Who is Lisa Gherardini?

The subject of the most famous painting in the world by Leonardo da Vinci. Lisa is someone shrouded in mystery, including her appearance in the Isleworth Mona Lisa. Here is everything you need to know about Lisa Gherardini.

An Italian noblewoman

Lisa Gherardini was likely born in 1479 in Florence to an aristocratic family that had seen better times financially. Not much is known of her childhood.
In her teens she entered into an arranged marriage with Francesco del Giocondo, a wealthy silk merchant. It was likely not a love match but rather a political alliance between the two families.
She and her husband appears to have lived a comfortable life in this era of Florence's history. They resided in this city their entire lives.
She is widely believed to be the model who sat for Leonardo da Vinci's famous Mona Lisa painting.
She gave birth to five children, though only two daughters survived to adulthood - Camilla and Marietta. Not much more is known of Lisa's relationship with her daughters.
Lisa's death date is unknown but believed to be around the year 1542, aged about 63, outliving her husband Francesco who died in 1538.

Get your own version of Lisa Gherardini

Oil painting by Irina Goldenfish
Author's interpretation Mona Lisa Pop Art
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Acrylic painting by Kosta Morr
Mona Lisa in the style of Roy Lichtenstein
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Acrylic painting by Nataliya Bagatskaya
By the Window
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And what about Leonardo's original Lisa Gherardini painting?

The Isleworth Mona Lisa is an unfinished painting that some experts argue is an earlier portrait of Lisa Gherardini painted by Leonardo around 1510-1515, about a decade before the more famous Louvre Mona Lisa. However, the Isleworth Mona Lisa's authenticity has been debated.

A younger Lisa
The Isleworth painting depicts a younger-looking Lisa Gherardini sitting outdoors against a backdrop of a lakeside and distant mountains. Her facial features, hairstyle and dress appear similar to the Mona Lisa in the Louvre.
Why Isleworth?
The first recorded owner of the Isleworth painting was Sir Hugh Blaker, a British art connoisseur who purchased it in 1913. Over time it passed through various private hands before a consortium acquired it in 2008 to study and promote the work.
Lisa's life is scarcely documented
It was around the turn of the 16th century, when Lisa was in her early 20s, that Leonardo da Vinci most likely painted her portrait that would become the famous Mona Lisa. New research by geologist and Renaissance art historian, Ann Pizzorusso belives the painting depicting Mona Lisa that sits in the Lourve was created in Lecco, on the shores of Lake Como

A tantalising mystery

An enigmatic muse, Lisa has captivated the world with her haunting gaze and inscrutable smile as the Mona Lisa for centuries. Yet little is actually known about her life—she remains, in many ways, a tantalising mystery, her true story obscured by time even as her iconic image lives on. Was she happy as the merchant's wife? What were her private dreams and longings? We may never truly know the real Lisa, only the legend her portrait has become. Her eyes gaze eternally, inviting us to wonder about the life she once lived beyond her famed artistic incarnation. From now until eternity, we shall ponder her story and try in vain to discern the secrets behind that subtle smile.

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