Del Giocondo, Lisa, 1479-

Lisa del Giocondo (Italian pronunciation: [ˈliːza del dʒoˈkondo]; born Lisa Camilla di Antonmaria Gherardini [ɡerarˈdiːni]; June 15, 1479 – July 14, 1542) was an Italian noblewoman and member of the Gherardini family of Florence and Tuscany. Her name was given to the Mona Lisa, her portrait commissioned by her husband and painted by Leonardo da Vinci in the Italian Renaissance. Little is known about Lisa's life. Lisa was born in Florence. She married in her teens to a cloth and silk merchant who later became a local official; she was a mother to six children and led what is thought to have been a comfortable and ordinary life. Lisa outlived her husband, who was considerably her senior. In the centuries after Lisa's life, the Mona Lisa became the world's most famous painting. In 2005, Lisa was identified as a subject for a Leonardo portrait around 1503, strongly reinforcing the traditional view of her as the model for Mona Lisa.