Well, the remains of the woman who posed for da Vinci

Sep 24, 2015 21:30 GMT  ·  By

Researcher Silvano Vinceti with Italy's National Committee of Historic, Cultural and Environmental Heritage is pretty darn sure that it was a noblewoman by the name of Florentine Lisa Gherardini who posed for Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa. 

Mind you, he's not alone in this. Many other historians think this noblewoman, the wife of a silk merchant named Francesco del Giocondo, is the one depicted in the famous portrait. Hence, for many years now, hordes of researchers have been trying to find her burial place.

Historical records indicate Florentine Lisa Gherardini was born in 1479. Then, in 1503, her husband is believed to have commissioned Leonardo da Vinci to paint her portrait. Following his death, Florentine retreated at a convent in Florence, where she stayed until her death in 1542.

So, yes, this pretty much sums up what researchers know about the life of this noblewoman. Let's face it, it really isn't much. All the same, archaeologist Silvano Vinceti and his team say it was more than enough to lead them to the final resting place of Florentine Lisa Gherardini.

The team think they might have found Mona Lisa's remains

Back in 2011, working on the assumption that Florentine Lisa Gherardini really did die in 1542 at a convent in Florence, Silvano Vinceti and fellow researchers got to work exhuming whatever bodies they could find that dated to this period and that had been laid to rest on holy ground.

They have since unearthed about a dozen skeletons. The majority were dismissed when carbon dating tests revealed that they were too old to be Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa. A set of bones recovered from a grave at Sant'Orsola convent, however, seem to be the right age.

The bad news is this set of bones is not exactly complete. There are just a few femur fragments, a shinbone and an ankle. Without a skull anywhere in sight, facial reconstruction is out of the question. Since the remains are badly damaged, DNA testing can't be performed either.

Still, Silvano Vinceti and his team are quite convinced that they have, in fact, uncovered the remains of the woman who, centuries ago, posed for Leonardo da Vinci when he painted his Mona Lisa. Even if circumstantial evidence is all they have to go on.

“There are converging elements, above and beyond the results of the carbon-14 tests, that say we may well have found Lisa's grave. I'm speaking of historical, anthropological and archaeological analyses that have been carried out very vigorously,” Silvano Vinceti said in an interview, as cited by DM. “The odds that the bones belong to her are extremely high,” the researcher added.