Florence tomb opened in quest to find 'Mona Lisa'

[PAULSTANL3Y]

10 August 2013 Last updated at 09:28 GMT

Florence tomb opened in quest to find 'Mona Lisa'

The tomb, opened for the first time, held vases and bones

Scientists in the Italian city of Florence have opened a tomb to extract DNA they hope will identify the model for Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa.

The tomb contains the family of Lisa Gherardini, a silk merchant's wife who is believed to have sat for the artist.

It is hoped DNA will help to identify her from three skeletons found last year in a nearby convent.

Experts have for centuries puzzled over the woman featured in the Mona Lisa, and the reason for her cryptic smile.

To find the DNA they needed, scientists cut a round hole in the stone church floor above the family crypt of Florentine silk merchant Francesco del Giocondo. The tomb lies behind the altar of the Santissima Annunziata Basilica.

Mona Lisa close-up

• Begun between 1503 and 1506, the half-portrait measures just 77cm by 53 cm (2ft 6in by 1 ft 8in)
  
• Painted using sfumato technique to blur sharp edges by blending colours, leaving corners of the eyes and the mouth in shadow
• Background painted with fewer distinct outlines than foreground in technique known as aerial perspective, that gives painting more depth
• Acquired by France's King Francis I and put on permanent display in the Louvre in 1797
• Stolen in 1911 by ex-Louvre employee Vincenzo Peruggia who believed it should be returned to Italy; replaced in the Louvre when Peruggia was apprehended two years later

Writer and researcher Silvano Vinceti plans to compare DNA from the bones with that of three women buried at the nearby convent of Saint Ursula.

Lisa Gherardini died there as a nun in 1542.

It is hoped that some of the bones will belong to at least one of her blood relation, probably her son, Piero.

"When we find a match between mother and child - then we will have found the Mona Lisa," said Mr Vinceti.

He added that once a DNA match is made, an image of Gherardini's face can be generated from the skull and compared with the painting.

Self-portrait?

Leonardo da Vinci took about 15 years to complete what has become one of the most famous paintings of all time.

One of the artist's favourite paintings, he carried it with him until he died in 1519.

It was acquired by King Francis I, who ruled France from 1515 to 1547. The painting was put on permanent display in the Louvre in Paris at the end of the 18th century.

The piece was stolen from the museum in 1911 by a former employee who believed it belonged in Italy.

The Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre in 1911 but returned three years later

He was apprehended by police two years later, and the Mona Lisa was safely returned.

While its small size can surprise Louvre visitors, the painting is the biggest attraction in the museum.

One popular, if unlikely, theory suggests it was a self-portrait.

There are similarities between the facial features of the Mona Lisa and of the artist's self-portrait painted many years later, with some suggesting this is the reason behind the portrait's famed enigmatic smile.

The Mona Lisa is a top attraction at the Louvre museum in Paris

 

[Sinkie]

I really dun get what is so fucking special about Mona Lisa.

 

[peppertail]

I really dun get what is so fucking special about Mona Lisa.

Same here.

 

[Wishing]

Remains of Rennaissance woman's sons are exhumed in bid to find if she really was the inspiration behind Leonardo Da Vinci's Mona Lisa

• Researchers believe the woman who inspired the artist's painting was Lisa Gherardini Del Giocondo
  
• Scientists think one of the skeletons found in a tomb in a convent last year could be her
• A different tomb where her sons were buried is to be opened on Friday in a bid to match DNA

By TARA BRADY PUBLISHED: 08:50 GMT, 9 August 2013 | UPDATED: 21:14 GMT, 9 August 2013

Researchers believe the woman who inspired the Mona Lisa painting was Lisa Gherardini Del Giocondo

A Florentine family tomb was opened up this afternoon for the first time in centuries in a bid to identify the bones of a woman who is believed to be the model in Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa portrait. Researchers believe the woman who inspired the artist's 16th century painting which now hangs in the Louvre, Paris, was Lisa Gherardini Del Giocondo, a merchant's wife who lived across the street from de Vinci. Last year, a tomb in a former St Ursula convent in Florence was opened and several skeletons found.

Experts reckon the skeletons there could be the remains of Gherardini. In a bid to correctly identify the woman, samples will now be taken from the Gherardini family tomb in the Martyrs' Crypt in Santissima Annunziata basilica where her husband and two sons are buried. A round hole was cut in the stone floor just big enough for a person to wriggle through. Speaking at the crypt today, geologist Antonio Moretti said the remains had an inscribed stone indicating they belonged to the family of Lisa Gherardini's husband and sons.

Silvano Vinceti (centre), head of Italy's National Committee for the Promotion of Historic and Cultural Heritage, looks on as researchers open the tomb in the stone church floor above the family crypt of Florentine silk merchant Francesco del Giocondo - Lisa's husband - at the Santissima Annunziata basilica in Florence today

The tomb was opened for the first time in centuries in a bid to identify the bones of Gherardini. Above, one of the researchers inside the crypt

Samples will now be taken from the Gherardini family tomb in the Martyrs' Crypt, where Lisa's husband and two sons are buried

Silvano Vinceti, head of Italy's national committee for cultural heritage, said: 'Right now we are carrying out carbon-14 tests on three of the eight skeletons found in St Ursula, which could be the age Lisa Gherardini was when she died.'The carbon-14 test will tell us which of the three dates back to the 1500s.

'Only then will we know which skeleton to do the final DNA test on.'It is believed Lisa's husband Francesco Del Giocondo commissioned the portrait to celebrate either Lisa's pregnancy or the purchase of a house around 1502 and 1503.

An engraving at the site of the tomb of Francesco del Giocondo

Painter, sculptor, inventor, genius: Leonardo da Vinci

After Franceso's death, Lisa became a nun. She died in 1542 at the age of 63 and was said to be buried near the convent's altar. This type of burial was common which is why researchers are carrying out a number of tests to check they have the right bones.

If the team think they have a positive match, Vinceti plans to commission a virtual reconstruction of Lisa Gherardini's face, based on the bone structure, and compare it to Leonardo's painting.
'If we succeed, we can finally resolve three questions which have obsessed historians and art-lovers worldwide,' Vinceti said.

'Was Gherardini the model for the Mona Lisa? Or was it some other model, as some people say? Or is it just a construction of the painter's fantasy?'

Leonardo is famous for the huge range of his genius, ranging from painting to sculpture to anatomy.

He is known not only for paintings such as the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper but for conceiving modern machines like helicopters and tanks many centuries before they were finally built.

Art historian Silvano Vinceti kneels down above the family grave of Lisa Gherardini while geologist Antonio Moretti looks up from within the tomb

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