Lumière on the mona lisa, leonardo da vinci - hidden portraits

Pascal Cotte

220 pages, parution le 09/12/2015

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Résumé

The book reveals that the Mona Lisa is not Lisa Gherardini, wife of Francesco del Giocondo, and that her identity has been mistaken for 500 years. Using a new scientific imaging technique (L.A.M.), Cotte unveils over 150 discoveries found beneath all the repaintings. He establishes the chronology of the various paint-layers and reveals the authentic portrait of Lisa Gherardini, of which he proposes a realistic reconstitution. She has more feminine face and looks to her right, with a different posture ; there is no dark veil, while her clothes (gamure) and hairstyle (foggia alla francese) reflect Florentine fashion between 1502-07. Her dress has pretty tied ribbons (nastri) and openings (finestrelle) that reveal her chemise underneath. Her hair is held in place by a net (velo) and embroidery around her forehead. This was the portrait of a dignitary's wife, typical of the Florentine upper-classes. The extraordinary discovery reconciles the various existing theories about the history of this Symbol of Western Art. Cotte goes even further, helping us discover two other projects hidden beneath deeper repaintings. He reveals an impressive head-dress made from draperies, hair-pins and pearls (probably for a Madonna or Saint) ; and the forms and outline of another, larger portrait. The book enables readers to superimpose use four moveable transfer sheets, featuring the surrounds of the discoveries, on the images so as to chart the four stages of the work's evolution. The reader can thuis conduct his own investigation. Why did Leonardo transform the portrait of Lisa Gherardini into the Mona Lisa ? The answer, suggests Cotte, lies with the story of Giuliano de' Medici - the very man Leonardo himself, speaking at the end of his life, referred to as the portrait's commissioner.