People often say, "A picture paints a thousand words." While that holds true for most pictures, Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa has for centuries continued to evade the understanding of art critics, historians, and the public.
On display in the Louvre, the tiny portrait is often touted as "the best known, the most visited, the most written about, the most sung about, the most parodied work of art in the world."
As such, a deeper investigation into the mysterious smiling woman on the canvas reveals much more than meets the eye.
Who Is She?
The true identity of the portrait sitter remains a mysterious aspect. The majority of thinkers believe the woman to be 24-year-old Lisa Maria de Gherardini (aka Lisa del Giocondo), an Italian noblewoman born in Florence in 1479.
Her portrait was commissioned by her husband, Francesco di Bartolomeo di Zanobi del Giocondo. She lived a middle-class life with her husband working as a silk and cloth merchant. She conceived five children: Piero, Andrea, Camilla, Giocondo, and Marietta.
Other hypotheses suggest that the woman in the painting matches the face of Caterina Sforza, the countess of Forli, and a most formidable foe in military operations.
Another theory proposes the young lady to be a mistress of Giuliano de' Medici, the ruler of Florence, or Isabella d'Este, the marquise of Mantua.
Others have thought the woman to be a portrait of da Vinci's mother or da Vinci himself due to the similarity of facial structures.
The Mona Lisa Smile
Mona Lisa's enigmatic, intriguing, and profoundly perplexing smile is perhaps one of the most mysterious elements of da Vinci's oil painting.
For five centuries, it has been argued whether she is smiling at all, whether she's happy, or whether she's sad.
Professor Margaret Livingstone of Harvard University suggests that the "low spatial frequencies" at which the portrait is painted creates a striking smile when viewers look into her eyes.
With the development of "emotion recognition" computer programs in 2005 by Dutch researchers, the painting was revealed to be 83 percent happy, 9 percent disgusted, 6 percent fearful, 2 percent angry, less than 1 percent neutral, and 0 percent surprised.
However, many have said that her smile changes depending on where you look and at which angle and distance. In a close-up viewing, the fine detail gives the impression of a demure expression. But from far away, she appears to be smiling cheerfully.
Secret Codes
Through the microscope's magnification of high-resolution images of the painting, Italy's National Committee for Cultural Heritage has revealed the presence of a series of letters and numbers painted on numerous features of the canvas.
In Mona Lisa's right eye, art historian Silvano Vinceti states that the letters "LV" appear, which is theorized to represent the artist's own name, Leonardo da Vinci.
In the left eye, the unclear outlines of the letters "CE" or possibly a "B" can be viewed. The bridge in the background features the number "72" or the letter "L" followed by a "2" painted onto its arch.
One may wonder what the artist intended when he mysteriously painted these letters and numbers in a form invisible to the naked eye.
The Unknown Bridge
The dreamlike vista behind Mona Lis's head is often overshadowed by the allure of her face. But the three-arched bridge in the background begs the question about the exact location of the hazy, mysterious landscape.
Italian historian Carla Glori suggests that the bridge featured over the left shoulder of the woman is known as the Ponte Gobbo or Ponte Vecchio ("Old Bridge"). It is situated in Bobbio, a small village in a hilly country south of Piacenza in northern Italy.
Glori's theory follows Vinceti's finding of the number "72" secretly hidden in the stone bridge. She proposes that the number is a reference to the year 1472. In 1472, a disastrous flood occurred. The River Trebbia burst its banks and destroyed the bridge of Bobbio.
In her book The Leonardo Enigma, Glori theorizes that "Leonardo added in the number 72 beneath the bridge to record the devastating flood of the River Trebbia and to allow it to be identified."
An Unsettling Gaze
How is it possible that her gaze seems to extend beyond the confines of the painting, but simultaneously, it is directly held at the viewer? No matter where you move, she continues to meet you eye to eye.
In our three-dimensional world, shadows and light on surfaces should shift according to our vantage point. But this does not correlate to a two-dimensional surface.
This optical phenomenon can be explained by a scientific understanding described by the University of Ohio which shows that an image may appear exactly the same no matter the angle at which it is viewed.
Unknown to Leonardo da Vinci, his masterful manipulation of chiaroscuro on the canvas creates an intensely realistic sense of depth in the interplay of shadow and light. Indeed, this phenomenon creates perspective and gives the Mona Lisa her unsettling gaze.
A Hidden Painting Behind The Portrait
Using infrared and laser imaging on the Mona Lisa in 2006, scientists in Canada revealed da Vinci's rudimentary sketches, including a change of position in the index and middle fingers of the left hand.
Through this, numerous discoveries emerged, such as the lace drawn on Mona Lisa's dress and the blanket on her knees extending to cover her stomach.
In 2015, French engineer Pascal Cotte used similar techniques of projecting light beams at varying wavelengths onto the work and measuring the quantities of light reflected back. Curiously, his discovery presented a secret portrait behind the Mona Lisa we see today.
In what Cotte terms the "layer amplification method," he states, "We can analyze exactly what happens inside the layers of the painting's creation, and we can peel them like an onion." Cotte found four images beneath the uppermost painted surface, including a painting of a younger woman with petite facial features and no smile.
Different theories have surfaced surrounding the real identity of the woman in the painting, but perhaps her true face will always remain a mystery.
The Pregnant Mona Lisa
The art historians who think that the woman is Lisa del Giocondo also believe that she was with child when da Vinci painted her.
Her arms crossed over her rounded stomach as well as historical evidence that suggests del Giocondo was pregnant for the second time when the painting was done perpetuate the idea that Mona Lisa was expecting.
Furthermore, the infrared scans indicate evidence of a guarnello ("veil") draped across her shoulders. A guarnello is an overgarment made of linen and worn by a pregnant woman.
It has been speculated that this veil could simply be a scarf or piece of fabric hung over her shoulders.
However, the Mona Lisa's hands over her stomach, the historically accurate timing of her pregnancy with that of del Giocondo's, and the similar use of a guarnello on the pregnant Smeralda Brandini in Sandro Botticelli's portrait suggest that Mona Lisa was mysteriously hiding a baby bump.
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