Posted on 01/20/2007 6:18:40 AM PST by NYer
An expert on the "Mona Lisa" says he has ascertained with certainty that the symbol of feminine mystique died on July 15, 1542, and was buried at the convent in central Florence where she spent her final days.
Giuseppe Pallanti found a death notice in the archives of a church in Florence that referred to "the wife of Francesco del Giocondo, deceased July 15, 1542, and buried at Sant'Orsola," the Italian press reported Friday.
Born Lisa Gherardini in May 1479, she is thought to have been the second wife of Del Giocondo, a wealthy silk merchant, with whom she had five children.
While intrigue has surrounded the identity of the woman in the famous unsigned, undated Leonardo da Vinci painting housed at the Louvre in Paris, Lisa Gherardini is widely accepted to have been the subject.
Sant'Orsola, where she died at age 63, now disused and in ruins, is near the San Lorenzo basilica.
"It was in this convent that Mona Lisa placed her youngest daughter Marietta, who later became a nun. And it was there that Lisa, as stipulated in the will of her husband who died four years before her, ended her life," Pallanti told the daily La Repubblica on Friday.
Pallanti, author of "Mona Lisa Revealed: The True Identity of Leonardo's Model," has spent nearly three decades combing Florence's archives.
Another researcher, Da Vinci expert Carlo Pedretti, praised Pallanti for the discovery and urged a search at the site for Lisa Gherardini's remains.
"Thanks to modern techniques, scientists can determine her physical aspect, maybe even her face and thereby make an important contribution" to establishing her identity, he told the ANSA news agency.
no wonder they call the painting "La Gioconda" then.
That would be cool if this were indeed she.
What possible contribution could that make? We already have the picture.
Neat!
So much for all the mystery hype university art teachers have stirred up. This was actually da Vinci expressing his hidden homosexuality, etc.
Bill Clinton was heard to comment "I'd do her"
Don't get between a scientist and his grant--it's not pretty.
Of course! I thought "thereby make an important contribution" referred to science or history. In fact he was referring to his bank account!
"And it was there that Lisa, as stipulated in the will of her husband who died four years before her, ended her life,"
You mean I can stipulate that after I die my wife has to go live in a convent? Cool!
At the time, 68 was a advanced age, and for the wife to take a abode in a convent after the death of her husband was the modern equivelent of "Assisted Living for Active Seniors". He was actually looking out for her in the will and the fact his daughter was a novice in the convent was a added plus.
Perhaps THAT is the reason behind the enigmatic smile that nobody considers...she had a good, considerate and loving husband?
I think a lot of people just like digging up dead bodies. It's pretty pathetic how thin the pretexts were for exhuming Zachary Taylor and Jesse James, for example.
He sounds pretty sure about that...
Has he started carbon dating again?
The mystery of the Mona Lisa is not who it is...but how it was done. Sfumato remains a mysterious technigue to this day and attempts to recreate it from a set of known principles remains elusive.
Is this according to the Julian calendar, in use at the time, or the Gregorian calendar, which we use today?
LOL!!
The smile is that of a pregnant woman (as per another thread). Makes sense to me. That is pretty much the way an expectant mother looks. Sort of a "secret" smile of content.
Why don't you run that idea by her and tell us what she says? ;)
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