An Unintended Star

Do you recognize this incredible piece of art, even with the metallic hair? Daughter No. 2 got a great paint-by-number set for Christmas with ten painting outlines and little pots of paint. She has completed several according to directions, but when it came to the Mona Lisa, she abandoned the guide and made it her own. If you hold the painting at a certain angle and in a certain light, the hair really does shimmer. She's a beauty, I think.

While No. 2 was working on this project, news came out the University of Heidelberg in Germany has named the true model for the famous painting. After all these years of speculation, it has been confirmed the model was Lisa del Giocondo, wife of a textile merchant who commissioned the painting. They had just bought a house and had a baby, so it was a special occasion. In 1503, a Florentine city official scribbled some notes in the margin of a book about how da Vinci was working on a portrait of Lisa del Giocondo, and even though these notes were discovered a few years ago, they weren't made public until just this month. So now we no.

Something I didn't know, the painting of the Mona Lisa is also known as "La Gioconda," which means "the happy and joyful woman." Interesting that the woman in this painting has rarely been described as joyful.

We now have our own unique Mona Lisa to display in our house. Here are a few other variations:

Computer-Parts "La Gioconda"

Cow "La Gioconda"

Lego "La Gioconda"