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Isabella d'Este Theory

[edit]

In the current catalogue raisonné of Leonardo da Vinci, only Isabella d'Este is documented as a plausible alternative.[1]

Isabella d'Este (1474-1539) was Margravine of Mantua and the most famous patron of the arts of her time. Leonardo da Vinci was her sister Beatrice d'Este's court painter in the Duchy of Milan. In 1499, after the expulsion of the Sforza (his employers), Leonardo fled to the court of Isabella d'Este.[2] Over a period of three months, Leonardo made several portrait drawings of Isabella (documented by letters).[3] One of these drawings, a profile drawing, is preserved in the Louvre and shows similarities.[4]

Colour portraits of Isabella d'Este
in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
- perhaps including mix-up?
Profile drawing of Isabella d'Este by Leonardo da Vinci

From the subsequent years 1501 to 1506, several letters survive in which Isabella — directly and through agents — pursued da Vinci with demands for the promised execution of the (oil) portrait (and her agents promised or also confirmed Leonardo's commencement)[5] — the Mona Lisa falls precisely within this period. In 1504 Isabella d'Este announced more interest in another motif, which is consistent with the whereabouts of the painting called Mona Lisa with Leonardo.[6]

The hierarchical society of the Renaissance makes the portrait of an upper class noble woman more likely than the wife of a modestly merchant, especially for Mona Lisa.[7].

The Louvre's caveat is Isabella d'Este's alleged blonde hair.[8] Yet Isabella's portraits Ambras miniature[9] and Isabella in Red represent brown hair and also further similarities (see image).[10] Blonde hair is now only depicted in Titian's retrospective portrait Isabella in Black. Despite its circulation, this identification is disputed (outside the documentation of its own museum), as the head shows neither idealisation by beauty nor similarities with the two colour portraits mentioned above.[11]

The visual characteristics of Lisa del Giocondo are unknown and no evaluation is possible.


LONG VERSION

Isabella d'Este Theory

[edit]

In the current catalogue raisonné of Leonardo da Vinci, only Isabella d'Este is documented as a plausible alternative.[1]

Isabella d'Este (1474-1539) was Margravine of Mantua and the most famous patron of the arts of her time. Leonardo da Vinci was her sister Beatrice d'Este's court painter in the Duchy of Milan. In 1499, after the expulsion of the Sforza (his employers), Leonardo fled to the court of Isabella d'Este. The position of court painter there, however, was occupied (by Andrea Mantegna). Over a period of three months, Leonardo made several portrait drawings of Isabella (documented by letters).[12] One of these drawings, a profile drawing, is preserved in the Louvre and shows similarities.[13]

Colour portraits of Isabella d'Este
in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
- perhaps including mix-up?
Profile drawing of Isabella d'Este by Leonardo da Vinci

From the subsequent years 1501 to 1506, several letters survive in which Isabella — directly and through agents — pursued da Vinci with demands for the promised execution of the (oil) portrait (and her agents promised or also confirmed Leonardo's commencement)[14] — the Mona Lisa falls precisely within this period. In 1504 Isabella d'Este announced (even) more interest in another motif, which is consistent with the whereabouts of the painting called Mona Lisa with Leonardo until his death.[15]

The landscape would also better suit a portrait associated with the Garda Mountains (Mantua on the Mincio below Lake Garda) rather than Tuscany.[16] In the hierarchical society of the Renaissance, the oversized picture format (analogous to the profile drawing)[17], background landscape in general[18] and the armrest (throne)[19] also makes the (courtly) portrait of a female sovereign[20] more likely than the wife of a modestly merchant[21].

The Louvre's caveat is Isabella d'Este's alleged blonde hair.[22] Yet Isabella's portraits Ambras miniature[23] and Isabella in Red represent (henna) brown hair and also further similarities (see image). Blonde hair is now only depicted in Titian's retrospective portrait Isabella in Black. Despite its circulation, this identification is disputed (outside the documentation of its own museum), as the head shows neither idealisation of beauty nor similarities with the two coloured portraits mentioned above - yet all three are in the same museum.[24] Further discussions thus depend on the identification in Isabella in Black (the possible confusion concerns only the identified person, not Titian).

The visual characteristics of Lisa del Giocondo are unknown and no evaluation is possible.

  1. ^ a b Zöllner 2019, pp. 241
  2. ^ Note: The position of court painter there, however, was occupied (by Andrea Mantegna).
  3. ^ Francis Ames-Lewis: Isabella & Leonardo — The Artistic Relationship between Isabella d’Este and Leonardo da Vinci, 1500-1506. Yale University Press, New Haven and London 2012, Appendix Letters to and from Isabella d’Este concerning works for her by Leonardo da Vinci, pp. 225f (letter 13 March 1500), pp. 227f (letter 27 May 1501), pp. 235f (letter 14 May 1504).
  4. ^ Leonardo da Vinci, Portrait d‘Isabelle d’Este, 1499/1500, Louvre. Museum Database Louvre (12.05.2022)
  5. ^ Ames-Lewis 2012, pp. 223-240 (letters 27 March 1501, 14 April 1501, 31 July 1501, 14 May 1504 (2 x), 3 May 1506).
  6. ^ Ames-Lewis 2012, pp. 235f (letter 14 May 1504).
  7. ^ Isabella was Margravine and her art patronage is well known versus Lisa as the third wife of an unknown merchant, that means middle class. Portraits were a rare privilege and the Mona Lisa represents an oversized format (analogous to the profile drawing of Isabella d'Este, see Bruno Mottin: Léonard de Vinci et l'art du dessin in Vincent Delieuvin (ed.): Léonard de Vinci, exhibition catalogue Louvre 2019, p. 380), an armrest (throne) and a landscape in the background (often representing a lordship and here more likely Garda Mountains than a place in Tuscany).
  8. ^ Sylvie Béguin (ed.): Le Studiolo d’Isabella d’Este, exhibition catalogue Louvre, Édition des Musées Nationaux, Paris 1975, p. 4.
  9. ^ Wikimedia Commons graphic (with data).
  10. ^ In Isabella in Red, the hair is probably additionally henna-tinted due to her age. And for the Mona Lisa, eyebrows are confirmed by the Prado copy, for example.
  11. ^ See the doubts in the catalogue raisonné Titian (incl. divergent naming in inventory Archduke Leopold Wilhelm in 1659) [Francesco Valcanover: L‘ opera completa di Tiziano, Milan 1969, pp. 108f.] and the doubts in the scientific exhibition review in 1994 [Jennifer Fletcher: Isabella d'Este, Vienna in: The Burlington Magazine 136, 1994, p. 399.]. In parallel, the characteristics would match her successor Margherita Paleologa and portraits with balzo were later marketed as Isabella. All three portraits are in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.
  12. ^ Francis Ames-Lewis: Isabella & Leonardo — The Artistic Relationship between Isabella d’Este and Leonardo da Vinci, 1500-1506. Yale University Press, New Haven and London 2012, Appendix Letters to and from Isabella d’Este concerning works for her by Leonardo da Vinci, pp. 225f (letter 13 March 1500), pp. 227f (letter 27 May 1501), pp. 235f (letter 14 May 1504).
  13. ^ Leonardo da Vinci, Portrait d‘Isabelle d’Este, 1499/1500, Louvre. Museum Database Louvre (12.05.2022)
  14. ^ Ames-Lewis 2012, pp. 223-240 (letters 27 March 1501, 14 April 1501, 31 July 1501, 14 May 1504 (2 x), 3 May 1506).
  15. ^ Ames-Lewis 2012, pp. 235f (letter 14 May 1504).
  16. ^ The Dolomites with rocky reefs versus Tuscany as an hilly landscape characterised by pine trees, cypresses etc. (the home of Lisa del Giocondo).
  17. ^ Drawing Isabella d’Este 46 cm x 63 cm (trimmed and still classified as an exceptional large format for a female sitter in this period, see Bruno Mottin: Léonard de Vinci et l'art du dessin in Vincent Delieuvin (ed.): Léonard de Vinci, exhibition catalogue Louvre 2019, p. 380) versus Mona Lisa even 53 cm x 77 cm.
  18. ^ Often representing the lordship (no formal rule).
  19. ^ See e.g. Camera degli Sposi with Andrea Mantegna‘s frescoe The Court Scene and Ludovico III Gonzaga’s armrest Wikimedia Commons graphic.
  20. ^ Isabella d’Este as the margravine of Mantua and daughter of a duke.
  21. ^ Lisa del Giocondo as the third wife of an unknown cloth and silk merchant, that means middle class, lower nobility and no lordship.
  22. ^ Sylvie Béguin (ed.): Le Studiolo d’Isabella d’Este, exhibition catalogue Louvre, Édition des Musées Nationaux, Paris 1975, p. 4.
  23. ^ Wikimedia Commons graphic (with data).
  24. ^ See the doubts in the catalogue raisonné Titian (incl. divergent naming in inventory Archduke Leopold Wilhelm in 1659) [Francesco Valcanover: L‘ opera completa di Tiziano, Milan 1969, pp. 108f.] and the doubts in the scientific exhibition review in 1994 [Jennifer Fletcher: Isabella d'Este, Vienna in: The Burlington Magazine 136, 1994, p. 399.]. In parallel, the characteristics would match her successor Margherita Paleologa and portraits with balzo were later marketed as Isabella. Museum is the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.
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