Investigators excavating the site of Sant’Orsola convent in Florence have found a skeleton. They believe it might be that of Lisa Gherardini del Giocondo, subject of the most famous portrait in the world, DaVinci’s Mona Lisa.
The skeleton in going through a full battery of laboratory exams, including a carbon-14 test to determine the skeleton’s historical period and a histological test to determine developmental age. If these are appropriate, there will be DNA comparison with material from the two Gherardini children, whose remains are buried in Florence’s Santissima Annunziata church.
If the new find is determined to be Lisa Gherardini, anthropologists from the University of Bologna will attempt a reconstruction of her face based on skull dimensions. The group is led by Giorgio Gruppioni, who performed a similar exercise with the skull of poet Dante Alighieri.
More:
“Is this the skeleton of Leonardo da Vinci’s ‘Mona Lisa’?” David Ng, Los Angeles Times
“Storia del Comitato Nazionale per la Valorizzazione dei Beni Storici Culturali e Ambientali,” 16pp. Click here.
“Mona Lisa: A Few Feet Under Concrete?” Jennifer Welsh, LiveScience
“The skull with the Mona Lisa smile,” Kristina Killgrove, Past Horizons
Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com
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Tags: Anthropology, art, DaVinci, Florence, forensic anthropology, forensics, Gioconda, history, humor, Italy, La Gioconda, Leonardo DaVinci, Mona Lisa, paintings
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