Speculations about Mona Lisa Speculations about Mona Lisa The 16th-century portrait Mona Lisa, or "La Gioconda" ("La Joconde"), painted in oil on a poplar panel by Leonardo da Vinci, has been the subject of a considerable deal of speculation. It has for a long time been argued that after Leonardo's death the painting was cut down by having part of the panel at both sides removed. Early copies depict columns on both sides of the figure. Only the edges of the bases can be seen in the original. However, some art historians, such as Martin Kemp, now argue that the painting has not been
Speculations about Mona Lisa are continued. During 2006, "Mona Lisa" underwent a major scientific observation that proved through infrared cameras she was originally wearing a bonnet and clutching her chair, something that da Vinci decided to change as an afterthought. One long-standing mystery of the painting is why "Mona Lisa" features very faint eyebrows and apparently does not have any eyelashes. In October 2007, Pascal Cotte, a French engineer and inventor, says he discovered with a high-definition camera that Leonardo da Vinci originally did paint eyebrows and eyelashes. Creating an ultra-high resolution close-up that magnified "Mona Lisa"s face 24 times, Cotte says he found