Summary
Everybody knows her smile, but no one knows her story: Meet the flesh-and-blood woman who became one of the most famous artistic subjects of all time--Mona Lisa.
A genius immortalized her. A French king paid a fortune for her. An emperor coveted her. Every year more than 9 million visitors trek to view her portrait in the Louvre.Yet while everyone recognizes her smile, hardly anyone knows her story. Mona Lisa: A Life Discovered , a blend of biography, history, and memoir, truly is a book of discovery--about the world's most recognized face, most revered artist, and most praised and parodied painting. Who was she, this ordinary woman who rose to such extraordinary fame? Why did the most renowned painter of her time choose her as his model? What became of her? And why does her smile enchant us still?
Lisa Gherardini (1479-1542) was a quintessential woman of her times, caught in a whirl of political upheavals, family dramas, and public scandals. Her life spanned the most tumultuous chapters in the history of Florence--and of the greatest artistic outpouring the world has ever seen. Her story creates an extraordinary tapestry of Renaissance Florence, with larger-than-legend figures such as Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Machiavelli.
Dianne Hales, author of La Bella Lingua , became obsessed with finding the real Mona Lisa on repeated trips to Florence. In Mona Lisa: A Life Discovered , she takes readers with her to meet Lisa's descendants; uncover her family's long and colorful history; and explore the neighborhoods where she lived as a girl, a wife, and a mother. In the process, we can participate in Lisa's daily rituals; understand her personal relationships; and see, hear, smell, and taste "her" Florence. Hales brings to life a time poised between the medieval and the modern, a vibrant city bursting into fullest bloom, and a culture that redefined the possibilities of man--and of woman.
Author Notes
Dianne Hales is one of the country's most widely published authors of books & articles on health subjects. Her husband, Robert E. Hales, M.D., is a nationally renowned psychiatrist. He is professor & chair of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of California, Davis, & the author of more than 125 scientific publications. Together, they are also the co-authors of the definitive, award-winning reference work "Caring for the Mind: The Comprehensive Guide to Mental Health."
(Publisher Provided)
Publisher's Weekly Review
In this entertaining book, Hales (La Bella Lingua) attempts to reconstruct the obscure life of Mona Lisa Gherardini del Giocondo, the wife of a prosperous Florentine merchant, Francesco del Giocondo, who either commissioned the painting from Leonardo da Vinci or was approached by the artist to create the smoky portrait now ensconced in the Louvre. Combining history, whimsical biography, personal travelogue, and love letter to Italy, the book portrays Lisa Gherardini as a Renaissance Everywoman; Hales colors the blank spaces in her life with Renaissance cultural history, and considers the education she may have received, the etiquette she would have observed, what she would have eaten, what clothing she likely wore, the nature of her sex life, and much more. The result is an accessible, vivid examination of women's lives in Florence in the period. Occasionally, though, this coloring can lead to flights of fancy that are difficult to take seriously, such as the sensationalist notion that perhaps artist and sitter "forged such an intense connection that all else seemed to fall away in a moment suspended in time." As Hales whisks around Italy, interviews historians, inspects Ghirlandaio's frescoes in the church of Santa Maria Novella, rents a villa in the Tuscan countryside and an apartment in Florence, and lunches with a Florentine princess, American readers will envy the lifestyle and enjoy the ride. Agent: Joy Harris, Joy Harris Literary Agency. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
Like many visitors to the Louvre, journalist Hales (La Bella Lingua: A Passionate Journey through the World's Most Beautiful Language, 2009, etc.) was fascinated by Leonardo da Vinci's famous portrait and set out to investigate the real Lisa Gherardini del Giocondo: "Why did the most renowned painter of her time choose her as his model?...And why does her smile enchant us still?"The author already established her affection for anything Italian in her previous book. Here, she romps through Italy's roiling political past, eager to make 15th-century figures seem contemporary. Reading letters between one husband and wife, she felt that she was viewing "a medieval version of a television reality show" in which the husband was a "workaholic merchant.I can imagine the stressed-out businessman as a character in a Woody Allen filmperhaps a neurotic, death-obsessed Wall Street trader, with a therapist on speed dial, antacids in his pocket, and Xanax in his medicine cabinet." Artists in Florence, she insists, "reigned like rock stars." Inserting herself into the narrative, Hales recounts brief, often banal conversations and discloses her own wide-eyed responses to people, places and things. Upon finding Lisa's birth certificate: "Leaping out of my chair, I dance in excitement." Her jaw dropped when she visited a Baroque palace to interview a princess. As for Lisawife of a wealthy merchant and mother of seven (one a stepson)little evidence exists about her life. Hales, then, extrapolates what her life "would have been" from books about Renaissance women. The repetition of "would have," "might have" and "perhaps" throughout the book gives the narrativeas lively and detailed as it isa speculative quality. The author also includes a "Mona Lisa Timeline" and a list of key characters.The breezy tone is a jarring contrast to the considerable scholarship that informs the author's history. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Biography, history, and memoir are woven together in Hales' (La Bella Lingua, 2009) lyrical biography of Lisa Gherardini, the donna vera (real woman) captured in Leonardo da Vinci's early sixteenth-century masterpiece, Mona Lisa. Hales paints a vivid history of the dramatic, often violent Renaissance Florence in which Gherardini lived: a town populated with scheming politicians, warring religious factions, and artists boasting rock-star popularity. Intertwined with this tale is Gherardini's personal biography as a daughter, a merchant's wife, a devoted mother, and a family matriarch a story that provides counterpoint to the epic, male-dominated history of the age. The verifiable facts of Gherardini's life are scarce, so Hales leans heavily on informed imagination, delving deeply into the customs, rituals, and relationships that governed women's lives in Renaissance Italy. Throughout the book, she scours archives, interrogates scholars, and walks the streets of Florence, seeking traces of Gherardini in detail and in spirit. These first-person accounts reveal the author's deep kinship with Gherardini, and her quest endows human subjectivity to one of art history's greatest icons.--Bosch, Lindsay Copyright 2010 Booklist
Choice Review
this is a test of the citation function. Mona Lisa's escort (CH, Dec'99, 37-2390), was done as a straightforward Reference a review button citation. Mona Lisa Revealed (CH, Sep'06, 44-0106, 3rd edition) was done as a modified citation using the reference function. And Mona Lisa Smiles (CH, Dec'14, 52-2100) was done by typing it directly into the the review. Summing Up: Not recommended --Lisa M Gross, Choice
Library Journal Review
Mona Lisa's enigmatic smile has captured the imaginations of generations of art lovers. Hales (La Bella Lingua) seeks to understand the story behind the painting by recounting the life of Lisa Gherardini (1479-1542), the widely accepted model for Leonardo da Vinci's 16th-century masterpiece. -Gherardini's ancestry, life, and death are explored, as well as those of her husband (and likely commissioner of the famous portrait) and artist da Vinci. Owing to a dearth of sources on the subject's life, however, the book reads as an exploration of what life would have been like for a woman of -Gherardini's station in Renaissance Florence rather than a retelling of her specific story. The enduring appeal and legacy of the painting are also addressed, although controversies surrounding its subject and origin are only briefly mentioned. Interspersed throughout the narrative are anecdotes about the author's personal experiences while researching the book, as she uncovers a Florence that is very different from the city as it was in da Vinci's time. These asides add pathos that casual readers will appreciate but that will frustrate academics. VERDICT This engaging account of a Renaissance woman will appeal to a general audience.-Rebekah Kati, Walden Univ. Lib., Morrisville, NC (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.