Mona Lisa: A Da Vinci Confession

  When Francesco del Giocondo told me that he wanted a painting drawn I thought he wanted a portrait of himself, since he has been a friend ever since he married Lisa I did not ask questions and agreed to do a portrait but Francesco was drunk that day, I helped him get home to his wife, the ever beautiful Lisa, and went home without giving much thought into it. The next morning after I got up and cleaned myself, I heard a knock on the door. I opened the door and it was Lisa as beautiful as ever. Every time I see Lisa now my thoughts run to an old saying I have heard back when I was in Milan. “Women are like fine Wine; they get better with age”. I have seen beautiful young women turn into hideous old hags during my time, but Lisa was the definition of that saying, much like fine wine she only got more beautiful with her age and I have known her since she was a very young woman back in Santa Croce when her family was living close to my father’s house. And when she married again and moved close to my home with Francesco, her beauty has only grown.
My thoughts were all revolving around all these things, for a moment I was able to gather my thoughts and invite Lisa into my messy studio. After talking to Lisa, it was clear that the portrait Francesco wanted me to draw was of his beautiful wife. I do not blame him. I too believe a beauty such as Lisa should be and deserve to be immortalized. I started working on the portrait of the most beautiful model to ever step in my studio. I continued my work on the portrait every day for the next year. At the time I was somewhat famous for my work throughout Florence that I got called out for work in different parts of Florence every day. But every morning Lisa would come over, sometimes with Francesco and I would work on her portrait for a few hours. During this year the portrait was progressing very slow, I was trying to make the portrait as perfect as Lisa is. Francesco and Lisa have been my friends for years now, so they knew that when I am drawing slow, I am trying for perfection. But sometimes I think it might also be because I was doing this portrait for Francesco for free.
Unfortunately, I was summoned by the Gonfaloniere of Justice, Piero Soderini honoring a contract Signed by Niccolo Machiavelli to decorate the Hall of Five Hundred. Which seemed to me like one of the greatest honors for an artist at the time. I had to say goodbye to the beautiful Lisa and my friend Francesco for the time being and I decided to take the portrait with me so that I can work on it whenever I got a chance. After I got to there, I found out I will be working with my rival, Michelangelo Buonarroti. At first, I did not like the idea of working side by side with Michelangelo but after a few days I learnt that he was one of the few that understood my work. We got together for drinks on the second night and it is then that we found out we both have experimental ways of painting that we haven’t tried yet. While getting drunk we agreed to paint the frescoes with our experimental methods.
I had thought of a method a while back which I started to experiment. It requires unusually wet paint and applying heat and drying the paint as you are painting I found two large pots and made two large fires besides the part which I was painting, Michelangelo was using his own method on the wall he was painting which looks like a very basic method of painting at first glance but was a method I have never seen before. Because of our experimental methods the work was going very slow, I think even though this was a friendly competition that I had agreed upon earlier with Michelangelo, it seems that deep within our minds, we were both trying to outdo each other. Painting in the middle of two fire cauldrons was like working in the infernal fires. But almost every night after I am finished with my work I would work on Lisa’s portrait and it would make me forget about my fiery workshop. However as much as I had Lisa’s beauty burnt into my memory I could not risk ruining the portrait which forced me to be very careful in turn making the process very slow.
After about a year since we started painting the walls, we both realized that we were so hooked up on beating each other that we forgot how important this work was. Michelangelo had issues with his painting it was not as good as his previous work, luckily for him he was suddenly called back to Rome by Pope Julius II for a bigger project, so he had to leave the painting unfinished. As far as he was a competition to me, he was a wonderful soul, I thought to myself that it would be truly a gift if I got to work with him side by side just one more time before I die. Even though Michelangelo’s fate helped him get away from humiliation my fate was not as fortunate, the first half of my painting was just as magnificent as I wanted it to be, I had forgotten to take into account the height of the wall when I came up with the drawing method. The second part of the painting started dripping down as the heat applied was not enough to dry the top part of the painting. I managed to finish my painting in time, but I ruined part of the painting.
As I came back home, I thought about how the respect I had earned throughout the country and my reputation was the only thing that saved my head. I let my ego get the best of me and I learned a valuable lesson at the hall of five hundred. After I came home, I was too tired, and I went to sleep right away. The next day I was woken up early in the morning by a knock on the door. It was Francesco and the lovely little Lisa. They had brought me breakfast because they have heard that I was back. It’s amazing how fast news travels I Florence almost as if travels through the air. I welcomed them in when I realized they have brought food for all three of us. We had a lot to talk about, I did not forget to compliment Lisa on her cooking. I could never forget the fact how beautiful Lisa is and how lucky Francesco is to have her by his side. Then I told them I still wasn’t done with the painting, which made Francesco angry, he was offended by the fact that I thought they came here for the painting and he was right. Francesco has been like my best friend since he moved here with Lisa and I was introduced to him by Lisa, I knew they had good intentions, it was wrong of me to assume that. I apologized to Francesco and Lisa and calmed down Francesco. After Cleaning up the Food they left in a hurry. It was clear that Francesco was mad at me, but I did not mean to hurt his feelings.
That night I went to where Francesco was working and I apologized him and invited him for a drink, I apologized to him, but he acted like he didn’t remember anything from the morning. We have been friends for years now, so it was clear that he was trying to imply that it was all water under the bridge. Ever since Francesco was appointed as an official in Florence, we haven’t been able to meet as often as we used to but still we were good friends, we drank all night and I told him that Lisa could come to my studio in the morning to model for the portrait. Surely enough next morning as soon as I finished breakfast Lisa was at the door, this morning as she talked while modeling, she talked about our younger selves and how we met. Nobody knew that Lisa and I had a brief affair with each other when Lisa was young, when she was just a young blossom. Lisa asked me if I was seeing anyone now, I told her I was seeing Cecilia who was a very good friend who had been coming to see me from Milan for academic and political advice, I lied, I know it was not the best thing to do but how could I tell Lisa that she was the only one I loved truly and I could not love anybody else?
The next two years was the busiest I’ve been in Florence, but I managed to keep working on Lisa’s portrait every chance I get. Honestly, I just enjoyed coming home and seeing Lisa’s lovely face at the end of a busy day. Subconsciously I think I was trying to make the process of drawing as slow as possible because my mind did not like the fact that I will not be seeing this beautiful face if I finish it. As my workload grew every year, it required me to travel more around the country, I did not get to see Lisa as often, but I took the portrait everywhere I went so I could see Lisa every night before I sleep. Finally, after two months in Milan I finished the portrait, I was happy as an artist but as a heartbroken lover I was devastated. I would no longer get to see my blossom after I give this to Francesco, on the day I finished the portrait I did not sleep at all, and then at dawn I finally thought what I could do. I decided I am going to do another painting.
The next night I started copying my original portrait, which was pretty easy for me, so easy that it took me only two months, I admit, it was not as beautiful as the original. After a year in Milan I had to return to Florence to settle a dispute with my brothers over my Father’s estate, after that I returned home with the second portrait and handed over the painting to Francesco. He was so delighted that he arranged a dinner for me at their home along with their children. Francesco is one of the best friends I had, but he was no artist, he did not even notice the imperfect and rushed brush strokes on the edges. By the time I sat down for dinner with them, I had decided to leave Florence because as much as I like to see Francesco and Lisa happy it always killed me a little inside. I told them my plans, they took it very well as they knew I had more work in Milan. They both seemed equally sad, but I could see in Lisa’s eyes that deep down she felt what was really happening. The next morning both of them came to bid me farewell. I had packed everything I need and as I saw their figures going out of sight, I thought to myself. “Farewell my blossom, my one true love, farewell Mona Lisa”.
I managed to buy a large house in Santa Babila with a separate big enough area for my studio. I had two young students who were studying art from me in Milan, I invited them to stay with me. In another two years I had several students studying from me. Among my students Giacomo Caprotti was the most troublesome. I had met him years ago and I met him again in Milan and he came to me again. Back when I met him earlier, he was called Salai by the townsfolk because he was a troubled and mischievous teen. But now in Milan he starts to show promise and out of all my students he is now my most trusted one. And during all this I had the portrait of Lisa beside my bed so I could see her beauty before I close my eyes every day and as soon as I open them, and occasionally I would feel like I missed something in her beauty and make adjustments. I decided to tell Salai about my most prized possession and probably the portrait that took the longest time to complete. I advised him on what to do with the painting in case something happens to me, because Lisa and Francesco should not see it. I will try to make Lisa’s portrait as beautiful as she really is until my hands can draw for as her memory grows stronger in my mind, the thought of being with someone else fades away. All I wish is that her beauty never dies, that her eyes forever shine as bright as the northern star, and that her beauty becomes forever immortal. My Blossom, my one true love, my Mona Lisa.

The End