8 Hidden Secrets In The Mona Lisa
8. A Pregnancy
The most accepted theory as to Mona Lisa's identity is that she was was the wife of a Florentine gentleman, named Lisa del Giocondo. Although, considering no other evidence of her appearance exists, there are plenty of party poopers who suggest that's a bit of a conclusion leap. A few years ago, a group of art historians/people with far too much time on their hands and a lifetime membership to The Louvre agreed with the Lisa del Giocondo theory, and took it one step further - not only was she probably this Italian noblewoman, but she was probably knocked up when she sat for a portrait with da Vinci.
The basic theory is that the crossed arms across the belly and the slight tummy suggest that she was with child and, historically, del Giocondo was indeed pregnant with her second child when the painting was done (sometime between 1503 and 1506). This isn't one of those crazy "hidden messages" that are found just by people staring at something for way too long, however; in 2006 a group of Canadian scientists used laser and infrared scans to produce a 3D image of the painting. Apparently these scans showed evidence of a fine veil or guarnello around Mona Lisas shoulders, an item of clothing often worn by women of the Italian Renaissance when they were expecting or had just given birth.
That same piece of fabric draped over her shoulder has sometimes been interpreted as a shawl or a scarf, but the existing rumours, hands across the stomach, timing and similar use of a guarnello for a deffo preggers lady in Sandro Botticelli's Portrait of Smeralda Brandini all suggest she was not-so-secretly concealing a baby bump.