The Mona Lisa

[DOXXP29 5]

Technology...a wonderful thing! For the art lovers, here's some new revelations regarding the famous Mona Lisa from new analysis techniques. Interesting stuff.

Inventor: Scans Reveal Mona Lisa Secrets

Al Sydnor, at right, examines a magnified version of Leonardo da Vinci's "Mo...

By MARCUS WOHLSEN, AP

4 hours ago

SAN FRANCISCO — 

For centuries, the "Mona Lisa" has beguiled art buffs unable to resist speculating on its origins and meaning. Now a French inventor claims to have some answers, including the fate of the enigmatic subject's famously missing eyebrows and lashes.

Parisian engineer Pascal Cotte says his ultra-detailed digital scans of the painting allow him to effectively burrow through layers of paint to "see" into the past of Leonardo Da Vinci's 16th-century portrait of a Florentine merchant's wife.

The world's most famous painting originally included both brows and lashes, according to Parisian engineer Pascal Cotte, who says his 240-megapixel scans of the painting reveal traces of Mona Lisa's left brow, obliterated by long-ago restoration efforts.

"With just one photo you go deeper into the construction of the painting and understand that Leonardo was a genius," Cotte said at the U.S. debut of an exhibit detailing his findings.

As a boy growing up in Paris in the 1960s, Cotte said, he spent hours staring at the "Mona Lisa" the first time he saw it at the Louvre. He later used his scientific training in light and optics to develop a camera that would let him examine the object of his obsession.

Cotte, 49, estimates he has spent 3,000 hours analyzing the data from the scans he made of the painting in the Louvre's laboratory three years ago.

Using sensors to detect light from both the visible spectrum and the infrared and ultraviolet ranges invisible to the human eye, Cotte said, his camera allowed him to make these and other findings:

_ Da Vinci changed his mind about the position of two fingers on the subject's left hand.

_ Her face was originally wider and the smile more expressive than Da Vinci ultimately painted them.

_ She holds a blanket that has all but faded from view today.

Cotte said his analyses also revealed what he believes are the painting's colors as they looked on Da Vinci's easel.

Age, varnish and restorations performed by later conservators' hands have resulted in a painting that, in its permanent home behind bulletproof glass at the Louvre, appears saturated with heavy greens, yellows and browns.

Working with his 22-gigabyte digital photo, ma

[amal81 3]

All things considered I would love to get my hand on that digital scanner.

[Easy Bakes 253]

Interesting.

The blue is much nicer and most likely the original colors.

[topcliff 1]

I find something in that article slightly ironic. All the people who worked so hard to keep the Mona Lisa beautiful and who restored it have actually made it worse and worse over time. I hope the reason Leonardo (not me) moved them isn't because Mona was flipping him off.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

I don't think "Mona Lisa" ever existed.  Isn't it a portrait of one Ginevra Bencci?

[Simfan34 11]

So she actually had eyebrows. Interesting.

[Barbarossa 51]

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  Edited September 7, 2012 by Barbarossa  

[Insane Child of Bodom 1]

Mona Lisa is badass...even tho we uncovered some of her secrets...there are still more to be learned....

esp the blanket tidbit...never knew she was holding anything in the painting....

[screamingman12 30]

Frankly, I'm tired of all of this "going on" about the Mona Lisa. Accept it for what it is, a great work of art, and nothing more. If I was Da Vinci, the last thing I would want is someone scrutinizing my work for hidden meanings.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Originally posted by: screamingman12 Frankly, I'm tired of all of this "going on" about the Mona Lisa. Accept it for what it is, a great work of art, and nothing more. If I was Da Vinci, the last thing I would want is someone scrutinizing my work for hidden meanings.quote>

Quite so.  And Barbarosa, I agree with the idea that there is too much time ($) and effort monkeying around with a piece of casual art from 400 years ago.

[KingTitan 6]

LOL Technology wasn't that simple in those days......i would guess almost 75% of people who think the Mona Lisa is more than just a painting, also believes that The world trade center was an iside job.....LOL too funny.

[OffTopic 3]

Strange that only 1 eyebrow hair remains. strange.

[Barbarossa 51]

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  Edited September 7, 2012 by Barbarossa