Leonardo da Vinci's most famous creation is more than meets the eye. According to a French scientist, the Mona Lisa contains a secret image underneath it.
"A French scientist says he's found a hidden portrait underneath that enigmatic smile using reflective light technology," Mashable said. "The version in the Louvre might not be of silk merchant's wife Lisa Gherardini, as is widely believed, and could be of a different woman."
That being said, it's been alleged that the real Mona Lisa is the hidden image.
"Pascal Cotte's findings come after a decade of secret research that will be discussed on a BBC Two programme airing Wednesday called 'Secrets of the Mona Lisa,'" Mashable went on. "In it, art historian Andrew Graham Dixon investigates the painting to find its hidden secrets."
It has been widely believed that the enigmatic portrait was that of Lisa Gherardini, painted between 1503 and 1517, The Telegraph noted. However, Cotte, said to be a Layer Amplification Method (LAM) pioneer, revealed that the reconstruction of the layers underneath the Mona Lisa painting showed a different woman.
"Instead of the front-on gaze of the Mona Lisa, this hidden portrait shows a woman looking off to the side," the publication said. "Cotte also claims the secret sitter has a larger head and nose, bigger hands and, importantly, smaller lips than those used for the famous Mona Lisa smile."
Historians had speculated in the last few decades over pre-existing theories that the Mona Lisa painting had two different versions. However, Cotte's findings "suggests that both portraits were painted on the same piece of wood."
In the wake of Cotte's discovery, some experts remain doubtful over the findings, with a University of Oxford art history professor saying that the claims are "untenable."
"They [Cotte's images] are ingenious in showing what Leonardo may have been thinking about," Martin Kemp told the BBC. "But the idea that there is that picture as it were hiding underneath the surface is untenable."
"I do not think there are these discrete stages which represent different portraits," he added. "I see it as more or less a continuous process of evolution. I am absolutely convinced that the Mona Lisa is Lisa."
Meanwhile, The Guardian's Jonathan Jones declared that Cotte was wrong about the Mona Lisa.
"The Mona Lisa is not a portrait of 'another woman' - but it is no longer a simple portrait of Lisa Gherardini del Giocondo either," he countered. "As Leonardo worked on this painting over the years - from 1503 until about 1506, although he kept it with him all his life - his knowledge of science and art was distilled in it." "This is a philosophical painting, a deliberately enigmatic essay on painting and truth," he added, saying further that the painting is the "sum of Leonardo's understanding."
Jones also noted that Cotte overlooked the fact that the Renaissance-period artist was a genius in that "he worked on this portrait until the face of a real person was transformed into a myth."
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