Dante praised more than any human could ever have been praised in the third book of THE DIVINE COMEDY: THE PARADISO. If you have ever read this classic, it is unbelieveable how much he praises Beatrice. Now Da Vinci (being Italian just like Dante) would have been heavily schooled in Dante and this could well be a tribute to Beatrice.

- Rob Wade

Found your article on the Mona Lisa interesting when it mentioned that she could be Isabella d'Este , who was a friend of Leonardo's. Has anyone compared the right hands in Mona Lisa's and Leonardo's sketch of Isabella d'Este ? They are identical.

- Dayna Dye

Did you know?

The grind of posing may have led to Mona Lisa's rather odd smile. An Italian doctor says he has discovered the secret to Mona Lisa's enigmatic smile a compulsive gnashing of teeth. Filippo Surano believes that the noblewoman in Leonard Da Vinci's portrait suffered from bruxism, an unconscious habit of grinding the teeth during sleep or periods of mental stress.

Surano says the strain of posing for the painting could have triggered an attack of teeth grinding.

- Detroit Free Press

Check out more theories

Mona Lisa viewers at the Louvre in 1952. Photographer: Robert Doisneau