A BBC 2 documentary, "Secrets of the Mona Lisa", explains Pascal Cotte's theory that the Mona Lisa is underlaid by a portrait of a different woman.
From iflscience.com:
The Mona Lisa is one of the most famous pieces of artwork in human history. This half-length portrait by the Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci, thought to depict Lisa Gherardini in the early 16th century, was given to the King of France centuries ago, and has been on permanent display at the Louvre Museum in Paris since 1797.
Now, 500 years on from its completion, French scientist Pascal Cotte, has claimed to have uncovered hidden details within the painting. As reported by BBC News, this potentially means that the famous painted woman isn't actually Mona Lisa at all. The findings will be presented in a documentary, "Secrets of the Mona Lisa", which airs on BBC Two tomorrow at 9pm GMT.
direct link to the Youtube video.
French scientist Pascal Cotte has claimed to have found a "hidden portrait" underneath the Mona Lisa:
An image of a portrait underneath the Mona Lisa has been found beneath the existing painting using reflective light technology, according to a French scientist. Pascal Cotte said he has spent more than 10 years using the technology to analyse the painting. He claims the earlier portrait lies hidden underneath the surface of Leonardo's most celebrated artwork.
A reconstruction shows another image of a sitter looking off to the side. The Louvre Museum has declined to comment on his claims because it "was not part of the scientific team". Instead of the famous, direct gaze of the painting which hangs in the Louvre Museum in Paris, the image of the sitter also shows no trace of her enigmatic smile, which has intrigued art lovers for more than 500 years. But Mr Cotte's claims are controversial and have divided opinion among Leonardo experts.
[Editor's note: Does an image of the image exist?]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Farkus888 on Saturday December 12 2015, @06:08AM
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentimento [wikipedia.org]
My doctorate isn't in art history. I don't even have one, I just watch a lot of cartoons.