Leonardo Da Vinci painted
the Mona Lisa on a piece of pine wood in the year 1506. Never in the history
of Art has one painting been so admired. This is due largely to the
enigmatic smile, which has caused much speculation. Although Leonardo
recorded in his notebooks the records of model sittings; nowhere can any
records be found of these Mona Lisa model sittings. Why is that? Who
actually posed for him? Dr. Lillian Schwartz
of Bell Labs suggests that Leonardo painted himself. She was
able to support her theory by analyzing the facial features of Leonardo's
face and that of the famous painting. She digitized both the self-portrait
of the artist and the Mona Lisa. She flipped the self portrait and merged
the two images together using a computer. She noticed the features of the
face aligned perfectly! Draw your own conclusion. |