Investigators excavating the site of Sant’Orsola convent in Florence have found a skeleton they believe might be that of Lisa Gherardini del Giocondo, subject of the most famous portrait in the world, DaVinci’s Mona Lisa. Of course, they found one at that site last year that turned out to be someone else.
The newer old skeleton will go through a battery of laboratory exams, including a carbon-14 test to determine the skeleton’s historical period and a histological test to determine developmental age. If these are appropriate, there will be DNA comparison with material from the two Gherardini children, whose remains are buried in Florence’s Santissima Annunziata church. If the new find is determined to be Lisa Gherardini, anthropologists from the University of Bologna will attempt a reconstruction of her face based on skull dimensions.
More:
“Mona Lisa’s Skeleton Found?” Rossella Lorenzi, Discovery News
“Mona Lisa’s Bones Possibly Beneath Italian Church,” Colleen Curry, ABC News
“Bones unearthed in Italy could be remains of woman who inspired the Mona Lisa,” Erik Ortiz, NY Daily News
“Is this the Mona Lisa’s skeleton? Discovery of bones in Florence convent believed to be those of silk merchant’s wife who inspired Da Vinci,” Daily Mail
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Image (“Mona Lisa’s Drivers’ License”) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com
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Tags: Archeology, art, Florence, Gioconda, Italy, La Gioconda, Lisa del Giocondo, Lisa Gherardini, Mona Lisa
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