I, Mona Lisa

　　一四七八年四月二十六日，春寒料峭的佛羅倫斯正舉行彌撒大典。統治者羅倫佐．梅迪奇年輕俊美的胞弟朱利安諾才剛跨入百花聖母大教堂，立即被刺客團團圍住，橫死在好容易才蓋成的雄偉圓頂之下……

　　翌年，蒙娜麗莎出生了。官方記載的日期是一四七九年六月十五日；母親拿給占卜師的生日為什麼整整早了一個多月？生為羊毛商的獨生女，本該享不盡榮華富貴，麗莎卻只祈求擁有真愛。

　　十五世紀文藝復興巔峰時期的各路豪傑與麗莎不斷錯身交集，或師或友，亦敵亦仇：「大豪傑」羅倫佐．梅迪奇、達文西、米開朗基羅、宗教改革家薩伏納洛拉……一一登場。風雲詭譎的大時代迫使單純、無知、一心嚮往浪漫愛情的少女，焠鍊成忍辱負重、親痛仇快亦不悔的奇女子。

　　達文西為蒙娜麗莎留下一幅77公分乘以53公分的小小畫像，卻也留下五百年來藝壇最知名、最受吸引，也最能啟迪想像力的畫作。再也沒有任何作品能比「蒙娜麗莎的微笑」締造更多的話題、蘊含更多的謎團。本書作者琴恩．卡洛葛帝斯結合豐厚的歷史知識與黠慧的想像力，帶給全球思索那一抹神祕微笑的讀者一個信服又滿意的解答。

　　她，為何微笑了？達文西為何花了七年才畫好「蒙娜麗莎」？完成之後又不把畫交出？作者慧黠地結合史實與虛構，推敲出名畫微笑背後的神祕，細膩描繪文藝復興大時代動盪與輝煌下，一名奇女子如何反抗命運、追求真相、自由與蛻變。

★本書中文版由貓頭鷹出版社出版。

【作者簡介】

琴恩．卡洛葛帝斯（Jeanne Kalogridis）

　　1954年生於美國佛羅里達，原主修微生物學，後改修俄語，擁有俄文學士與語言學碩士學位。曾在華府的美國大學教導外籍生英語達八年，之後開始全職寫作。目前住在美國西岸，養了兩隻拉布拉多犬。已經出版四十多種作品，包括《吸血鬼家族日記系列》、《女巫烈焰》、《波吉亞家新娘》、《梅迪奇女王》，以及「星艦迷航記」電視劇本二十多集。

Chapter One

My name is Lisa di Antonio Gherardini, though to acquaintances I am known simply as Madonna Lisa, and to those of the common class, Monna Lisa.

My likeness has been recorded on wood, with boiled linseed oil and pigments dug from earth or crushed from semiprecious stones and applied with brushes made from the feathers of birds and the silken fur of animals.

I have seen the painting. It does not look like me. I stare at it and see instead the faces of my mother and father. I listen and hear their voices. I feel their love and their sorrow, and I witness, again and again, the crime that bound them together; the crime that bound them to me.

For my story begins not with my birth but a murder, committed the year before I was born.

It was first revealed to me during an encounter with the astrologer two weeks before my birthday, which was celebrated on the fifteenth of June. My mother announced that I would have my choice of a present. She assumed that I would request a new gown, for nowhere has sartorial ostentation been practiced more avidly than my native Florence. My father was one of the city’s wealthiest wool merchants, and his business connections afforded me my pick of sumptuous silks, brocades, velvets, and furs.

But I did not want a gown. I had recently attended the wedding of my uncle Lauro and his young bride, Giovanna Maria. During the celebration afterward, my grandmother had remarked sourly:

“It cannot last happily. She is a Sagittarius, with Taurus ascendant. Lauro is Aries, the Ram. They will constantly be butting heads.”

“Mother,” my own had reproached gently.

“If you and Antonio had paid attention to such matters—” My grandmother had broken off at my mother’s sharp glance.

I was intrigued. My parents loved each other, but had never been happy. And I realized that they had never discussed my stars with me.

When I questioned my mother, I discovered that my chart had never been cast. This shocked me: Well-to-do Florentine families often consulted astrologers on important matters, and charts were routinely drawn up for newborns. And I was a rare creature: an only child, the bearer of my family’s hopes.

And as an only child, I was well aware of the power I possessed; I whined and pleaded pitifully until my reluctant mother yielded.

Had I known then what was to follow, I would not have pressed so hard.