Roger and Myrna,
You are both right, both simultaneously and each in your own way (sorry if this sounds a little obscure). Roger, it is true that the uncertainty surrounding the image adds to the mystery, as agreed upon by you, Myrna; and Myrna, it is also possible that the mystery is on its way to being solved. My personal opinion, however, is it will never be completely solved because there will always remain the uncertain factor regarding the image.
In addition, researchers usually tend to complicate matters in their effort to prove themselves right at the same time that they dismiss the simpler solutions which, for one thing, are never as interesting as their own theories.
I have always thought the version of Giorgio Vasari about the Mona Lisa identity is perfectly possible. He was a near contemporary of Leonardo and should know what he was talking about, since it was his trade to write biographies of the great artists of his time. According to him, she was Lisa Gherardini, the wife of a rich Florentine merchant, Francesco del Giocondo, hence the other name ("the Gioconda") by which the portrait has always been known. Vasari suggests Leonardo was in love with her, which is perfectly possible considering she was a famous beauty. How explain that he spent over six months just to draw a first sketch of the portrait, if not?
Now if I remember well, there also was talk that she was a sort of priestess, maybe a high degree in Frank masonry, and that the nature of their relationship was most special, like that of a master and pupil. The extreme care Leonardo painted her eyebrow, which only recently has been found to have taken hundreds (if not thousands) brush passes, and something also very special in the way and the attitude that her right hand rests on her left one strongly suggest this.
Of course all this can also be legend, but it can explain at least part of the particularities surrounding the image mystery.
Another solution is, all these possibilities are real. It would be very Leonardo's to portray the Mona Lisa with all of them in mind. To be honest, while I favor Vasari's version, I cannot be sure. No one can. This is the reason I have posted this entire story in the first place.
Best Wishes,
Luis Miguel G.
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