Isabella di Aragona as Mona Lisa

The sitter wears a luxurious red velvet gown and a jeweled red beret, her hands folded in a manner that mirrors the pose of Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. She is positioned before an open loggia that looks out onto a courtyard with classical columns and a small figure in the distance. To the right, the carved heads of lions are visible on the arm of her chair.

This work represents the intersection of high-court portraiture and the Leonardesque influence on the circle of Raphael, reflecting the Renaissance pursuit of idealized human dignity. Isabella of Aragon was a central figure in the Milanese court, a significant site for the patronage of natural philosophy and Neoplatonism during the late 15th century.