Mona Lisa -- that smile, those eyes, the mystery of her identity. And now, new clues emerge over what is perhaps the most famous painting in history. An Italian researcher claims the eyes of the enigmatic woman in Leonardo da Vinci's 16th-century masterpiece contain a secret code.
Highly magnified images of the painting reportedly reveal tiny letters embedded into the Mona Lisa's eyes, reports the U.K.'s Guardian.
Invisible to the naked eye and painted in black on green-brown are the letters LV in her right pupil, obviously Leonardo's initials, but it is what is in her left pupil that is far more interesting, said Silvano Vinceti, chairman of Italy's National Committee for Cultural Heritage.
It is very difficult to make them out clearly, but they appear to be the letters CE, or it could be the letter B, Vinceti added.
In what could be a chapter out of Dan Brown's book (and the 2006 film) The Da Vinci Code, more mysterious letters and numbers are found on the Mona Lisa. Vinceti believes these are deliberate hints as to the actual identity of the model who posed for da Vinci's masterpiece -- a mystery that has puzzled art historians for centuries.
Under the right-hand arch of the bridge seen in the background, Leonardo also painted 72 or L2, another possible clue, Vinceti said. Two expert painters we consulted on this tell us that all these marks, painted using a tiny brush and a magnifying glass, cannot be an error.
Earlier this year, French researchers, using X-ray technology, determined that da Vinci used as many as 30 layers of paint to achieve the subtle shadows and light on the beguiling Mona Lisa face.
Full story: http://www.aolnews.com/2010/12/13/do-hidden-letters-in-mona-lisas-eyes-reveal-a-real-da-vinci-cod/
Highly magnified images of the painting reportedly reveal tiny letters embedded into the Mona Lisa's eyes, reports the U.K.'s Guardian.
Invisible to the naked eye and painted in black on green-brown are the letters LV in her right pupil, obviously Leonardo's initials, but it is what is in her left pupil that is far more interesting, said Silvano Vinceti, chairman of Italy's National Committee for Cultural Heritage.
It is very difficult to make them out clearly, but they appear to be the letters CE, or it could be the letter B, Vinceti added.
In what could be a chapter out of Dan Brown's book (and the 2006 film) The Da Vinci Code, more mysterious letters and numbers are found on the Mona Lisa. Vinceti believes these are deliberate hints as to the actual identity of the model who posed for da Vinci's masterpiece -- a mystery that has puzzled art historians for centuries.
Under the right-hand arch of the bridge seen in the background, Leonardo also painted 72 or L2, another possible clue, Vinceti said. Two expert painters we consulted on this tell us that all these marks, painted using a tiny brush and a magnifying glass, cannot be an error.
Earlier this year, French researchers, using X-ray technology, determined that da Vinci used as many as 30 layers of paint to achieve the subtle shadows and light on the beguiling Mona Lisa face.
Full story: http://www.aolnews.com/2010/12/13/do-hidden-letters-in-mona-lisas-eyes-reveal-a-real-da-vinci-cod/
