 On 5 March 1495 , Lisa married Francesco di Bartolomeo di <unk> del Giocondo , a modestly successful cloth and silk merchant , becoming his third wife at age 15 . Lisa 's dowry was 170 florins and the San Silvestro farm near her family 's country home , a sign that the Gherardini family was not wealthy at the time and reason to think she and her husband loved each other . The property lies between Castellina and San Donato in Poggio , near two farms later owned by Michelangelo . Neither poor nor among the most well @-@ to @-@ do in Florence , the couple lived a middle @-@ class life . Lisa 's marriage may have increased her social status because her husband 's family may have been richer than her own . Francesco is thought to have benefited because Gherardini is an " old name " . They lived in shared accommodation until 5 March 1503 , when Francesco was able to buy a house next door to his family 's old home in the Via della <unk> . Leonardo is thought to have begun painting Lisa 's portrait the same year . 
