Leonardo da Vinci May Have Used Artistic License
on His Famous Leading Lady
on His Famous Leading Lady
It turns out Leonardo da Vinci's most famous subject, Mona Lisa, may not have looked exactly as he depicted her in his magnum opus. According to a recent article on LiveScience.com, a French engineer named Pascal Cotte has used a cutting-edge multi-spectral imaging camera to reveal the painting's earliest layers -- and along with them, Da Vinci's earliest renderings of his subject.
Cotte's experiment unearthed some surprising facts and also helped resolve age-old debates between art historians. For instance:
1- Mona Lisa's famous, quizzical smile was originally much wider.
2- Da Vinci initially "gave" his subject eyebrows, but in subsequent alterations and layers, they were covered over.
3- Blotch marks on the corner of Mona Lisa's eye and chin are the result varnish accidents, which many historians misinterpreted as Mona Lisa being ill.
How well do you know the Mona Lisa? Read the LiveScience article and find out!
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