man of the low nobility born in the farmhouse of Marigliano, who had been amasio of the same Prospero Colonna. The latter, having learned of the tresca and jealous of his lover, had Giosuè seriously injured in an ambush by some of his soldiers. For this event Isabella deprived Prospero Colonna of her favors and continued to entertain herself with Giosuè. Then, having retired to Bari, and having Giosuè remain in Naples, Isabella, although she was past forty, took as a lover the thirty-year-old Alessandro Pignatelli, lord of Toritto, who with his wife Laura della Marra already had many children. Among these was the eldest son Ettore Pignatelli, who several years later became the lover of Bona, daughter of Isabella herself. Legacy Isabella was first suggested as the subject of da Vinci's Mona Lisa in 1979. This presupposes that the painting took place in the 1490s, during da Vinci's Milanese period. However, the painting has officially been dated as later, likely ruling Isabella out as the subject. Additionally, Isabella was never recognised during her lifetime as the subject of the painting. Those who viewed the Mona Lisa and were acquainted with Isabella such as Luigi d'Aragona and his secretary, Antonio de Beatis, did not make a connection. She appears in Hella Haasse's 1952 novel The Scarlet City, depicted during her time as Duchess of Bari with mention of her difficult early life. Ancestry References Notes Citations Bibliography . 1470 births 1524 deaths 15th-century Italian women 15th-century Italian nobility 16th-century Italian nobility House of Sforza House of Trastámara Duchesses of Milan 15th-century Neapolitan people Burials at the Basilica of San Domenico, Naples 16th-century women rulers 16th-century Neapolitan people 16th-century Italian women Daughters of kings