I, Mona Lisa (64 page)

“While I adhered to my historical time line—to the very day, where the Medici and other historical figures were involved—I took advantage of the freedom offered by Lisa’s relative anonymity.”

Are you currently working on another book? And if so, what—or who—is your subject?

Yes, I’m working on
The Bloodiest Queen
, a novel about Catherine de’ Medici. When I was working on
I, Mona Lisa
, I became fascinated by the Medici family, and so did some extracurricular reading. Catherine was a brilliant, shrewd, strong woman who overcame a horrific childhood to become queen of France. I was immediately drawn to her for three reasons: first, she is arguably the most capable, intelligent person ever to rule France; second, she is blamed for the worst bloodshed in French history, the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre; and third, she was obsessed by the occult and an intimate of Nostradamus.

Historical Perspective

The Medici Family of Florence:
A Time Line

April 26, 1478

Lorenzo’s brother, Giuliano de’ Medici, is murdered in the cathedral of Santa Maria della Fiore

December 1479

Leonardo da Vinci sketches the executed Bernardo Baroncelli

March 15, 1479

Recorded date of Lisa di Antonio Gherardini’s birth

1482

Leonardo leaves Florence for Milan

April 8, 1492

Lorenzo de’ Medici dies

November 8, 1494

Piero de’ Medici and his brothers are expelled from Florence

Medici brothers eventually settle in Rome

November 17, 1494

Charles VIII of France and his army enter Florence

March 5, 1495

Lisa Gherardini marries Francesco del Giocondo

February 7, 1497

Savonarola’s “bonfire of the vanities”

April 7, 1498

The infamous “trial by fire”

May 23, 1498

Savonarola executed

December 28, 1503

Piero di Lorenzo de’ Medici drowns in the Garigliano River