Remains of Model For Mona Lisa May Have Been Found in Italian Convent

From Sri Lanka the Sunday Observer reports that archaeologists may have uncovered the remains of Lisa Gherardini, better known as the woman who posed for the Mona Lisa. The remains are being recovered from beneath the floor of a convent in Florence, Italy. Lisa Gherardini, known as Lisa del Giocondo in Italy, became a nun after her husband’s death and died in the convent in 1542. Leonardo Da Vinci began to paint the Mona Lisa in 1503 or 1504 and finished it in 1519. The painting is thought to have been commissioned for the new home of Gherardini and her husband Francesco del Giocondo and to celebrate the birth of their second son. The painting is on permanent display at the Musée du Louvre in Paris.