Culture | The other da Vinci code

Where did the “Mona Lisa” smile?

Look over her shoulders for clues

This photograph taken on October 27, 2021 shows a copy of Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa painted around 1600 presented at auction house Artcurial in Brussels before it goes under the hammer next November 9, 2021, in Paris. - - RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE (Photo by Kenzo TRIBOUILLARD / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE (Photo by KENZO TRIBOUILLARD/AFP via Getty Images)

Jun 16th 2022|FLORENCE

For centuries, two of the most intriguing questions about Leonardo da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa” were “Who?” and “When?” A discovery made at Heidelberg University in 2005 pretty much answered both. A note written in a manuscript in the library confirmed the account of da Vinci’s first biographer, Giorgio Vasari: that the sitter was a merchant’s wife, Lisa Gherardini. The note also helped date the masterpiece to between 1503 and 1506.

This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline “The other da Vinci code”