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Mona Lisa : a life discovered / Dianne Hales.

By: Contributor(s): Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York, NY : Simon & Schuster, 2014Edition: First Simon & Schuster hardcover editionDescription: xviii, 317 pages : map, genealogical table ; 24 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 1451658966 (hbk.)
  • 1451658974 (trade paperback)
  • 9781451658965 (hbk.) :
  • 9781451658972 (trade paperback)
Subject(s):
Contents:
Una donna vera = A real woman -- Gherardini blood (59 B.C.-1478). Fires of the heart ; A voice without a face ; "Who would be happy-- " -- Una Fiorentina (1479-1499). Daughter of the Renaissance ; Money and beauty ; The business of marriage ; The merchant's wife -- A new century (1500-1512). New beginnings ; The portrait in progress ; Family matters -- The Medici triumphant (1513-1579). The rise of the lions ; The Great Sea -- The most famous paintings in the world.The adventures of Madame Lisa ; The last smile.
Summary: "A genius immortalized her. A French king paid a fortune for her. An emperor coveted her. No face has ever captivated so many for so long. Every year more than nine million visitors trek to her portrait in the Louvre. Yet while everyone recognizes her smile, hardly anyone knows her story. This book rests on the premise that the woman in the Mona Lisa is indeed the person identified in its earliest description: Lisa Gherardini (1479-1542), wife of the Florence merchant Francesco del Giocondo. Dianne Hales has followed facts wherever she could find them -- from the Florence State Archives, to the squalid street where she was born, to the ruins of the convent where she died." -- Provided by publisher.
Fiction notes: Click to open in new window
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library Biography Del Gioc L. H167 Checked out 06/18/2024 33111007592468
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

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.

Based on research by Giuseppe Pallanti, author of La Vera Identità della Gioconda. Milan: Skira Editore, 2006.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 293-300) and index.

Una donna vera = A real woman -- Gherardini blood (59 B.C.-1478). Fires of the heart ; A voice without a face ; "Who would be happy-- " -- Una Fiorentina (1479-1499). Daughter of the Renaissance ; Money and beauty ; The business of marriage ; The merchant's wife -- A new century (1500-1512). New beginnings ; The portrait in progress ; Family matters -- The Medici triumphant (1513-1579). The rise of the lions ; The Great Sea -- The most famous paintings in the world.The adventures of Madame Lisa ; The last smile.

"A genius immortalized her. A French king paid a fortune for her. An emperor coveted her. No face has ever captivated so many for so long. Every year more than nine million visitors trek to her portrait in the Louvre. Yet while everyone recognizes her smile, hardly anyone knows her story. This book rests on the premise that the woman in the Mona Lisa is indeed the person identified in its earliest description: Lisa Gherardini (1479-1542), wife of the Florence merchant Francesco del Giocondo. Dianne Hales has followed facts wherever she could find them -- from the Florence State Archives, to the squalid street where she was born, to the ruins of the convent where she died." -- Provided by publisher.

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