Lisa Gheradini
Arguably the world’s most famous work of art, thousands of viewers pour into the Louvre everyday to catch a glimpse of the Mona Lisa. While her image is universally recognizable, the woman behind Leonardo Da Vinci’s celebrated portrait, has been largely forgotten.
Who was the Mona Lisa?
Listen to ArtMuse’s episode on Lisa Gheradini, a tried and true Florentine noblewoman living through the peak of the Italian Renaissance. Her life’s story includes romance, painful loss, scandal, mystery, and political upheaval. But more than anything else, it is the story of a convivial, courageous and independent woman, who mothered children, weathered immense losses, and lived her life out with nobility and honor.
This episode is produced by Kula Production Company.
Listen to Part One & Part Two of ArtMuse’s episode on Lisa Gherardini
REFERENCES
Hales, Dianne. Mona Lisa: A Life Discovered. Simon & Schuster, 2015.
Kemp, Martin, and Giuseppe Pallanti. Mona Lisa: The People and the Painting. Oxford University Press, 2017.
Pallanti, Giuseppe. Mona Lisa Revealed: The True Identity of Leonardo's Model. Skira, 2006.
Vasari, Giorgio. The Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects. Modern Library, 2006.
FUTHER REFERENCES
IMAGES
Leonardo da Vinci, Mona Lisa, oil on poplar panel, 1503-1517.
Lisa Gherardini & Francesco del Giocondo Family Tree. Source: https://erenow.net/biographies/mona-lisa-a-life-discovered/1.php.
Florence in Lisa Gherardini’s lifetime. Source: https://erenow.net/biographies/mona-lisa-a-life-discovered/1.php.
Via Sguazza, taken in 2023 by Erin Greenhouse.
Via Sguazza, taken in 2023 by Erin Greenhouse.
Raphael, Young Woman on a Balcony, pen and brown ink on paper, 1504.
Isleworth Mona Lisa (Left), Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa (Right).
Pascal Cotte’s LAM Technique on the Mona Lisa.
Pascal Cotte’s discovery of original spolvero technique on Mona Lisa.
Pascal Cotte’s recreation based on LAM findings of what the original portrait of Lisa Gherardini may have looked like.
Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa (Left), Cotte’s recreation (Right)
Cotte’s recreation (Left), Raphael’s Young Woman on a Balcony (Right)
Lisa Gherardini’s plaque outside her childhood home on Via Sguazza, taken in 2023 by Erin Greenhouse.
Strozzi sisters Natalia and Irina Strozzi in front of the Mona Lisa.
