It is the one art work that Leonardo kept with him his entire life and quite possibly hung in the room in which he died. Francesco del Giocondo commissioned the artist to paint a portrait of his wife Lisa Gherardini. The painting is sometimes referred to as La Gioconda in that respect. I somewhat suspect that the commission delivered to the Giocondo family is in truth the Mona Lisa of Isleworth and it is this portrait spoken of in the documentation regarding the painting and not the masterpiece that hangs in Paris. Raphael once drew a copy of Leonardo’s painting from memory and his drawing more resembles the Isleworth Mona Lisa both in likeness and background then it does the work hanging in the Louvre. I believe that Leonardo did not finish the Isleworth painting before delivery and that some other artist subsequently finished background elements and parts of the figure. The Mona Lisa that Leonardo kept with him and perhaps continuously retouched may actually be a self portrait or at least a portrait of the idealized woman in Leonardo’s mind.

It is the genius of his modeling and shading that breathes life into the world’s most famous painting. She truly is a person “made” from paint. It would be unsurprising to me if she suddenly moved and walked out of the frame of the picture. It is the first truly plastic art work for it’s ability to seem as real as anything else in our reality. She is a real as any of us, and in fame and longevity, more real.

My version has her seated in front of the riverfront in Cincinnati. I referenced the background from daguerreotypes of the city taken in 1856.