1452 – Birth of Leonardo da Vinci. Town of Anchiano near Vinci, just outside of Florence, Italy.

 

1479 – Birth of Lisa Camilla Gherardini (Mona Lisa del Giocondo) in via Sguazza, Florence.

 

1500 – Leonardo returns to Florence from Milan, via Mantua and Venice.

 

1503-1506 – Leonardo paints the portrait of Lisa, commissioned by her husband Francesco del Giocondo, at his studio in Florence, Italy.

 

1503 – The Heidelberg Document: Agostino Vespucci witnesses Leonardo painting the portrait of Lisa de Giocondo, and suggests it will be intentionally unfinished. He details this account in the now famous ‘Heidelberg Document’.

 

1504 – Raphael Sketch: Copying Leonardo’s portrait of Mona Lisa, Raphael makes a pen and ink sketch of the Mona Lisa (‘Young Lady on a Balcony‘), who is flanked by two columns (which do not appear in the Louvre ‘Mona Lisa‘).

 

1506 – Leonardo leaves the ‘Earlier Mona Lisa‘ unfinished, and likely takes it with him when he leaves Florence.

 

1508 – Glazing technique: Leonardo develops a glazing technique which is conspicuous in his paintings from this time including the Louvre ‘Mona Lisa‘.

 

1513 – Under the patronage of Giuliano de Medici in Rome, Leonardo is working on the Louvre ‘Mona Lisa‘, probably using the ‘Earlier Mona Lisa‘ portrait of Lisa del Giocondo as a model.

 

1516 – Departure for France: Leonardo leaves Rome for Cloux.

 

1517 – The visit in Cloux: Antonio de Beatis accompanies the Cardinal of Aragon on a visit to Leonardo in Cloux, near Amboise, France, and is shown a finished portrait of a ‘ … certain Florentine lady … “, and records that the work was commissioned by Giuliano de Medici. It is widely accepted that the portrait he saw is the version that is now hanging in the Louvre.

 

1518 – The Royal Receipt: A Royal receipt details the transaction facilitated by Leonardo’s apprentice Salai, in which the Louvre ‘Mona Lisa‘ enters the Royal Collection.

 

1525 – The Salai Inventory: Upon his death, an inventory of Salai’s possessions in Milan lists a high-valued painting as ‘La Honda‘, which is known to be a short form for ‘La Gioconda‘, and is corrected as such in a later version of that inventory. It has been widely accepted that this painting was Leonardo’s orgina; Mona Lisa painting.

 

1550 – Giorgio Vasari’s compendium The Lives of the Most Excellent Italian Architects, Painters and Sculptors: Giorgio Vasari describes the portrait of Lisa del Giocondo as having been left unfinished.

 

1568 – Giorgio Vasari’s second edition: Vasari publishes a second edition of his Vite nearly 20 years later, in which he again describes the painting as unfinished.

 

1584 – Gian Paolo Lomazzo’s Treatise on Pictures, Sculpture and Architecture : Lomazzo notes two separate but similar paintings by Leonardo da Vinci: a’Gioconda‘, and a ‘Mona Lisa‘.

 

1590-1770 – During turbulent times in Italy, no records of the painting’s whereabouts are uncovered.

 

c.1778 – The Grand Tour: The painting is believed to have been acquired in Italy by English nobleman, James Thomas Benedictus Marwood, while making his ‘Grand Tour’, and brought to England as part of an art collection to be housed in his Somerset manor house.

 

1858 – Avishays: An auction at Avishays House in Somerset, England features ‘La Joconde‘ by Leonardo da Vinci, which was likely the ‘Earlier Mona Lisa‘. The same painting had been on exhibit at the Yeovil Fine Arts Exhibition two years prior. It was likely purchased by the family residing at Montacute House.

 

1913 – The Great Discovery: Hugh Blaker, art connoisseur and curator of the Holburne Museum in Bath, England, rediscovers the painting at the Somerset manor house of an aristocratic family (likely Monatacute House). Blaker acquires the painting and brings it to his studio in Isleworth, London, where it becomes known as the ‘Isleworth Mona Lisa‘.

 

1914 – First World War: The ‘EarlierMona Lisa‘ is sent to the USA for safekeeping during World War I. It is housed in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts until 1918.

 

1915 – Introducing the Case: John R. Eyre, art historian and expert, writes a monograph on the painting, which is immediately published in London and New York.

 

1922-1926 – Connoisseurs see the painting: Eyre follows up with a second book on the painting detailing ten reasons for recognising it as the earlier version of Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci. In this book, he documents that the painting was brought to Rome in 1922 and was examined by leading Leonardo experts. Most of them confirmed the attribution to Da Vinci.

 

1936 – Exhibition: Hugh Blaker dies. His sister Jane, and Murray Urquhart, his colleague and the executor of his estate, arrange the display of the painting in an exhibition of his private collection of paintings at the Leicester Galleries in London.

 

1951 – Public reference: Encyclopaedia Americana lists the painting as the earlier of the two original versions by Leonardo da Vinci.

 

1962 – Changing hands: Old Master paintings specialist and collector, Dr. Henry Pulitzer, acquires the painting, which becomes the subject of his 1966 book, Where is the Mona Lisa?

 

1975 – Locked away: The ‘EarlierMona Lisa‘ is brought to Switzerland and locked away in a bank vault.

 

1979 – Elisabeth Meyer, Pulitzer’s partner, inherits the painting following Pulitzer’s death, but the painting remains in the bank vault.

 

2008 – New owners: Elizabeth Meyer dies, and the painting passes to an international consortium. The Mona Lisa Foundation is established as an institution to conduct all necessary research to determine if the ‘Earlier Mona Lisa‘ was painted by Leonardo.

 

2012 – The Mona Lisa Foundation publishes the findings of 35 years research and tests in its book ‘Mona Lisa – Leonardo’s Earlier Version’.

 

2014- The ‘Earlier Mona Lisa‘ begins a worldwide exhibition tour.