The Search For Mona Lisa Gherardini Of Da Vinci Portrait Fame Leads To Florence Monastery: DNA Results Inconclusive


Scientists may be one step closer to completing their search for Mona Lisa. Archaeologists in Italy found bone fragments while excavating graves in a Florence monastery that some believe may belong to Lisa Gherardini del Giocondo, the spouse of wealthy silk trader, Francesco del Giocondo, who is thought to be the model depicted in the Leonardo da Vinci masterpiece.

Unfortunately, the search for Mona Lisa isn’t over yet. DNA testing on the bone fragments proved to be inconclusive, reports Metro News. Earlier carbon-14 testing had indicated that one of the bone fragments dated to the right period. Gherardini, who some believe posed for the Mona Lisa portrait, is reported to have passed away in 1542 when she was 63.

Art historians can’t even agree that Gherardini was definitely the woman depicted in the Mona Lisa, so even if DNA testing was able to prove conclusively that the bone fragments did belong to her, that would not guarantee that she was the model.

Mona Lisa search leads to Florence monastery.

Scientists involved in the search for Mona Lisa attributed their lack of success with DNA testing to “fragmented” samples that had “deteriorated” considerably with time. The leader of the forensic anthropology department with Bologna University, Giorgio Gruppioni, wasn’t even able to guarantee that the bones came from a woman, or the age of the person at the time of their death.

Silvano Vinceti, who is leading the search for the the remains of the woman thought to be Mona Lisa, was reported to lament the lack of a skull with the remains, which could have potentially been used for a comparison with the portrait itself.

“The odds that the bones belong to her are very high,” Vinceti stated, despite the lack of forensic proof.

Giorgio Vassari, a 16th-century intellectual, recorded that Leonardo da Vinci painted a portrait of Francesco del Giocondo’s spouse, leading to the long association between the Mona Lisa and Lisa Gherardini del Giocondo. Other theories include da Vinci’s use of a male model, and that the Mona Lisa is actually a self portrait.

Search for Mona Lisa, 1913.

Continuing improvement in DNA analysis may make it possible to analyze the fragments suspected to belong to Gherardini at some point in the future, reports Valley News Live. Still, no known remains of relatives of Gherardini have been found; making an absolute determination may never be possible.

“Merely a good representation of a serene & subdued face,” Mark Twain wrote about the Mona Lisa, reports Smithsonian Magazine. “The complexion was bad; in fact it was not even human; there are no people of that color.”

What is probably the most well-known piece of art in world was famously stolen in a 1911 Louvre heist that resulted in an intense search for the Mona Lisa and the perpetrators. The Mona Lisa was recovered in 1913. CNN reports that the theft by Vincenzo Peruggia probably contributed more to the painting’s fame than the quality of the artwork itself.

News of the theft reported in newspapers at the time carried feature photographs of the portrait. At a time when mass-reproduced images were still in their infancy, images of the painting remained in the memory of many observers, the vast majority of whom would be unable to make a trip to Paris to see the original.

The Louvre is said to be host to close to 10 million patrons each year. Many visits revolve around seeing the Mona Lisa. Artists around the world have recreated their own versions of the Mona Lisa, including famous artists like Any Warhol and lesser known names like Jean-Michael Basquiat, reports Columbus Alive. The Mona Lisa is reported to be the most widely reproduced piece of art in the world.

The Mona Lisa is the most widely copied artwork in the world.

[Photo by Chris Radburn-Pool / Getty Images — Florence Monastery Screenshot Courtesy Euronews / YouTube — Photo by Topical Press Agency / Getty Images — Photo by Palani Mohan / Getty images]

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