London: Archaeologists believe they are about to unravel the enigmatic smile behind Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece Mona Lisa after discovering what may be skeleton of the woman who posed for the world’s most famous painting.
Lisa Gherardini, the second wife of wealthy Florentine silk merchant Francesco del Giocondo, is recorded as buried in Saint Ursula convent and the team of Italian art historians archaeologists believe they have her remains.
The team led by Silvano Vinceti, a former TV producer, is attempting to exhume and identify Gherardini’s remains by sending the bones to universities in Italy and abroad, where they will be checked against the DNA of two confirmed relatives of Gherardini, the ‘Daily Mail’ reported. Most modern historians agree that the lady depicted in the Mona Lisa was Lisa del Giocondo, who became a nun after her husband’s death. She died in the convent on July 15, 1542, aged 63.
Vinceti believes the famous smile was added later and may belong to da Vinci’s longtime assistant Gian Giacomo Caprotti, also rumoured to have been his lover. They quickly struck gold, finding a crypt they believe to have been Lisa’s final resting place and soon after they unearthed a female-sized human skull. (PTI)