A geologist claims to have identified the landscape visible in the background of the Mona Lisa, potentially solving one of the painting’s biggest mysteries.
The world’s most famous painting has divided historians for generations, with no one knowing for sure who Mona Lisa is – though many believe it to depict Italian noblewoman Lisa del Giocondo.
But now it’s possible that another mystery surrounding the masterpiece has been solved. Geologist and Renaissance art historian Ann Pizzorusso believes that Leonardo da Vinci painted the Mona Lisa in Lecco, Italy.
Lecco is a small city on the southeastern shore of of Lake Como, in the Lombardy region of northern Italy.
Combining her two areas of expertise, Pizzorusso claims to have identified the bridge in the background of the painting, linking it to Lecco’s 14th-century Azzone Visconti bridge.
Previously, an Italian historian claimed to have identified the bridge as one located in Laterina, a small Italian town in Tuscany, while other art historians have speculated that the bridge is either the Ponte Buriano near Arezzo or located in the small town of Bobbio.
However, Pizzorusso explained that such arched bridges were ‘ubiquitous throughout Italy and Europe and many looked very similar’.
She told The Observer: ‘It is impossible to identify an exact location from a bridge alone. They all talk about the bridge and nobody talks about the geology.’
The geologist claims to have matched the mountain range visible over the Mona Lisa’s shoulder to the alps, which overlook Lecco and Lake Como.
She noted that the rocks in Lecco are limestone and that Da Vinci depicted his rocks in a grey-white colour ‘which is perfect, because that’s the type of rock that’s there’.
Pizzorusso also pointed out that neither Bobbio nor Arezzo has a lake, yet there appears to be one in the Mona Lisa. She says this is further evidence that the scenery is a depiction of Lecco.
‘I found the geological places he talked about in his notebooks. A spring, a waterway, all these things still exist today. Leonardo was here as an engineer trying to build a canal from Milan to Como, but he encountered difficulties half-way,’ Pizzorusso said.
Da Vinci was known to have visited Lombardy, which supports the new claim.
However, some historians believe the view from the Mona Lisa is actually imaginary, and not a depiction of a real place.
To this, Pizzorusso said: ‘Art historians said Leonardo always used his imagination, but you can give this picture to any geologist in the world and they’ll say what I’m saying about Lecco. Even a non-geologist can now see the similarities.’
Jacques Franck, a former Da Vinci consultant to the Louvre, said: ‘I don’t doubt for one second that Pizzorusso is right in her theory, given her perfect knowledge of the geology of the Italian country – and more precisely of the places where Leonardo travelled in his lifetime, which could correspond to the mountainous landscape in the Mona Lisa.’
MORE : Out-of-this-world moment lightning bolt strikes volcano while it’s erupting
MORE : Mystery blue orb spotted hanging low over city
Share this with