Leonardo Da Vinci and the Mona Lisa - probably the most famous
combination in the history of art.
Five hundred years after his death Leonardo is still celebrated as one of the greatest geniuses that ever lived. The Mona Lisa, if not the greatest, certainly must qualify as the most famous painted work of art in the world.
And yet... there is still a degree of mystery surrounding the painting. Five hundred years is a long time and history is an imprecise science. We rely on accounts often written many years after the event, and scholars still debate many basic details generally assumed to be fact.
GIACONDA! is a story of intrigue, clandestine affairs, blackmail and betrayal which attempts to explain events surrounding the production of the masterpiece. The dates, characters and locations are as accurate as history will allow. It is, however, first and foremost a dramatic interpretation, woven around the known facts.
Set in Florence in 1503, the central characters are Leonardo da
Vinci;
Salai, his apprentice; Salai's 'sponsor' Aragona Orsini; and Lisa Gherardini – the Mona Lisa.
The villains of the piece are Bastiano – a
former state spy, and Niccolò Machiavelli’s brother Totto.
Leonardo has strong feelings for Salai but can never show it -
although he is fiercely protective of the boy. Salai is a free spirit. He is
having an affair with Aragona, and when
Leonardo agrees to let Salai work with him on the Mona Lisa he and
Lisa fall in love.
In the Prologue thirty years earlier we learned
why Bastiano was jailed and banished from Florence - swearing revenge on Aragona - and why Aragona
became indebted
to Lisa‘s mother.
When Bastiano returns and threatens to reveal their affair
Salai and Aragona hurriedly make plans to leave Florence, but after Leonardo
asks Niccolò Machiavelli for help Bastiano is murdered - seemingly
solving the problem.
However Totto has discovered Lisa’s romance
with Salai and
tries to blackmail her. Salai hastily changes the plan - arranging to leave
with Lisa instead! Totto finds out and informs Aragona - and Lisa’s
husband. They all meet as the lovers are about to leave but Aragona,
realising whose daughter Lisa is, repays her debt to the family and saves
her, denouncing Totto - with tragic
consequences.
What we can be sure of is that the painting was never delivered to
the man who commissioned it. It was kept by Leonardo and bequeathed
to his favourite apprentice and close companion Salai, who had it
with him at the time of his death.
In his
will it was valued at 505 Florentine lire – probably the
equivalent of a year’s income, and an exceptional price
for what is after all a quite small painting on a thin sheet of
poplar wood...
TO VIEW THE WRITTEN COPYRIGHT AREAS YOU WILL NEED A USERNAME AND
PASSWORD.
TO GET
ACCESS OR FOR MORE
INFORMATION
PLEASE CALL OR EMAIL
PHILIP HAMPSON