Buying the New Yorker 1976 - page 62

Oh, Wikipedia, can you corroborate the lovely story from this ad?

In 1525, a Saronno church commissioned artist Leonardo Da Vinci and student Bernardino Luini to paint their sanctuary with frescoes. As the church was dedicated to the Virgin Mary, Luini needed to depict the Madonna, but was in need of a model. He found his inspiration in a young widowed innkeeper, who became his model and (in most versions) lover. Out of gratitude and affection, the woman wished to give him a gift. Her simple means did not permit much, so she steeped apricot kernels in brandy and presented the resulting concoction to a touched Luini.

From my small amount of digging, I'm ready to guess that this is the fresco that the young widowed innkeeper posed for.

I quite like the photo of the young couple in the ad. The awkwardness of the shot makes me wonder if there were television ads featuring these two. Luini would have been in his mid-forties by the time this story took place, and this guy looks like he's still in college. His resemblance to a young Joe Namath does not help.

The official Amaretto website has a much shorter and more circumspect version of the tale. You can no longer send for a recipe booklet, as they can now put it all online. The mixed drinks section includes the helpful recipe for "Amaretto on the Rocks" (You want to use Crushed ice). The food recipe section has a cheesecake that looks pretty good and an Amaretto Sweet Potato thing that I can't decide if I want to make or run screaming from.