Mona Lisa Was Pregnant Or Postpartum When She Posed For da Vinci
Posted September 27, 2006 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Canadian researchers may have helped to provide an answer to the question dogging art historians for centuries: What’s behind that enigmatic smile?
It appears Mona Lisa may have had that pregnancy or postpartum glow.
Art experts used a laser scanner developed by the Canadian National Research Council to inspect the famous painting and discovered the woman who sat for the portrait was wearing a fine gauze veil over her dress, a garment common for either soon-to-be or new mothers in the 16th century.
Researchers have concluded the picture is of Lisa Gherardini, the wife of obscure Florentine merchant Francesco del Giocond – the title Mona Lisa is the equivalent of Madame Lisa. Experts have also established that da Vinci started the painting in 1503.
The painting was brought to France in 1517 and has been in the Louvre since 1804.
Despite the new revelation that Mona Lisa was either expecting or had just delivered a child when her image was captured on canvas, Michel Menu, research director of the French Museums’ Center for Research and Restoration, said there are still many secrets contained in da Vinci’s most famous work.
“Our laboratory is trying to uncover da Vinci’s techniques. We particularly want to understand how he painted his shadows, the famous ‘fumato’ effect,” he said.
