"Mona Lisa" might not be the only piece Leonardo Da Vinci painted on that canvas. French scientist Pascal Cotte says he has found three other paintings beneath the 500-year-old Da Vinci masterpiece after more than 10 years of analysis with reflect light technology. The technique "used a multispectral camera to project intense lights on to the painting while measuring the reflections... [to] expose what happened between the paint layers," CNN reports.
"The results shatter many myths and alter our vision of Leonardo's masterpiece forever," Cotte said in a statement. "When I finished the reconstruction of Lisa Gherardini, I was in front of the portrait and she is totally different to Mona Lisa today. This is not the same woman."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Not everyone in the art world is buying this theory, however. While art historian Martin Kemp lauded Cotte's technique as "highly innovatory," he told CNN that he thinks the hidden paintings are simply part of the evolution to the final product. "There are considerable changes during the course of the making of the portrait — as is the case with most of Leonardo's paintings," Kemp told CNN. "I prefer to see a fluid evolution from a relatively straightforward portrait of a Florentine woman into a philosophical and poetic picture that has universal dimension."
-
Out of office: microretirement is trending in the workplaceThe explainer Long vacations are the new way to beat burnout
-
Will California tax its billionaires?Talking Points Proposed one-time levy would shore up education, Medicaid
-
Blue Origin launches Mars probes in NASA debutSpeed Read The New Glenn rocket is carrying small twin spacecraft toward Mars as part of NASA’s Escapade mission
-
Hungary’s Krasznahorkai wins Nobel for literatureSpeed Read László Krasznahorkai is the author of acclaimed novels like ‘The Melancholy of Resistance’ and ‘Satantango’
-
Primatologist Jane Goodall dies at 91Speed Read She rose to fame following her groundbreaking field research with chimpanzees
-
Florida erases rainbow crosswalk at Pulse nightclubSpeed Read The colorful crosswalk was outside the former LGBTQ nightclub where 49 people were killed in a 2016 shooting
-
Trump says Smithsonian too focused on slavery's illsSpeed Read The president would prefer the museum to highlight 'success,' 'brightness' and 'the future'
-
Trump to host Kennedy Honors for Kiss, StalloneSpeed Read Actor Sylvester Stallone and the glam-rock band Kiss were among those named as this year's inductees
-
White House seeks to bend Smithsonian to Trump's viewSpeed Read The Smithsonian Institution's 21 museums are under review to ensure their content aligns with the president's interpretation of American history
-
Charlamagne Tha God irks Trump with Epstein talkSpeed Read The radio host said the Jeffrey Epstein scandal could help 'traditional conservatives' take back the Republican Party
-
CBS cancels Colbert's 'Late Show'Speed Read 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert' is ending next year
