Timeline of the original ‘Mona Lisa‘

1452: Birth of Leonardo da Vinci in Anchiano near Vinci, just outside Florence, Italy.

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

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

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

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

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

1506: Leonardo departs for Milan quite suddenly at the request of Charles d’Amboise, leaving the portrait of Lisa del Giocondo , and likely takes it with him when he leaves Florence.

1513: Under commission by Giuliano de Medici in Rome, Leonardo works on the painting that is now in the Louvre, likely using his earlier portrait of ‘Mona Lisa‘ del Giocondo as a model.

1517: Antonio de Beatis accompanies the Cardinal of Aragon to visit Leonardo in Cloux, near Amboise, France, where they are shown a finished portrait of ”… a certain Florentine lady … “. De Beatis details the account in his journal, which ultimately confirms the painting was commissioned by Giuliano de Medici. It is widely accepted that the portrait they were shown that day is the version that now hangs in the Louvre.

1518: A Royal receipt details the transaction, facilitated by Leonardo’s apprentice Salai, in which the Louvre painting enters the French Royal Collection.

1525: Upon his death, an inventory of Salai’s possessions in Milan registers a high-valued painting as ‘La Honda‘ – believed to be a short form for ‘La Gioconda‘ – and is corrected as such in a later version of that inventory.

1550: Giorgio Vasari describes the portrait of Lisa del Giocondo as having been left unfinished in his compendium of biographies: The Lives of the Most Excellent Italian Painters, Sculptors and Architects (also known as the Vite).

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

c. 1570-1770: During the turbulent times in Italy and France, no records of the painting’s whereabouts are uncovered.

1584: Gian Paolo Lomazzo notes two separate but similar paintings by Leonardo, ‘La Gioconda‘ and a ‘Mona Lisa’, in his Treatise on Pictures, Sculptures and Architecture’.

c.1778: The original ‘Mona Lisa’ 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.

1856: A painting attributed to Leonardo da Vincie goes on exhibit at the Yeovil Fine Arts Exhibition, outside Somerset, England.

1858: An auction at Avishays House in Somerset features the same painting that had been on exhibit at the Yeovil Fine Arts Exhibition two years prior. It is listed as ‘La Joconde‘ (French for ‘The Smiling One’) by Leonardo da Vinci.

1913: 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. Blaker acquires the portrait and brings it to his studio in Isleworth, London, where it becomes known as the ‘Isleworth Mona Lisa‘.

1914: The painting is sent to the United States for safekeeping during World War I. It is housed in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts until 1918.

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

1922-1926: Eyre follows up with a book on the painting, detailing ten reasons for recognising it as the original 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 the leading Leonardo experts, most of whom confirmed its attribution to Da Vinci.

1936: Hugh Blaker dies. His sister Jane, along with his colleague and estate executor, Murray Urquart, arrange the display of the ‘Isleworth Mona Lisa‘ in an exhibition of Blaker’s private collection of paintings at the Leicester Galleries in London.

1951: Encyclopaedia Americana lists the ‘Isleworth Mona Lisa‘ as the earlier of the two original versions by Leonardo da Vinci.

1962: 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: Pulitzer has the ‘Isleworth Mona Lisa‘ brought to Switzerland, where it is locked away in a bank vault.

1979: Henry Pulitzer dies, and the painting is bequeathed to his partner, Elizabeth Meyer.

1982: Internationally acclaimed French almanac, L’Encyclopédie Quid, acknowledges the existence of two versions of the ‘Mona Lisa’ by Leonardo: The earlier version in a Swiss bank vault, and the later version in the Louvre, Paris. It continues to publish this same listing in subsequent years.

2008: Elizabeth Meyer passes away. The ownership of the original ‘Mona Lisa’ has passed to an international consortium.

2012: The Mona Lisa Foundation, established as an institution to conduct all necessary research, presents all historical and scientific evidence relating to the original ‘Mona Lisa‘ to the press and the public. The findings of 35 years of research and testing are published in their book, Mona Lisa – Leonardo’s Earlier Version.

2014: The earlier ‘ Mona Lisa‘ begins a worldwide exhibition tour. The premiere opens at the Old Parliament in Singapore with the support of its government agencies and the endorsement of the Singapore Arts Council.

2015: In a peer-reviewed journal, Professors Lorusso and Natali publish a comprehensive review of ‘Mona Lisa’ versions and copies, and determine that the earlier ‘Mona Lisa‘ and the Louvre version are both original paintings by Leonardo Da Vinci.

2016: The exhibition travels to Shanghai, receiving tremendous public and critical acclaim. Professors Asmus, Parfenov and Elford publish a peer-reviewed paper, also confirming (with 99% certainty) that Leonardo da Vinci painted both the earlier ‘Mona Lisa‘ and the Louvre portrait.

2017: The Louvre Museum publishes a new book in which the author, Vincent Delieuvin, curator of 16th Century Italian painting, states that Raphael and other copyists must have based their copies of the ‘Mona Lisa’ on a version other than the one in the Louvre today.

2019: The painting and its accompanying exhibition travel are shown at Palazzo Bastogi in the center of Florence, following the invitation of the Regional Council of Tuscany. This showing coincides with the celebrations marking the 500-year anniversary of Leonardo’s passing. Fielding Graduate University publishes Mona Lisa: New Perspectives, a peer-reviewed work, edited by Prof. Jean-Pierre Isbouts, which groups the works of 11 scholars on the subject of the original ‘Mona Lisa’. This latest publication reinforces its attribution to Leonardo da Vinci.

2022: Publication of the analysis of the historical evidence and a research breakthrough, which establishes beyond a reasonable doubt that the Louvre version must be Leonardo’s second portrait of Mona Lisa. The analysis clearly shows that the features of the earlier ‘Mona Lisa‘ fit with the first portrait.

Is the Louvre Mona Lisa Leonardo’s Second Version? by Professor Salvatore Lorusso is released by the Erma di Bretschneider in June. In this publication, Lorusso provides definitive proof that the Louvre paointing is a second work by Leonardo on the subject and that Leonardo therefore painted two ‘Mona Lisas’.

2023: Leonardo da Vinci’s Earlier Mona Lisa exhibition opens in Turin, Italy.