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| Rosemary Waterhouse-Hayward - Lisa Milroy - Bronwen Marsden - Cheri Partridge |
Lisa del Giocondo is the real name of the Mona Lisa. Her husband was Francesco del Giocondo. In Latin-American countries we call her la Giconda.
In 1985, when Rosemary, our two daughters and I went to Paris, we saw the Mona Lisa with no hordes of people. But I was not allowed to use my camera.
In the early 60s when John F. Kennedy was president there was a cult of enthusiasts (me included) behind him. His fame did not diminish when he was assassinated. I remember reading a National Geographic that had an daring account about the Mona Lisa.
She was a member of a noble family, the Gherardinis. It seems that the family got into hot water and was exiled from Florence. A branch of the family settled in Ireland and adopted the name of Fitzgerald which means “son of Gerald”. The Geographic article brought up the subject that the Mona Lisa may have been related to Kennedy!
Since then I have had a recurring interest on the Mona Lisa. I first equated the famous painting to expressions of my Rosemary who had that slight smile (is it a smile?) that, somehow, was tinged with sadness. Then I wrote three blogs where I described three beautiful women I photographed as Mona Lisas.
Those who might read or look at my blogs would know that rarely do any of my subjects ever smile. I believe that a smile hides a person’s soul.
