Mona Lisa: A Life Discovered

Everybody knows her smile, but no one knows her story. Dianne Hales draws upon decades of research to introduce us to the flesh-and-blood woman who became one of the most famous artistic sub-jects of all time . A genius immortalized her. A French king paid a fortune for her. An emperor coveted her. Every year more than nine million visitors trek to view her por-trait in the Louvre. Yet while everyone recognizes her smile, hardly anyone knows her story. “Combining history, whimsical biography, personal trave-logue, and love letter to Italy...Mona Lisa is an entertaining” (Publishers Week-ly) book of discovery about the world’s most recognized face. Who was she? 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? Mona Lisa is “a readable and affectionate my-search-for-story for art lovers and anyone interested in glorious and gory Florence in the fifteenth to six-teenth centuries, and in the divine Leonardo in particular…Hales’s assiduous research has made it possible for us to know Mona Lisa just a bit, enough to wonder if this otherwise ordinary Florentine housewife could ever have imag-ined her portrait enchanting millions for centuries” (USATODAY.com). ABOUT THE