Lisa del Giocondo (; ; June 15, 1479 – July 15, 1542) was an Italian noblewoman and member of the
Gherardini family
The Gherardinis of Montagliari (or Florence) are one of the most prominent historical Noble family from Tuscany, Italy. Through the Amidei, the family was of Roman descent. Between the 9th and 14th centuries, they played an important role in Tus ...
of
Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...
and
Tuscany
Tuscany ( ; it, Toscana ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of about 3.8 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence (''Firenze'').
Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, art ...
. Her name was given to the ''
Mona Lisa
The ''Mona Lisa'' ( ; it, Gioconda or ; french: Joconde ) is a half-length portrait painting by Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci. Considered an archetypal masterpiece of the Italian Renaissance, it has been described as "the best known ...
'', her
portrait
A portrait is a portrait painting, painting, portrait photography, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expressions are predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, Personality type ...
commissioned by her husband and painted by
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 14522 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, Drawing, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially res ...
during the
Italian Renaissance
The Italian Renaissance ( it, Rinascimento ) was a period in Italian history covering the 15th and 16th centuries. The period is known for the initial development of the broader Renaissance culture that spread across Europe and marked the trans ...
.
Little is known about Lisa's life. Born in Florence and married in her teens to a cloth and silk merchant and shoemaker who later became a local official, she was a mother to five children and led what is thought to have been a comfortable and ordinary middle-class life. Lisa outlived her husband, who was considerably her senior.
In the centuries after Lisa's death, the ''Mona Lisa'' became the world's most famous painting. In 2005, Lisa was definitively identified as the model for the ''Mona Lisa''.
Early life and family
Lisa's
Florentine family was old and aristocratic but over time had lost their influence. They were well off but not wealthy, and lived on farm income in a city that was among the largest in Europe. While economically successful, there were great disparities in wealth among Florence's inhabitants.
Antonmaria di Noldo Gherardini, Lisa's father, came from a family who had lived on properties near San Donato in Poggio and only recently moved to the city.
Antonmaria lost two wives, Lisa di Giovanni Filippo de' Carducci, whom he married in 1465, and Caterina di Mariotto Rucellai, whom he married in 1473. Both died in childbirth.
[Pallanti 2006, p. 37] Lisa's mother was Lucrezia del Caccia, daughter of Piera Spinelli, and Gherardini's wife by his third marriage in 1476.
Gherardini at one time owned or rented six farms in
Chianti
A Chianti wine (, also , ) is any wine produced in the Chianti region of central Tuscany. It was historically associated with a squat bottle enclosed in a straw basket, called a ''fiasco'' ("flask"; ''pl. fiaschi''). However, the ''fiasco'' is ...
that produced wheat, wine and olive oil and where livestock was raised.
[Pallanti 2006, pp. 41–44]
Lisa was born in Florence on June 15, 1479, on Via Maggio,
although for many years it was thought she was born on Villa Vignamaggio just outside
Greve, one of the family's rural properties. She is named for Lisa, a wife of her paternal grandfather. The eldest of seven children, Lisa had three sisters, one of whom was named Ginevra, and three brothers, Giovangualberto, Francesco, and Noldo.
The family lived in Florence, originally near
Santa Trinita
Santa Trinita (; Italian for "Holy Trinity") is a Roman Catholic church located in front of the piazza of the same name, traversed by Via de' Tornabuoni, in central Florence, region of Tuscany, Italy. It is the mother church of the Vallumbrosan ...
and later in rented space near
Santo Spirito, most likely because they were not able to afford repairs when their first house was damaged. Lisa's family moved to what today is called Via dei Pepi, and then near
Santa Croce, where they lived near Ser Piero da Vinci, Leonardo's father.
[Pallanti 2006, pp. 45–46] They also owned a small country home in St. Donato in the village of Poggio about south of the city.
[Zöllner 1993, p. 4] Noldo, Gherardini's father and Lisa's grandfather, had bequeathed a farm in Chianti to the
Santa Maria Nuova
Santa Maria Nuova is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Ancona in the Italian region Marche, located about southwest of Ancona.
Santa Maria Nuova borders the following municipalities: Filottrano, Jesi, Osimo, Polverigi
Polverigi is ...
hospital. Gherardini secured a lease for another of the hospital's farms and, so that he could oversee the wheat harvest, the family spent summers there at the house named Ca' di Pesa.
Marriage and later life
On March 5, 1495, 15-year-old Lisa married Francesco del Giocondo, a modestly poor
cloth
Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not the ...
and
silk
Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoons. The best-known silk is obtained from the coc ...
merchant, becoming his third wife. Lisa's dowry was 170
florins
The Florentine florin was a gold coin struck from 1252 to 1533 with no significant change in its design or metal content standard during that time. It had 54 grains (3.499 grams, 0.113 troy ounce) of nominally pure or 'fine' gold with a purcha ...
and the San Silvestro farm near her family's country home,
[Zöllner 1993, p. 5] which lies between Castellina and San Donato in Poggio, near two farms later owned by
Michelangelo
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (; 6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564), known as Michelangelo (), was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was insp ...
.
The modest dowry may be a sign that the Gherardini family was not wealthy at the time and lends reason to think she and her husband loved each other. Neither poor nor among the most well-to-do in Florence, the couple lived a middle-class life. Lisa's marriage may have increased her
social status
Social status is the level of social value a person is considered to possess. More specifically, it refers to the relative level of respect, honour, assumed competence, and deference accorded to people, groups, and organizations in a society. Stat ...
because her husband's family may have been richer than her own.
[ Francesco is thought to have benefited because Gherardini is an "old name".][ They lived in shared accommodation until 5 March 1503, when Francesco was able to buy a house next door to his family's old home in the Via della Stufa. Leonardo is thought to have begun painting Lisa's portrait the same year.][Zöllner 1993, p. 9]
Lisa and Francesco had five children: Piero, Piera, Camilla, Marietta, and Andrea between 1496 and 1502. Lisa lost a baby daughter in 1499.[ Lisa also raised Bartolomeo, the son of Francesco and his first wife Camilla di Mariotto Rucellai, who died shortly after the birth. The second wife of Lisa's father, Caterina di Mariotto Rucellai, and Francesco's first wife were sisters, members of the .]
Camilla and Marietta became Catholic nuns. Camilla took the name Suor Beatrice and entered the convent of San Domenico di Cafaggio, where she was entrusted to the care of Antonmaria's sister Suor Albiera and Lisa's sister Suor Camilla (who was acquitted in a scandalous visitation by four men at the convent) and Suor Alessandra.[Pallanti 2006, pp. 61–62] Beatrice died at age 18[ and was buried in the ]Basilica di Santa Maria Novella
Santa Maria Novella is a church in Florence, Italy, situated opposite, and lending its name to, the city's main railway station. Chronologically, it is the first great basilica in Florence, and is the city's principal Dominican church.
The chu ...
.[Müntz 1898, p. 154] Lisa developed a relationship with Sant'Orsola, a convent held in high regard in Florence, where she was able to place Marietta in 1521. Marietta took the name Suor Ludovica and became a respected member of the convent in a position of some responsibility.
Francesco became an official in Florence. He was elected to the '' Dodici Buonomini'' in 1499 and to the Signoria
A signoria () was the governing authority in many of the Italian city states during the Medieval and Renaissance periods.
The word signoria comes from ''signore'' , or "lord"; an abstract noun meaning (roughly) "government; governing authority; ...
in 1512, where he was confirmed as a ''Priori'' in 1524. He may have had ties to Medici family
The House of Medici ( , ) was an Italian banking family and political dynasty that first began to gather prominence under Cosimo de' Medici, in the Republic of Florence during the first half of the 15th century. The family originated in the Muge ...
political or business interests. In 1512, when the government of Florence feared the return of the Medici from exile, Francesco was imprisoned and fined 1,000 florins. He was released in September when the Medici returned.
In June 1537, in his will among many provisions, Francesco returned Lisa's dowry to her, gave her personal clothing and jewelry and provided for her future. Upon entrusting her care to their daughter Ludovica and, should she be incapable, his son Bartolomeo, Francesco wrote, "Given the affection and love of the testator towards Mona Lisa, his beloved wife; in consideration of the fact that Lisa has always acted with a noble spirit and as a faithful wife; wishing that she shall have all she needs…"
Death
In one account, Francesco died in the plague of 1538. Lisa fell ill and was taken by her daughter Ludovica to the convent of Sant'Orsola, where she died on July 15, 1542, at the age of 63. In a scholarly account of their lives, Francesco was nearly 80 years old when he died, and Lisa may have lived until at least 1551, when she would have been 71 or 72.
''Mona Lisa''
Like other Florentines of their financial means, Francesco's family members were art lovers and patrons. His son Bartolomeo asked Antonio di Donnino Mazzieri to paint a fresco
Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaste ...
at the family's burial site in the Basilica della Santissima Annunziata di Firenze
The Basilica della Santissima Annunziata (Basilica of the Most Holy Annunciation) is a Renaissance-style, Catholic minor basilica in Florence, region of Tuscany, Italy. This is considered the mother church of the Servite Order. It is located at th ...
. Andrea del Sarto
Andrea del Sarto (, , ; 16 July 1486 – 29 September 1530) was an Italian painter from Florence, whose career flourished during the High Renaissance and early Mannerism. He was known as an outstanding fresco decorator, painter of altar-pieces, ...
painted a Madonna
Madonna Louise Ciccone (; ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Widely dubbed the " Queen of Pop", Madonna has been noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, a ...
for another member of his family. Francesco gave commissions to Leonardo for a portrait of his wife and to Domenico Puligo
Domenico Puligo (1492–1527) was an Italian painter of the Renaissance, active in Florence. His real name was ''Domenico di Bartolomeo Ubaldini''.
He trained under Ridolfo Ghirlandaio and acted as an assistant to Andrea del Sarto, whom he als ...
for a painting of Saint Francis of Assisi
Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone, better known as Saint Francis of Assisi ( it, Francesco d'Assisi; – 3 October 1226), was a Mysticism, mystic Italian Catholic Church, Catholic friar, founder of the Franciscans, and one of the most vener ...
. He is thought to have commissioned Lisa's portrait to celebrate both Andrea's birth and the purchase of the family's home.
The ''Mona Lisa'' fulfilled 15th- and early 16th century requirements for portraying a woman of virtue. Lisa is portrayed as a faithful wife through gesture—her right hand rests over her left. Leonardo also presented Lisa as fashionable and successful, perhaps more well-off than she was. Her dark garments and black veil were Spanish-influenced high fashion; they are not a depiction of mourning for her first daughter, as some scholars have proposed. The portrait is strikingly large; its size is equal to that of commissions acquired by wealthier art patrons of the time. This extravagance has been explained as a sign of Francesco and Lisa's social aspiration.[Zöllner 1993, p. 12]
During the spring of 1503, Leonardo had no income source, which may in part explain his interest in a private portrait.[Zöllner 1993, p. 7] But later that year, he most likely had to delay his work on ''Mona Lisa'' when he received payment for starting '' The Battle of Anghiari'', which was a more valuable commission and one he was contracted to complete by February 1505.[Müntz 1898, p. 136] In 1506, Leonardo considered the portrait unfinished. He was not paid for the work and did not deliver it to his client.[Zöllner 1993, p. 6] The artist's paintings travelled with him throughout his life, and he may have completed the ''Mona Lisa'' many years later in France, in one estimation by 1516.
The painting's title dates to 1550. An acquaintance of at least some of Francesco's family, Giorgio Vasari
Giorgio Vasari (, also , ; 30 July 1511 – 27 June 1574) was an Italian Renaissance Master, who worked as a painter, architect, engineer, writer, and historian, who is best known for his work ''The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculpt ...
, wrote, "Leonardo undertook to paint, for Francesco del Giocondo, the portrait of Mona Lisa, his wife"[, quoting a translation of Vasari] (). The portrait's Italian name ''La Gioconda'' is the feminine form of her married name. In French it is known by the variant ''La Joconde''. Though derived from Lisa's married name there is the added significance that the name derives from the word for "happy" (in English, "jocund") or "the happy one".
Speculation assigned Lisa's name to at least four different paintings and her identity to at least ten different people. By the end of the 20th century, the painting was a global icon that had been used in more than 300 other paintings and in 2,000 advertisements, appearing at an average of one new advertisement each week.
In 2005, an expert at the University Library of Heidelberg discovered a margin note in the library's collection that established with certainty the traditional view that the sitter was Lisa. The note, written by Agostino Vespucci in 1503, states that Leonardo was working on a portrait of Lisa del Giocondo. The ''Mona Lisa'' has been in custody of France since the 16th century, when it was acquired by King Francis I
Francis I (french: François Ier; frm, Francoys; 12 September 1494 – 31 March 1547) was King of France from 1515 until his death in 1547. He was the son of Charles, Count of Angoulême, and Louise of Savoy. He succeeded his first cousin once ...
; since the French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...
, it has been the property of the French Republic
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
. Today about six million people visit the painting each year at the Louvre
The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...
in Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
, where it is part of a French national collection.[ and ]
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gherardini, Lisa
1479 births
1542 deaths
Italian artists' models
Mona Lisa
Models from Florence
15th-century Italian women
16th-century Italian women
Nobility from Florence