Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa is giving one Italian historian something to smile about. According to Roberto Zapperi, La Giocondo, as the painting has been alternatively called, does not depict Lisa del Giocondo, wife of the wealthy Florentine merchant for whom the painting was reportedly commissioned. Rather, he says the subject is Pacifica Brandani, one of Julien de Médicis’ countless lovers. The minutes of a meeting between da Vinci and Cardinal Louis d’Aragon show that the Italian Renaissance artist presented the cardinal with three painting, says Zapperi. The lot included the Mona Lisa, which was allegedly a portrait of Brandani commissioned by de Médicis. Though the historian says experts have long known about Brandani, they tend to favor Giorgio Vasari’s 1550 version of the events, which posits that the image is of Lisa del Giocondo, who “did not even know Julien de Médicis,” according to Zapperi.
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