German academics believe they have solved the centuries old mystery behind the identity of Leonardo da Vinci's "Mona Lisa".It's Lisa Gherardini.
Oh, not enough for you?. She was the wife of a wealthy Florentine merchant, Francesco del Giocondo, and has long been seen as the most likely model for the 16th-century painting. Hmmm, that seems like a soft climax.
Art historians have tried to spice the answer up by questioning whether the smiling woman may actually have been da Vinci's lover, his mother or perhaps the artist himself. But 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.
The notes were made by a Florentine city official Agostino Vespucci, an acquaintance of the artist, in a collection of letters by the Roman orator Cicero. The comments compare Leonardo to the ancient Greek artist Apelles and say he was working on three paintings at the time, one of them a portrait of Lisa del Giocondo. Experts who dated the painting to this time, say the discovery is a breakthrough, but these earliest words linking the merchant's wife to the portrait were actually discovered over two years ago. Only when a broadcaster came to record in the library did the information finally escape into the public.
The painting, which hangs in the Louvre in Paris, is also known as "La Gioconda" meaning the happy or joyful woman in Italian, a title which also suggests the woman's married name, and the fact that it was one hell of an open secret.
I'll tell you this much: I am going to sleep so much better tonight knowing.
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