Lealta: Caretaker
Lisa’s Florentine family was old and aristocratic but over time had lost its influence. They were well off but not wealthy, and lived on farm income in a city that was among the largest in Europe and economically successful, while there were great disparities in wealth among its inhabitants.
Antonmaria di Noldo Gherardini, Lisa’s father, had lost two wives, Lisa di Giovanni Filippo de’ Carducci, whom he married in 1465, and Caterina di Mariotto Rucellai, whom he married in 1473. Both died in childbirth. Lisa’s mother was Lucrezia del Caccia, daughter of Piera Spinelli, and Gherardini’s wife by his third marriage in 1476 Gherardini at one time owned or rented six farms in Chianti that produced wheat, wine and olive oil and where livestock was raised.
Lisa was born in Florence on 15 June 1479 on Via Maggio, although for many years it was thought she was born on one of the family’s rural properties, Villa Vignamaggio just outside Greve. She is named for Lisa, a wife of her paternal grandfather. The eldest of seven children, Lisa had three sisters, one of whom was named Ginevra, and three brothers, Giovangualberto, Francesco, and Noldo.
The family lived in Florence, originally near Santa Trinita and later in rented space near Santo Spirito, most likely because they were not able to afford repairs to their former house when it was damaged. Lisa’s family moved to what today is called Via dei Pepi and then near Santa Croce, where they lived near Ser Piero da Vinci, Leonardo’s father. They also owned a small country home in St. Donato in the village of Poggio, Noldo, Gherardini’s father and Lisa’s grandfather, had bequeathed a farm in Chianti to the Santa Maria Nuova hospital. Gherardini secured a lease for another of the hospital’s farms and, so that he could oversee the wheat harvest, the family spent summers there at the house named Ca’ di Pesa.
On 5 March 1495, Lisa married Francesco di Bartolomeo di Zanobi del Giocondo, a modestly successful cloth and silk merchant, becoming his third wife at age 15. Lisa’s dowry was 170 florins and the San Silvestro farm near her family’s country home, a sign that the Gherardini family was not wealthy at the time and reason to think she and her husband loved each other. The property lies between Castellina and San Donato in Poggio, near two farms later owned by Michelangelo. Neither poor nor among the most well-to-do in Florence, the couple lived a middle-class life. Lisa’s marriage may have increased her social status because her husband’s family may have been richer than her own. Francesco is thought to have benefited because Gherardini is an “old name”. They lived in shared accommodation until 5 March 1503, when Francesco was able to buy a house next door to his family’s old home in the Via della Stufa. Leonardo is thought to have begun painting Lisa’s portrait the same year.
Francesco became an official in Florence. He was elected to the Dodici Buonomini in 1499 and to the Signoria in 1512, where he was confirmed as a Priori in 1524. He may have had ties to Medici family political or business interests. In 1512 when the government of Florence feared the return of the Medici from exile, Francesco was imprisoned and fined 1,000 florins. He was released in September when the Medici returned.
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It was Francesco who hired Leonardo to paint his wife, which is now the painting that has become famous through out the world.
During the sittings he had become good friends with Lisa, and had told her grand stories of his life. She humored him for many of the sittings, enjoying the artist’s ramblings.
It wasn’t until 1537, when her husband died, that she sought out Leonardo and asked for more of his stories, and when she discovered about Vampires, she felt this is where her life had lead her.
It was only fitting that she was Turned by the man who would make her smile famous.