Mona Lisa, regarded as the most recognizable painting in the whole world
and one of the most mysterious ones too
with speculations still going on about the true identity of the woman in the painting
the subtle hidden codes and letters confusing people even 500 years later
and that smile of hers
that damned smile
is she smiling at us?
or judging us?
that we may probably, never know
but let's talk about the secrets that we currently do know
did you notice that Mona Lisa has no eyebrows?
I mean for a painting that has been so meticulously detailed
by the legendary da Vinci
it would be pretty stupid to forget to draw her eyebrows
but Pascal Cotte, a French engineer
who dedicated 3000 hours only examining the Mona Lisa
claims that he could see traces of a left eyebrow
which cannot be seen with the naked eye
he created an ultra high resolution close-up
that magnified Mona Lisa's face 24 times
and his conclusion is that Mona Lisa once had
both eyebrows and eyelashes
but that due to years of restoration by curators
the eyebrows have been gradually eroded to the point
that they are no longer visible
Mona Lisa was pregnant
Researchers studying 3D images of the Mona Lisa
say that she was probably either pregnant
or had just given birth when she sat for the painting
the fine veil around Mona Lisa's shoulders
was a garment which women of the Italian Renaissance wore
when they were expecting
The veil called Guarnello is transparent
and it looks similar to a gauzy garment in Sandro Boticellli's 'Portrait of a Lady'
depicting a pregnant woman with her hand over her stomach
A hidden potrait found under the original painting
Once again, Pascal Cotte who has spent 10 years
analysing the painting
came out with another claim that
a technique which he pioneered
he found out that the image that he reconstructed
underneath the surface of the painting
is Leonado's original Lisa
and that the portrait named Mona Lisa
for more than 500 years
is infact a different woman
if this theory is actually confirmed
then this may prove that all of us have been admiring a fake Mona Lisa
Mona Lisa's eyes appear to move
it doesn't matter if you look at Mona Lisa directly
or at a 45 degree angle
her eyes always seem to move with you
and she keeps looking at you
creepy isn't it
Researchers have determined that the way we interact with
static images differs from how we view individuals
When we view a painting
our minds register the image as 2D
but the object as 3D
and our mind goes haywire
if a person in a painting
is looking straight out
it will always appear that way
regardless of the angle at which it is viewed
the only difference that they found is that
when viewed from an angle
the torso looked squashed
in other words it looked thinner to the viewers
The idea is simple
No matter what angle you look at a painting from
The painting itself doesn't change
you are looking at a flat surface
this means that if the subject of a painting
is staring straight out
they will appear to look at you
wherever you are in the room
The science behind Mona Lisa's smile
is she smiling
or smirking?
is she happy or angry?
Mona appears to be smiling
until the viewer looks directly at the subject's mouth
at which point it seems downturned
Well researchers have finally figured this out
that this effect was achieved
using da Vinci's trademark smoky effect
known as sfumato
on the painting by applying upto 40 layers
of extremely thin glaze
probably smeared on with his fingers
At the time when da Vinci was perfecting Lisa's smile
he spent in his nights in the depths of the morgue
under the hospital of Santa Maria Nuova
peeling the flesh off cadavers
and exposing the muscles and nerves underneath
He became fascinated about how a smile begins to form
and instructed himself to analyze every possible movement
of each part of the face
and determine the origin of every nerve
When we look at an object straight on
it appears sharper
But when we look at it peripherally
glimpsing it out of the corner of our eye
It is a bit blurred
as it if were farther away
With this knowledge
Leonardo was able to create an uncatchable smile
The very fine lines at the corner of Lisa's mouth
shows a small downturn
Just like the mouth floating atop the anatomy sheet
If you stare directly at the mouth
your retina catches these tiny details
and delineations
making her appear not to be smiling
So all in all we cannot say
with 100% confidence that
all the facts and theories are true
but one thing which is for sure
is that Leonardo da Vinci
was a mad, mad genius.
