‘Mona Lisa’s Mysterious Looks Are Probably All Thanks To Over-Cleaning
Image via Savvapanf Photo / Shutterstock.com
That knowing smile and bare face with virtually no eyebrows has mystified billions. However, what might make the Mona Lisa so compelling probably has little to do with the artist’s intent.
Bubbles might be broken, but to put it more simply, it’s almost akin to having makeup on, then jumping into a pool and stepping out of the water with naked brows. At least, that’s according to data by Parisian engineer Pascal Cotte, who had spent about 3,000 hours studying 240-megapixel scans he’d taken of the painting, and discovered enough traces of the figure’s left eyebrow to believe that it had been there. His findings, reported in 2007, recently resurfaced in a new article by Cracked.
Countless restorative attempts of the Leonardo da Vinci masterpiece had caused the Mona Lisa’s eyebrows and lashes to be rubbed away, Cotte deduced. This corroborates with writings from Giorgio Vasari, an art historian from the 16th century, who chronicled that the woman had eyebrows.
Cotte ran sensors along the scans to detect light visible to the human eye, as well as infrared and ultraviolet details it wouldn’t be able to pick up. From there, he also posited that an earlier draft of the Mona Lisa sported a wider face and a more expressive smile. Two of the fingers on her left hand were also positioned differently, said Cotte.
The subject is also believed to have been holding a blanket in the original painting, but it has all disappeared after numerous treatments through the years.
All this takes some of the enigma surrounding the five-century-old painting away… or does it just make matters more elusive?
[via Cracked and CBS News, cover image via Savvapanf Photo / Shutterstock.com]
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