Is there a story behind the smile?

Belle Ami’s ‘Mona Lisa’s Daughter’ explores Da Vinci’s masterpiece through fiction, revealing secrets behind the world’s most famous smile.

“Life is a brief dream, and love is the only thing that makes it worthwhile” - Mona Lisa’s Daughter.

Why is the smile of Mona Lisa so mysterious in the painting? Mona Lisa’s smile has been written and sung about, but is it really a smile? Why did Da Vinci capture a smile that is not quite a smile? Why did her husband commission the painting, as it is obvious Lisa was pregnant when she was painted? What is the story behind Da Vinci’s famous painting? Why is it so famous? How is it relevant today? More importantly, who is Mona Lisa’s daughter? What happened to her?

These and many more questions are answered by Belle Ami in her book, Mona Lisa’s Daughter.

The story begins in the run-up to the Second World War. Valentina is put in a convent by her mother as she is pregnant after being raped. She works in a library, assisting the librarian and discovers letters over 400 years old — correspondence between Da Vinci and Mona Lisa. As the librarian wants her to make copies of it in ink and print, she sets about doing so.

Once Valentina has the baby, she is convinced by the nuns to give up her daughter for adoption, and a young Jewish couple adopt her baby. She is forced to return and her mother decides to marry her to her rapist who comes from a rich fascist family but Valentina leaves her home and becomes a nun in Florence. But what has Da Vinci’s correspondence 400 years ago with Lisa got to do with Valentina and the Second World War?

Interplay of stories

Set in Florence, the narrative entwines the story of Leonardo Da Vinci and Valentina in alternating chapters as they live four centuries apart. It tells of the history of Florence during the wars in Da Vinci’s time, when the Renaissance was at its peak and in Valentina’s time, when fascism was raging in Italy. It also talks about the friendship and love between the elderly, a gay Leonardo Da Vinci and a young, positive Signora Lisa del Giocondo, known to the world as Mona Lisa, a woman who was married and had five children. It was Lisa’s husband who commissioned Da Vinci to paint her portrait. That it took him almost 17 years to paint it is fascinating, as it was interrupted by politics, pregnancy and other issues.

The Lisa who sat down for Da Vinci to paint during the first sitting was much different from the portrait he completed, but DaVinci never took any fees and neither did he part with the painting till his death. That Leonardo Da Vinci and Lisa were vegetarians may come as a surprise to many readers.

The narrative travels all over Italy — Rome, Milan, Pisa and Florence. By using two timelines and weaving them together, the author amuses the reader with the rivalry between Leonardo Da Vinci and Michelangelo Buonarroti.

Raphael Sanzio and Sandro Botticelli make an appearance apart from Machiavelli and explorer Amerigo Vespucci. Amerigo Vespucci is the man after whom two continents, North America and South America, are named. Of course, the United States of America is also named after Amerigo.

In Valentina’s timeline, who else makes an appearance but Benito Mussolini or Il Duce, who had a Jewish mistress and Valentina’s rapist Dante whose rich family are proud fascists. Most Second World War timelines in fiction pay more attention to Hitler and the Third Reich. Very little attention is paid to Italy and Benito Mussolini, the original fascist. A woman actually tried to assassinate Mussolini, but he escaped and was later arrested in 1943 by the Italians. Italy then joined with the Allies, after which the Germans invaded Italy and took away the Jews to concentration camps in other parts of Europe, though many escaped due to their fellow Italian citizens. Italians hid Jewish families in convents, homes and hospitals.   

The writing flows easily, and the reader is engaged throughout. The insightful narrative shows us a mirror to the patriarchal world we live in. It also serves as a timely reminder as to how history might repeat itself if we don’t learn from it. The pace is good and makes you wonder who Mona Lisa’s daughter is until she turns up, and you learn where she ended up and how.

One has to applaud Belle Ami as she has managed to tell an engaging story based on historical facts mixed with fiction, which is a tough task, to say the least.

Historical fiction is often challenging because you are dealing with well-known figures from history, and you cannot fictionalise known facts about them. In short, this is one book you have to read this year.