We all love a mystery, and art historians seem to have uncovered one after discovering minute letters and numbers painted into the pupils of the eyes of Leonardo Da Vinci’s painting of the woman known as the Mona Lisa.
On display in the Louvre, the woman with the enigmatic smile, also known as La Gioconda, was painted in the early 1500s when Da Vinci was living in France and is a half-portrait painted in oils on a poplar panel. There are a variety of theories as to who the painting represents; one says that it is Lisa Gheradini, the wife of a Florence merchant, another says that it is Da Vinci’s mother. Yet another says that it shows the face of Da Vinci himself.
The painting has been closely examined by members of the Italian National Committee for Cultural Heritage who say that, seen under a magnifying glass, the letters LV appear in the painting’s right pupil, while in the left pupil appear the letters CE or CB. In the arch of the bridge in the background appears the number 72 or, possibly, L2.
It seems that art historians were alerted to the secrets of the 500-year-old painting by the discovery of a 50-year-old book that described how the Mona Lisa's eyes are full of various signs and symbols.
Odd isn’t it that truth so often mirrors fiction? The painting, possibly the most famous in the world, featured in the book and movie of The Da Vinci Code whose main character interprets secret messages found hidden in it and some of Da Vinci’s other works.
But whether we will ever discover the secret behind these minute symbols hidden in the Mona Lisa’s enigmatic smile, is quite another thing.
.
On display in the Louvre, the woman with the enigmatic smile, also known as La Gioconda, was painted in the early 1500s when Da Vinci was living in France and is a half-portrait painted in oils on a poplar panel. There are a variety of theories as to who the painting represents; one says that it is Lisa Gheradini, the wife of a Florence merchant, another says that it is Da Vinci’s mother. Yet another says that it shows the face of Da Vinci himself.
The painting has been closely examined by members of the Italian National Committee for Cultural Heritage who say that, seen under a magnifying glass, the letters LV appear in the painting’s right pupil, while in the left pupil appear the letters CE or CB. In the arch of the bridge in the background appears the number 72 or, possibly, L2.
It seems that art historians were alerted to the secrets of the 500-year-old painting by the discovery of a 50-year-old book that described how the Mona Lisa's eyes are full of various signs and symbols.
Odd isn’t it that truth so often mirrors fiction? The painting, possibly the most famous in the world, featured in the book and movie of The Da Vinci Code whose main character interprets secret messages found hidden in it and some of Da Vinci’s other works.
But whether we will ever discover the secret behind these minute symbols hidden in the Mona Lisa’s enigmatic smile, is quite another thing.
.
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