Historians have different ideas as to who the actual subject of this painting is, and perhaps no one will ever be able to finally settle this source of much speculation. One of the most widely held beliefs on the topic is that the painting was made of the wife of a rich Florentine silk merchant and power political nobleman, Francesco del Giocondo. Her name was Lisa Gherardini, making her 24 at the time of the first sitting.
Others hypothesize that the Mona Lisa is actually a man in "drag" or perhaps a transvestite. Some believe it is actually a portrait of Giocondo (this may be associated with an alternate name for the Mona Lisa; La Gioconda-which in Italian however, means light-hearted woman), while others claim to be able to prove undeniably that it is of da Vinci himself. Imposing the image of a previously painted self portrait by da Vinci over the Mona Lisa smile, features of the faces align perfectly.
