Lisa del Giocondo

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Mona Lisa (detail)

Lisa del Giocondo (born June 15, 1479 in Via Maggio in Florence as Lisa Gherardini ; † July 15, 1542 in the Monastero di Sant'Orsola in Florence) was the wife of the Florentine cloth and silk merchant Francesco di Bartolomeo di Zanobi del Giocondo .

You could be the person in the portrait of the Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci is shown, which probably originated from 1,502 to 1,506 in Florence. However, some art historians doubt the identification of the Mona Lisa as Lisa del Giocondo. (See: Identification Theories )

resume

Lisa del Giocondo was born Lisa di Noldo Gherardini on June 15, 1479 in Via Maggio in Florence as the daughter of the landowner Antonmaria di Noldo Gherardini and his third wife Lucrezia del Caccia . She was named after her paternal grandmother, who was also named Lisa.

origin

Map of Florence with color markings.
Francesco and Lisa lived in Via della Stufa (Red Dot).
Lisa's parents lived closer to the Arno River , first north of it, then south of it (blue dots).

Lisa's father Antonmaria di Noldo Gherardini came from a wealthy old aristocratic family . At one point, Antonmaria owned six farms in Chianti that produced wheat, wine, olive oil and cattle.

Antonmaria di Noldo Gherardini had been married twice before. In 1465 he married Lisa di Giovanni Filippo de Carducci and in 1473 Caterina di Mariotto Rucellai . Both wives died in childbed . In 1476 Antonmaria di Noldo Gherardini married Lucrezia del Caccia , daughter of Piera Spinelli, as the third wife . The first of seven children in this marriage was Lisa di Noldo Gherardini . She had three sisters, one of whom was called Ginevra, and three brothers, Giovangualberto, Francesco and Noldo.

marriage

Lisa di Noldo Gherardini married the 30-year-old cloth and silk merchant Francesco di Bartolomeo di Zanobi del Giocondo (1465–1538) on March 5, 1495 at the age of 15 . Lisa was Francesco's third wife. In 1491 he married Camilla di Mariotto Rucellai and in 1493 Tommasa di Mariotto Villani . Both wives died. The second wife of Lisa's father Antonmaria, Caterina di Mariotto Rucellai , and the first wife of Lisa's husband Francesco, Camilla di Mariotto Rucellai , were sisters. Lisa's trousseau was 170 florins and the San Silvestro farm , which was between Castellina in Chianti and San Donato in Poggio . Michelangelo Buonarroti later owned two farms there.

On March 5, 1503, Francesco bought a house next to the old family estate in Via della Stufa. This may also have been the reason for the portrait of the Mona Lisa .

Lisa and Francesco had five children known by name: Piero , Camilla , Andrea , Giocondo and Marietta , who were born between 1496 and 1507. Another daughter (not known by name) died shortly after the birth. Lisa also brought up Bartholomeo , Francesco's son from his first marriage to Camilla di Mariotto Rucellai , who was born in 1490, i.e. 5 years old when Francesco and Lisa married.

death

Sant'Orsola Convent in Florence

Francesco died of the plague in 1538 at the age of 73 . The year before, in June 1537, he gave her the trousseau back for further living. After the death of her husband, Lisa moved to the Monastero di Sant'Orsola monastery, which was dedicated to Saint Ursula of Cologne , where her daughter Marietta had lived as a nun as sister Ludovica since 1521 . According to the entry, she died there on July 15, 1542 at the age of 63. The relevant entry reads: "Donna fu di Francesco del Giocondo morì addì 15 di luglio 1542 sotterrossi in Sant'Orsola tolse tutto il capitolo" .

Identification theory with Mona Lisa

The traditional identification of the unsigned and undated portrait as that of Lisa del Giocondo goes back to Giorgio Vasari , the first biographer of modern art history from the 16th century. He noted that after his return to Florence , between 1500 and 1506, Leonardo painted a portrait of Lisa del Giocondo, the third wife of the Florentine merchant and silk merchant Francesco di Bartolomeo di Zanobi del Giocondo . He also claims that Leonardo still did not complete the portrait four years later and did not hand over the still unfinished picture to his client Francesco del Giocondo, but kept it for himself.

The reference to Lisa del Giocondo is supported by a discovery made in 2008: While cataloging an early print of the Heidelberg University Library (call number D 7620 qt. INC), the handwritten entry by the Florentine clerk Agostino Vespucci from October 1503 was found, which among other things reports that Leonardo made a portrait of Lisa del Giocondo.

It should be noted, however, that Agostino Vespucci's marginal note does not prove that he is really talking about the painting known as the “Mona Lisa”; it could refer to other paintings, even those unknown to science or ascribed to another painter. In addition, some art historians argue that the large image format and the armrest (“ruler's armchair”) speak against the Lisa del Giocondo theory.

If the theory is correct, however, Leonardo da Vinci probably made two portraits of Lisa del Giocondo in his life , namely first the Isleworth Mona Lisa and later the Mona Lisa in the Louvre .

He painted the latter at the same time as a student who was painting the Mona Lisa in the Museo del Prado , as shown by the corrections made to both portraits and the student's somewhat less skillful brushstroke.

  • Mona Lisa
    Isleworth
    by Leonardo

  • Mona Lisa
    in the Louvre
    by Leonardo

  • Mona Lisa
    in the Prado
    by a student

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Mona Lisa - Heidelberg Fund clarifies identity. (No longer available online.) Heidelberg University, April 13, 2011, archived from the original on December 6, 2008 ; Retrieved August 9, 2013 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.ub.uni-heidelberg.de
  2. ↑ a b c d e Pallanti, Giuseppe (2006): Mona Lisa Revealed: The True Identity of Leonardo's Model . Skira, Florence 2006, Italy: ISBN 88-7624-659-2 .
  3. ^ A b Zöllner, Frank (1993): " Leonardo's Portrait of Mona Lisa del Giocondo " (PDF). Gazette des Beaux-Arts 121, pages: 115-138. ISSN  0016-5530 .
  4. ^ Rossella Lorenzi: "Mona Lisa Grave Found" in the "Discovery Channel".
  5. ↑ Rossella Lorenzi: "Mona Lisa's Identity Revealed?" in the "Discovery Channel".
  6. ↑ Charles Nicholl: Leonardo da Vinci - The biography. Frankfurt am Main 2006, pp. 457-469.
  7. ↑ Mona Lisa - Heidelberg Fund clarifies identity. ( Memento of the original from December 6, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Heidelberg University Library press release @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.ub.uni-heidelberg.de
  8. ↑ Mona Lisa was a merchant's wife. In: Spiegel Online. January 11, 2008.
  9. ↑ Armin Schlechter ( arr. ): The noble art of truckerey. Selected incunabula from the Heidelberg University Library. Heidelberg 2005, cat. 20, pp. 28-29
  10. ↑ Armin Schlechter: On writing in books. Glosses and marginalia as part of the tradition. In: Manuscripts of the Middle Ages. The large libraries in Baden-Württemberg and their treasures. Edited by Staatsanzeiger-Verlag. Stuttgart 2007, pp. 20-21.
  11. ↑ Vincent Delieuvin: Honorable Gattin (German) , Der Spiegel. January 21, 2008, p. 127. Retrieved January 26, 2009. 

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Giocondo, Lisa del
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Gherardini, Lisa
BRIEF DESCRIPTION possibly the Mona Lisa template
DATE OF BIRTH June 15, 1479
PLACE OF BIRTH Florence
DATE OF DEATH July 15, 1542
Place of death Florence