Wer ist Mona Lisa? – Identifizierung einer Unbekannten mit Hilfe historischer Quellen
als Buch bei amazon.de: 172 Seiten, mit Stammtafeln und 136 Bildern (130 Bilder in Farbe), Independently published, 1. Auflage, ISBN 978-1-9831-3666-5, € 29,31
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By the way Giovanna of Aragon dressed herself in a Catalan style in this famous portrait of her – the characteristic mantle (sbernia). Not only through the most important symbol of her dynasty, the ermine, but also through the chosen costume she declares that she is a member of the Aragonese of Naples, whose ancestor, King Alfonso V./I., once had also been the King of Spanish Aragon, which included Catalonia. Moreover as Pascal Cotte described in his volume "The Lady with an Ermine", there were made some changes regarding this portrait. The original small brown ermine, in other words, the ermine in its summer fur, the symbol for the female members of the Neapolitan Aragonese, tells us that Leonardo da Vinci made this portrait of Isabella of Aragon's beloved aunt and best friend Giovanna before August/September 1495. Through the marriage of the latter with her nephew Ferrandino (or Ferdinand II. of Aragon), the elder brother of Isabella of Aragon, in August or September 1495, Giovanna's rank in her dynasty changed. She became the new Queen of Naples and therefore she had the right to be decorated with the white ermine. The additional mourning veil was added at the end of 1495, when her father-in-law Alfonso II., who had already abdicated as King of Naples on 22nd or 23rd January 1495, died on 19th November 1495 in Messina.
Reading suggestion: Maike Vogt-Lüerssen: Die Sforza III: Isabella von Aragon und ihr Hofmaler Leonardo da Vinci (in German). Norderstedt 2010
The art historian Charles J. Homes (1868-1936) made as the first person of his discipline the stupid suggestion that the depicted young lady on this painting could be "Cecilia Gallerani". It is very frustrating for me as historian that not even the art historians of today make any efforts in learning the symbols of the high dynasties in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance to identify the depicted on these beautiful paintings of the past correctly. They still follow their feelings and hunches in these cases and also regarding the question "Who was the painter?", according to the motto: "I feel (or I think), therefore it is." Then again they were very successful with this complete unscientific work method over the last 100 years. Whoever had the courage in the 20th century to raise to question their claims? Hereto read the fairy tale of Hans Christian Andersen: "The Emperor's new clothes".
Wer ist Mona Lisa? – Identifizierung einer Unbekannten mit Hilfe historischer Quellen
als Buch bei amazon.de: 172 Seiten, mit Stammtafeln und 136 Bildern (130 Bilder in Farbe), Independently published, 1. Auflage, ISBN 978-1-9831-3666-5, € 29,31
Die Sforza III: Isabella von Aragon und ihr Hofmaler Leonardo da Vinci
488 Seiten, 322 Abbildungen und Stammtafeln, €49.90 (Format 21 x 27 cm)