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Da Vinci made a living drawing and painting the rich people of his day. I'm sure they all didn't look like the young and beautiful Mona Lisa.

• josefresco 4y ago
  > Da Vinci made a living drawing and painting the rich people of his day. From what I read, he hated every minute of it. Chose instead to draw/paint things/people he liked, often holding onto his paintings for years to make refinements, only to never deliver them.
  • actinium226 4y ago
    Yes he kept putting off Isabella d'Este, who really wanted him to make a portrait of her, but it sounds like it was more for status then because she had any taste in art. He painted some of Ludovico Sforza's mistresses. I think 'Lady with an Ermine' is very nice. There's speculation that he took the Mona Lisa commission specifically because it was just a silk merchant who wanted a portrait of his wife. I.e. not a power player. He never delivered the commission, it was with him when he died in France.