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Every one know about Monalisa and must have seen copy of this painting many times and that it was painted by Leonardo da Vinci and is now in Paris Louvre Museum under high secirity enclosure. It is the costliest paining in the world now. Leonardo said to have painted this between 1501 and 1503. So waht u may ask.
What is interesting is the identity of the model for this painting. Many theories were put forward about her identity and the reasons for her hidden smile. It is really interesting to know these.

1. Georgio Vasari who wrote the biography of Leonardo 31 years after death of�Leonardo has identified the model as Mona Lisa (Mona is the short form of Modanna�meaning ‘my lady’ whose english equivalent is ‘Madam’) wife of a prominent silk marchant Francesco del Giocondo of Florentine. The alternative title La Gioconda is the feminine form of Giocondo. In Italian giocondo also means ‘light-hearted’ (’jocund’ in English), so “gioconda” means “light-hearted woman”. Because of her smile, this version of the title plays on this double-meaning, as in the French “La Joconde.”

2. In 2004 the Italian scholar Giuseppe Pallanti published Monna Lisa, Mulier Ingenua (literally ‘”Mona Lisa: Real Woman”, published in English under the title Mona Lisa Revealed: The True Identity of Leonardo’s Model). The book gathered archival evidence in support of the traditional identification of the model as Lisa Gherardini. According to Pallanti, the evidence suggests that Leonardo’s father was a friend of del Giocondo. “The portrait of Mona Lisa, done when Lisa Gherardini was aged about 24, was probably commissioned by Leonardo’s father himself for his friends as he is known to have done on at least one other occasion.” Pallanti discovered that Lisa and Francesco had five children and that she outlived her husband. She lived at least into her 60s, though no record of her death was located. Most scholars now agree that she is indeed the model.

3. Despite this evidence, various alternatives to the traditional sitter have been proposed. During the last years of his life, Leonardo spoke of a portrait of a certain Florentine lady done from life at the request of the magnificent Giuliano de’ MediciNo evidence has been found that indicates a link between Lisa Gherardini and Giuliano de’ Medici, but then the comment could instead refer to one of the two other portraits of women executed by da Vinci. A later anonymous statement created confusion when it linked the Mona Lisa to a portrait of Francesco del Giocondo himself � perhaps the origin of the controversial idea that it is the portrait of a man.

4. Dr. Lillian Schwartz of Bell Labs suggests that the Mona Lisa is actually a self-portrait. She supports this theory with the results of a digital analysis of the facial features of Leonardo’s face and that of the famous painting. When flipping a self-portrait drawing by Leonardo and then merging that with an image of the Mona Lisa using a computer, the features of the faces align perfectly. Claims were made that Leonardo was homosexual which may have explained his wanting to paint himself as a woman. (See the picture for this conclusion).
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5. Some historians and researchers suggested that Mona lisa to be the daughter of Leonardo.
But mostly accepted of all these speculations is that she is actually Lisa Gherardini but what is the reality is known to Mona Lisa and Leonardo only
Tell me Mona Lisa who ru??

Some of the material� taken for this blog is from wikipedia site.

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