Is the identity of the famed Mona Lisa finally near?

Are we closer to finding the real Mona Lisa? DNA testing on bones in a Florence convent could reveal Leonardo da Vinci's lost model
--The bones are thought to belong to Italian noblewoman, Lisa Gherardini
--Gherardini believed to have posed for the painting between 1503 and 1506
--Notes by an official confirm da Vinci was working on her portrait at the time
--If a DNA match is made, scientists will make a 3D reconstruction of Gherardini's face using details from the skull and painting

By ELLIE ZOLFAGHARIFARD
DailyMail
February 18, 2014

Italian art detectives are a step closer to identifying the lady behind Mona Lisa’s enigmatic smile.

DNA tests are underway on bones that may belong to a Florentine noblewoman, named Lisa Gherardini, who is widely believed to be the model for Leonardo da Vinci’s painting.
Historian Silvano Vinceti has taken samples from a skeleton in Sant’Orsola convent near Florence and is comparing them to DNA from the bones of some of Gherardini's confirmed relatives.

Italian archaeologist Silvano Vincenti (left) sits alongside another archaeologist working on the excavation of a grave inside the medieval Convent Sant'Orsola

If a DNA match is made, Professor Vinceti will make a 3D reconstruction of Gherardini's face from the skull, as well as details in da Vinci’s Mona Lisa painting.

‘If we don’t find her, art historians can continue to speculate about who the model really was,’ Professor Vinceti told the Wall Street Journal. The results from the analysis should be ready by May or June, he said. The Florentine family tomb was opened up in August last year for the first time in centuries in a bid to identify the model in da Vinci's painting.


Image left: Silvano Vinceti is conducting DNA test on a skeleton found in the Sant'Orsola convent near Florence

Lisa Gherardini is thought to have posed for the painting between 1503 and 1506.


Some have argued the painting is a self-portrait of the artist, or one of his favourite male lovers in disguise, the evidence they say is the fact Da Vinci kept it with him until his death in Amboise, France in 1519.

The most curious theories have been provided by medical experts turned Renaissance art sleuths.

One theory was that the Mona Lisa's mouth is clamped firmly shut because she was undergoing mercury treatment for syphilis which turned her teeth black.

An American dentist has claimed that the tight-lipped expression was typical of people who have lost their front teeth, while a Danish doctor was convinced she suffered from congenital palsy which affected the left side of her face and this is why her hands are overly large.
‘With the medical techniques that are available today we could rebuild her physique and recreate the famous pose,’ said Leonardo Da Vinci expert Professor Carlo Pedretti.