When it come in to debates over theMona Lisa , Leonardo Da Vinci’siconic graphics , most people be given to fall into conversation over whether the bailiwick is feigning asmile . A more careful analysis might have others wondering whether the house painting depicts a woman who has eyebrows , as her frontal bone seems oddly detached of follicles .
The solvent ? Perhaps . But not anymore .
There ’s every possibility that in painting theMona Lisa , Da Vinci was recognizing the way movement of sixteenth - century Italy , which had woman plucking or shaving their eyebrows . It ’s also within reason that Lisa Gherardini , who is suspected of being the model for the painting — her hubby commission Da Vinci — may have been lacking in eyebrows for that cause .
In 2007 , a Gallic photographer and engineer identify Pascal Cotte cast doubtfulness on that theme . Using a proprietary camera subject of capturing a 240 - million pixel image , Cotteclaimedhe was able to fancy a weak version of an eyebrow hair on her face . Perhaps Da Vinci had indeed intended to describe his subject with eyebrows .
If Cotte ’s observation is right , why only one hair ? It ’s possible , Cottesaid , that the fact Da Vinci painted a glaze over most of the piece and then add further particular on top of it may have created a situation where the topmost layer was vulnerable . The restoration oeuvre applied to the painting over time may have inadvertently erased her follicular features , including her eyelash .
“ If you look closely atMona Lisa ’s eye you may understandably see that the crack around the center have slimly disappeared , and that may be excuse that one day a curator or restorer cleanse the eye , and pick the eye removed , likely bump off the eyelash and brow , " CottetoldThe Telegraphin 2007 .
Cotte , whosaidhe had been wonder at theMona Lisasince he was a male child in the 1960s — coming so often a security safety machine onceofferedhim a chair — was grant access code to the house painting by the Louvre in 2004 and was even allow to take away the invaluable work from its glass enclosing to photograph it . He spend over 3000 hours analyze his call for data , which he asseverate allowed him to visualize other layers of the painting . Da Vinci prompt the two remaining finger of his study , had originally made her smile wider , and rendered a blanket that ’s mostly faded from sentiment , accord to the photographer .
Cotte ’s photos later went on display during a San FranciscoMona Lisaexhibit , allowing observer to make their own judgment about whetherMona Lisa ’s eyebrows were plucked into reconditeness . It ’s another intriguing constituent of a house painting that promises to capture for another 500 years to come .
