A current article in Reuters Berlin states that Dr. Armin Schlechter has discovered dated notes in the margin of a book in the Heidelberg University Library that confirm that the identity of the Mona Lisa is Lisa del Giocondo wife of the wealthy Florentine merchant of those times, Francesco del Giocondo. (Elgood) Although she has always been the primary candidate, again the mystery that surrounded her origin became part of the aura of excitement that is the Mona Lisa. However, what exactly she is smiling about will always remain, and rightly so, a mystery debatable for the next five hundred years and beyond.
Works Cited
Adams, Laurie. Art and Psychoanalysis. New York: IconEditions, 1993.
Arasse, Daniel....
"The Gioconda Code." Queen's Quarterly Summer 2006: 180-187
Elgood, Giles (Ed.) "Mona Lisa' Model Identified, Experts Say" Reuters Berlin 01-14-2008
Gentleman, Amelia. "How She Got Her Smile." The Wilson Quarterly Wntr 2005: 102.
Jung, C.G. Symbols of transformation. Collected Works (Vol. 5). Princeton. NJ:
Bollingen Foundation.1959.
Hubbard, Guy. "Classroom Use." Arts & Activities Jan. 2003: 37.
Reynolds, F. Christopher, and Piirto, Jane. "Depth Psychology and Giftedness: Bringing Soul to the Field of Talent Development and Giftedness." Roeper Review 27.3 (2005): 164-168
Appendix I
Whistler's Mother
Mona Lisa
