New finding about the Mona Lisa.
"Mona lisa, mona lisa, men have named you
You're so like the lady with the mystic smile
Is it only cause you're lonely they have blamed you?
For that mona lisa strangeness in your smile?"
Nat King Cole, Mona Lisa' (lyrics by Jay Livingstone and Ray Evans, 1949)
You may have read this article in today's Toronto Globe and Mail (Exerpt: 'Mona Lisa had recently given birth to a baby, a team of Canadian and French scientists announced Tuesday, so her mysterious smile may have expressed the weary joy of a mother with a newborn. Using infrared technology that allowed them to see beneath a layer of varnish, the researchers found that Leonardo da Vinci's model had a gauzy layer over her dress they say was typically worn by pregnant women of the time, or mothers who had recently given birth."). You may also have seen the following infrared photo from the NYT giving the world its first glimpse at Mona Lisa's guarnello.
I'm not sure I wanted the enigma to be removed from that smile. But while La Gioconda may just have lost some of her mystery, she has, in my humble opinion, gained that radiance, that glow and that aura seen in happy mums. This photo of Josée two days before giving birth to Alex has that glow...and quite remarkably that Mona Lisa smile!
My very own Gioconda!
Joseph Froncioni
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