Mona Lisa - A Life Discovered

The Mona Lisa Timeline pulled the whole book together in a neat package for me at the end. Dianne Hales was passionate about this family and the heritage of Gherardini, and absolutely about the person we know as Mona Lisa.

Lisa Gherardini was born in 1465 in Renaissance Florence Italy and lived in a time in between medieval and the modern. She was descended from ancient nobility of that city and lived her life in that fashion. She lived through some unsettled times in Italy and she entered a convent after her husband's death.


The city then seemed to "forget" her for hundreds of years, except for her iconic portrait. The author has brought "Una Donna Vera" or the real woman,Lisa to our attention, at long last. Her life and times were impeccably researched and I recommend it to scholars of this period of history and this culture.