As to M. Reinach's alternative that Giocondo must have left the Mona Lisa on Leonardo's hands and it afterwards became the property of Francis I, this would not account for Leonardo telling the Cardinal that he had painted it to the order of Giuliano de' Medici, which would have been a deliberate and gratuitous lie that Leonardo could scarcely have been guilty of, and for which there was no earthly necessity. As to the King's acquisition of the picture direct from Leonardo himself in France, it is hardly possible, as I have shown, besides which in his will, made nine days before his death, he left Melzi 'the instruments and portraits appertaining to his art and calling as a Painter,'[1] a proceeding that would have been a solemn farce, performed in the presence of several witnesses, besides Melzi himself who was there, unless Leonardo had the portraits at the time in his possession to leave.[2] The King could not have seized it under the law affecting dead aliens' property, since he gave Leonardo, as a special favour, the right and power to will his possessions.[3] That Francis the First, after Giocondo's death in 1528, literally chased the portrait of the dead man's wife, does not tally with the history of the time when the King was more seriously engaged in foreign political complications. Thus, it will be seen that none of M. Reinach's theories can be justified in the light of probability or circumstance.
On the strength of the will, I think we may fairly assume that the St. Anne, the St. John, and the Mona Lisa, alias the 'Florentine Lady,' were acquired by Francis I from Leonardo's legatee, Melzi. Moreover, if Leonardo spoke the truth, there is but one possible solution: that the portrait shown by him to the Cardinal, and described by him as ' A Florentine lady painted from life to the order of the late Giuliano de' Medici,' was the second version of the Mona Lisa: because, if such, it would have been commenced in Florence in 1500, when Madonna Lisa sat for the master, and in 1513, when Giuliano de' Medici gave the order, it was then still unfinished; and if it were finished at Cloux (as was the St. Anne and others) in compliance with Giuliano's order, this would have
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- ↑ The exact words of the will are: 'Che il dicto Tentatore ha de presente et altai instrument! et Portracti circa l'arte sua et industria de Pictovi.' 'The Literary Works of Leonardo da Vinci,' by J. P. Richter (vol. 2, p. 468); also 'Leonardo da Vinci's Notebooks,' McCurdy (p. 28).
- ↑ The only two he had were those of Isabella d'Este and Mona Lisa, both now in the Louvre.
- ↑ 'As he had letters patent from the most Christian King enabling him to bequeath his property to whom he pleased, without which he could not have done so, he made a will. . . .' Extract from letter of Francisco Melzi to Leonardo's brothers informing them of his death.
