Isabella of Naples

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(Not to be confused with Isabella of Aragon, Queen of France.)

Isabella of Aragon, princess of Naples

Isabella di Aragona (October 2, 1470 – February 11, 1524) was born a princess of Naples, granddaughter of King Ferdinand I of Naples and daughter of King Alphonse II of Naples. From 1489 to 1494 she was the Duchess Consort of Milan, and from 1499 to 1524 the Duchess of Bari and Princess of Rossano. After her brother Ferdinand II's death, she was the heir of the Brienne claim to the title King of Jerusalem.

She married her first cousin Gian Galeazzo Sforza, Duke of Milan. They had one son and two daughters:

Francesco Sforza "il Duchetto", Duke of Milan from 1494 to 1512, Count of Pavia from 1491 to 1499, and Abbot of Marmoutier in 1505;
Bona Sforza, Queen of Poland, Grand Duchess of Lithuania, and second wife of King Sigismund I of Poland; and
Ippolita Maria, who died in 1501 at the age of 7.

Isabella also outlived Francesco, who was killed in 1512 by falling from his horse. Of her three children, only Bona survived her.

It has been argued that Isabella is the model for Leonardo da Vinci's immortal painting the Mona Lisa. There have also been suggestions that she made a clandestine marriage with Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), supposedly bearing him two sons and three daughters.^[1]

Isabella of Aragon, Raffaello Sanzio, Doria Pamphilj Gallery

As for the Mona Lisa controversy, Maike Vogt-Lüerssen argues that the woman behind the famous smile is Isabella of Aragon, the Duchess of Milan. Leonardo was the court painter for the Duke of Milan for 11 years. The pattern on Mona Lisa's dark green dress, Vogt-Lüerssen believes, indicates that she is a member of the house of Sforza. Her theory is that the Mona Lisa was the first official portrait of the new Duchess of Milan, which requires that it was painted in spring or summer 1489 (and not 1503).

There is another portrait, painted by Raffaello Sanzio, (Doria Pamphilj Gallery, Rome, which shows much similarity with Isabella of Aragon. The dress of the lady is definitely from 1515 to 1525 and the young fair-haired woman shows the symbols of the Milanese House of Sforza, the bow, and the colours red and white. Isabella of Aragon was at that time 45 to 55 years old and she had dark hair.