0:00:03 > 0:00:05The Mona Lisa -
0:00:05 > 0:00:07bewitching,
0:00:07 > 0:00:08seductive,
0:00:08 > 0:00:09world-famous.
0:00:10 > 0:00:13In the minds of millions, she is the ultimate work of art -
0:00:13 > 0:00:17endlessly photographed and admired.
0:00:17 > 0:00:19Yet, behind the enigmatic smile,
0:00:19 > 0:00:21she remains a mystery.
0:00:22 > 0:00:24Who was she?
0:00:24 > 0:00:26Why was she painted?
0:00:26 > 0:00:29And what has made her the world's most famous painting?
0:00:30 > 0:00:33After 500 years in the spotlight
0:00:33 > 0:00:35the Mona Lisa is finally giving up her secrets.
0:00:37 > 0:00:42'Centuries-old documents are at last revealing long-forgotten truths.'
0:00:42 > 0:00:44This is wonderful. Ooh! I've got a shiver down my spine.
0:00:46 > 0:00:48State-of-the-art technology is taking us
0:00:48 > 0:00:50beneath the painted surface
0:00:50 > 0:00:53to decode astonishing new evidence.
0:00:55 > 0:00:57That's extraordinary - wow!
0:00:58 > 0:01:01That's quite a big discovery, isn't it?
0:01:01 > 0:01:02Yes, it is.
0:01:02 > 0:01:04This investigation -
0:01:04 > 0:01:06the first full forensic examination
0:01:06 > 0:01:08of the latest discoveries -
0:01:08 > 0:01:10takes me round the world in the hunt
0:01:10 > 0:01:14for the truth about Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece.
0:01:15 > 0:01:19'With exclusive access and some extraordinary encounters...'
0:01:20 > 0:01:23The first impression when I came in was...
0:01:23 > 0:01:26I did well not to jump backwards in shock!
0:01:28 > 0:01:31'..these revelations will change everything we thought we knew
0:01:31 > 0:01:34about history's most enigmatic work of art...'
0:01:36 > 0:01:39That's great. So we just made a new discovery.
0:01:39 > 0:01:42'..and unlock the secrets of the Mona Lisa.'
0:01:42 > 0:01:45All of this together marks an extraordinary moment
0:01:45 > 0:01:48in the history of art, but more than that,
0:01:48 > 0:01:52this is quite simply one of the stories of the century.
0:02:16 > 0:02:19500 years ago a man painted a woman.
0:02:20 > 0:02:22The man was Leonardo da Vinci -
0:02:22 > 0:02:26artist, inventor, genius -
0:02:26 > 0:02:27and the result of his work
0:02:27 > 0:02:31was the inscrutable portrait we now know as the Mona Lisa.
0:02:31 > 0:02:33'It's a masterpiece,
0:02:33 > 0:02:36'but one of the few works he actually finished.'
0:02:38 > 0:02:41So what draws us to the Mona Lisa?
0:02:42 > 0:02:45She's not a famous monarch or a legendary historical figure.
0:02:45 > 0:02:48We know hardly anything about her.
0:02:48 > 0:02:52So what is it about this picture that's gripped the human imagination
0:02:52 > 0:02:54for so many centuries?
0:02:56 > 0:02:58'I want to begin my investigation
0:02:58 > 0:03:01'by comparing notes with a detective
0:03:01 > 0:03:04'who's been on the case for more than 30 years.
0:03:04 > 0:03:07'One of the world's leading experts on Leonardo da Vinci,
0:03:07 > 0:03:10'Oxford professor Martin Kemp has spent much of his life
0:03:10 > 0:03:14'obsessed by the mystery of the Mona Lisa.'
0:03:14 > 0:03:19What do you think is the key to the Mona Lisa's extraordinary
0:03:19 > 0:03:22stature as without doubt
0:03:22 > 0:03:25the world's most famous painting?
0:03:25 > 0:03:28Well, there has to be something inherent in the picture.
0:03:28 > 0:03:30Some things are famous for being famous.
0:03:30 > 0:03:32We live in an age of celebrity
0:03:32 > 0:03:35and lots of celebrities are famous for being famous,
0:03:35 > 0:03:36but they're not going to last.
0:03:36 > 0:03:38This has gone on for ages.
0:03:38 > 0:03:40It is just extraordinary.
0:03:40 > 0:03:42And you've got this sense
0:03:42 > 0:03:45of something which is beyond pigment
0:03:45 > 0:03:48and beyond a good likeness and being beyond a face,
0:03:48 > 0:03:52and it just has that totally uncanny living presence.
0:03:52 > 0:03:54It was very daring at the time
0:03:54 > 0:03:57for a woman in a portrait to look at you.
0:03:57 > 0:04:00You know, women's portraits simply didn't do that,
0:04:00 > 0:04:05and I think the ambiguity, the... the tease - the visual tease -
0:04:05 > 0:04:09is something that Leonardo absolutely cultivated.
0:04:12 > 0:04:14Look at the Mona Lisa
0:04:14 > 0:04:18and you can't help feeling there's more going on than meets the eye.
0:04:18 > 0:04:21If her teasing smile's a question mark,
0:04:21 > 0:04:23the painting's a riddle.
0:04:23 > 0:04:26What makes a human being live and breathe?
0:04:26 > 0:04:30What forces govern the world we live in?
0:04:30 > 0:04:33Leonardo thought about these questions as deeply as anyone,
0:04:33 > 0:04:37and behind this breathtakingly lifelike image,
0:04:37 > 0:04:41lay years of investigation into spheres of knowledge
0:04:41 > 0:04:44like geology and anatomy, some of which
0:04:44 > 0:04:46were forbidden by the church.
0:04:46 > 0:04:50Tantalising evidence for the research that went into the Mona Lisa
0:04:50 > 0:04:52lies hidden in Windsor Castle.
0:04:52 > 0:04:55Amongst the gems of the Royal Collection
0:04:55 > 0:04:58is an intriguing clue to the genesis of the portrait.
0:05:00 > 0:05:03A page from what might be called the real da Vinci Code.
0:05:06 > 0:05:09If you want to see, or have some sense of,
0:05:09 > 0:05:13just how much work there was behind the surface of the picture
0:05:13 > 0:05:15then this is a great place to start.
0:05:15 > 0:05:20It's a sheet of drawings by Leonardo's own hand.
0:05:20 > 0:05:23And what does it contain in faint outline?
0:05:23 > 0:05:24Look here...
0:05:26 > 0:05:28It's a bit like the Cheshire Cat,
0:05:28 > 0:05:30it's the Mona Lisa's smile
0:05:30 > 0:05:32without the Mona Lisa attached.
0:05:34 > 0:05:39It may well have been Leonardo's first gropings towards his idea
0:05:39 > 0:05:40for the painting.
0:05:40 > 0:05:44It's a series of studies of the human mouth,
0:05:44 > 0:05:46the motions of the mouth.
0:05:46 > 0:05:47How the mouth puckers.
0:05:47 > 0:05:50How the mouth...bares its teeth.
0:05:51 > 0:05:54You have a very strong sense that for Leonardo
0:05:54 > 0:05:58every picture is a kind of encyclopaedia entry
0:05:58 > 0:06:01and this is just that part of it
0:06:01 > 0:06:05dealing with the mouth.
0:06:06 > 0:06:08It's just the tip of the iceberg.
0:06:14 > 0:06:19The Mona Lisa is the work into which Leonardo poured everything he knew
0:06:19 > 0:06:22about humanity and the world that surrounds us
0:06:22 > 0:06:24with its ceaseless play of light and shade.
0:06:26 > 0:06:28But there's a mystery there, too,
0:06:28 > 0:06:29and it's staring us in the face.
0:06:31 > 0:06:34'Who is the woman with the enigmatic smile?'
0:06:36 > 0:06:40It's a question that has fuelled all kinds of speculation
0:06:40 > 0:06:44ranging from the ingenious to the crackpot.
0:06:46 > 0:06:47She's a pregnant mother-to-be,
0:06:47 > 0:06:49she's a prostitute,
0:06:49 > 0:06:51she's even a man in drag.
0:06:52 > 0:06:54But if you look beyond the theories
0:06:54 > 0:06:57there are clues to her true identity.
0:07:04 > 0:07:05Florence, 1500.
0:07:07 > 0:07:08After many years away
0:07:08 > 0:07:10Leonardo da Vinci has returned
0:07:10 > 0:07:12to the city of his youth.
0:07:12 > 0:07:15He's come back to work on ambitious military projects
0:07:15 > 0:07:17for powerful men.
0:07:17 > 0:07:21He says he's too busy to paint portraits of wealthy aristocrats
0:07:21 > 0:07:23who clamour after him.
0:07:25 > 0:07:27Yet according to one writer
0:07:27 > 0:07:32Leonardo somehow finds time to paint the portrait, not of a noblewoman,
0:07:32 > 0:07:35but of a humble merchant's wife called Lisa.
0:07:36 > 0:07:39It was here that Leonardo da Vinci
0:07:39 > 0:07:41began the most famous painting
0:07:41 > 0:07:42in the world...
0:07:42 > 0:07:45and it was here that Giorgio Vasari -
0:07:45 > 0:07:49the inventor of the very idea of the Renaissance,
0:07:49 > 0:07:52the author of the very first book about the Renaissance -
0:07:52 > 0:07:56produced Exhibit A in the case of the Mona Lisa.
0:07:56 > 0:07:59The very first account of the painting.
0:08:00 > 0:08:02Who was she?
0:08:02 > 0:08:06She was the wife of Francesco del Giocondo, a rich merchant.
0:08:06 > 0:08:09He commissioned Leonardo to create her portrait,
0:08:09 > 0:08:13and Leonardo responded with a picture, says Vasari,
0:08:13 > 0:08:15"So miraculously lifelike
0:08:15 > 0:08:19"that it seems to be made of flesh, not paint."
0:08:19 > 0:08:23"Leonardo," he says, "wanted to avoid the melancholy
0:08:23 > 0:08:26"that dominates so many other portraits
0:08:26 > 0:08:29"so he employed musicians, entertainers, buffoons
0:08:29 > 0:08:32"to keep her amused."
0:08:32 > 0:08:34So there you have it -
0:08:34 > 0:08:36the wife of Francesco del Giocondo,
0:08:36 > 0:08:38and the smile caused by
0:08:38 > 0:08:41entertainers hired by the artist.
0:08:41 > 0:08:43An open-and-shut case.
0:08:43 > 0:08:45Or is it?
0:08:47 > 0:08:49How can we be sure that Vasari was right,
0:08:49 > 0:08:53and that Leonardo did indeed paint Lisa del Giocondo?
0:08:53 > 0:08:59After all, Vasari wrote his account 30 years after Leonardo's death,
0:08:59 > 0:09:02and although he did his homework here in Florence,
0:09:02 > 0:09:05he never disclosed his sources.
0:09:06 > 0:09:09So could it just be hearsay?
0:09:09 > 0:09:10Some inaccurate local legend?
0:09:11 > 0:09:15For centuries there was no way of telling.
0:09:15 > 0:09:18'Then suddenly new evidence emerged
0:09:18 > 0:09:21'from a completely unexpected source.'
0:09:21 > 0:09:24In 2006, a research scholar
0:09:24 > 0:09:28working in the University Library of Heidelberg
0:09:28 > 0:09:30turned up this.
0:09:32 > 0:09:37What it is, is a page from a copy of Cicero,
0:09:37 > 0:09:40the ancient Roman author,
0:09:40 > 0:09:42a book that was once owned
0:09:42 > 0:09:45here in Florence by a man called Agostino Vespucci.
0:09:45 > 0:09:48And not only does it have Cicero's text,
0:09:48 > 0:09:51but it's got Vespucci's commentaries
0:09:51 > 0:09:54and this particular passage is crucial.
0:09:54 > 0:09:56Because in it Cicero is discussing Apelles,
0:09:56 > 0:09:59the ancient Greek artist,
0:09:59 > 0:10:04and his remarks prompt Vespucci to make his own notes -
0:10:04 > 0:10:06his marginal note -
0:10:06 > 0:10:09and what he writes is a kind of bombshell
0:10:09 > 0:10:10in the history of Leonardo studies.
0:10:10 > 0:10:13He says "Apelles, ha!
0:10:13 > 0:10:16"He did just the same thing as Leonardo
0:10:16 > 0:10:20"in his portrait of Lisa del Giocondo."
0:10:20 > 0:10:24And best of all, there's a date -
0:10:24 > 0:10:25"October, 1503."
0:10:25 > 0:10:29So this was written almost immediately after Vespucci
0:10:29 > 0:10:32must have seen the portrait of Lisa del Giocondo
0:10:32 > 0:10:34in Leonardo da Vinci's workshop.
0:10:34 > 0:10:37This is gold dust, and it proves
0:10:37 > 0:10:41that Vasari was definitely right in at least one sense all along.
0:10:41 > 0:10:46Leonardo definitely did paint a portrait of Lisa del Giocondo.
0:10:54 > 0:10:55There you have it.
0:10:55 > 0:10:59Independent testimony from a man in Florence in 1503
0:10:59 > 0:11:03who probably saw the picture still wet on the artist's easel.
0:11:04 > 0:11:06But now there's another question.
0:11:06 > 0:11:09Why did Leonardo paint Lisa
0:11:09 > 0:11:13when the great and powerful couldn't coax a picture from him?
0:11:13 > 0:11:16Why agree to paint this obscure woman?
0:11:17 > 0:11:20One man has made it his life's work to uncover forgotten
0:11:20 > 0:11:22secrets about Lisa.
0:11:22 > 0:11:27Giuseppe Pallanti has found new details in the city archive.
0:11:27 > 0:11:29Historical dynamite,
0:11:29 > 0:11:32beginning with the house where Lisa,
0:11:32 > 0:11:35daughter of the Gherardinis, was born.
0:11:38 > 0:11:42On this street, this is the street where the Mona Lisa once lived.
0:11:42 > 0:11:46Yes, Lisa lived in the dark and narrow street of Florence.
0:11:48 > 0:11:50What was her family background?
0:11:50 > 0:11:53SPEAKS ITALIAN
0:11:56 > 0:11:59So they were small...as it were, labourers?
0:12:24 > 0:12:27- They never had their own house in Florence?- No.
0:12:28 > 0:12:31Giuseppe's discoveries have deepened the mystery.
0:12:31 > 0:12:36If Lisa's origins were so humble why did the notoriously choosy
0:12:36 > 0:12:38Leonardo consent to paint her?
0:12:40 > 0:12:44In another part of town, Giuseppe believes he's found the answer.
0:12:59 > 0:13:01The place is there.
0:13:01 > 0:13:03It is important for another reason,
0:13:03 > 0:13:09because in front of this building lived Ser Piero, Leonardo's father.
0:13:09 > 0:13:10Wha...? Hang on, say that again.
0:13:11 > 0:13:16- Lisa Gherardini was living here, at the time...- Yes.
0:13:16 > 0:13:18..Leonardo da Vinci's father was living there?
0:13:18 > 0:13:20Yes.
0:13:30 > 0:13:31How incredible!
0:13:45 > 0:13:48So he was... You're saying that Francesco del Giocondo,
0:13:48 > 0:13:51the merchant, he was actually a client of Leonardo's father?
0:13:51 > 0:13:53- Yes.- Well, this is all new.
0:13:53 > 0:13:54- Yes.- This is all new.
0:13:56 > 0:13:59For the first time we have a concrete connection
0:13:59 > 0:14:01between Leonardo and Lisa.
0:14:01 > 0:14:04Not only were they neighbours,
0:14:04 > 0:14:06their families did business together.
0:14:06 > 0:14:08And there's more.
0:14:08 > 0:14:12Giuseppe tells me that according to police records of the time,
0:14:12 > 0:14:15Francesco had a bit of a reputation.
0:14:15 > 0:14:19Described as "garoso" meaning swaggering -
0:14:19 > 0:14:22he wasn't just a merchant on the rise
0:14:22 > 0:14:24but an aggressive deal-maker
0:14:24 > 0:14:27who'd stop at almost nothing to get his way.
0:14:28 > 0:14:30Maybe this is the real reason
0:14:30 > 0:14:32Leonardo agreed to paint his wife.
0:14:32 > 0:14:35Maybe Francesco made him an offer
0:14:35 > 0:14:36he couldn't refuse.
0:14:41 > 0:14:43In the parish church of San Lorenzo
0:14:43 > 0:14:46there's another crucial piece of evidence.
0:14:47 > 0:14:49Something that had slipped through the net of history
0:14:49 > 0:14:51until just a few years ago
0:14:51 > 0:14:53when Giuseppe found it.
0:14:53 > 0:14:56The record of Mona Lisa's death.
0:15:01 > 0:15:02Wonderful thing.
0:15:04 > 0:15:07The handwriting isn't very easy to follow
0:15:07 > 0:15:10because the entries in these books weren't actually made
0:15:10 > 0:15:12by notaries like Leonardo da Vinci's father,
0:15:12 > 0:15:16they were actually made by the priests in the church,
0:15:16 > 0:15:18but I think I have found her.
0:15:19 > 0:15:21Here she is.
0:15:23 > 0:15:26This is wonderful. Ooh! I've got a shiver down my spine.
0:15:26 > 0:15:33"Lisa donna fu di Francesco del Giocondo..."
0:15:34 > 0:15:39So Lisa the wife of Francesco del Giocondo...
0:15:39 > 0:15:40.."mori"...
0:15:40 > 0:15:44..died on the 15th of July...
0:15:45 > 0:15:47..1542.
0:15:50 > 0:15:55Just...I think what I love about this is...this is truth.
0:15:55 > 0:15:58What could be more true than the record of somebody's death?
0:15:58 > 0:16:00She was a real person.
0:16:02 > 0:16:03She was a real person.
0:16:05 > 0:16:09And there's one other sentence in this entry
0:16:09 > 0:16:12which my friend Pallanti didn't mention.
0:16:14 > 0:16:17It says that she was buried in Saint Ursula - he told me that -
0:16:17 > 0:16:20but what he didn't say is this last sentence
0:16:20 > 0:16:22"dulsa tutto il capito"
0:16:22 > 0:16:24Four words.
0:16:25 > 0:16:29She took with her the whole "capito".
0:16:31 > 0:16:33What that means is that her body
0:16:33 > 0:16:35was followed by the whole body
0:16:35 > 0:16:37of the church of San Lorenzo.
0:16:37 > 0:16:43So what is conjured up by this, is a very, very grand funeral,
0:16:43 > 0:16:49and for this brief moment in July, 1542,
0:16:49 > 0:16:53she was a very, very important person in the life of the city.
0:16:53 > 0:16:57Everybody in Florence would have known that Mona Lisa had passed away.
0:17:05 > 0:17:07A spectacular funeral.
0:17:07 > 0:17:10Dozens of canons, chaplains and clerics.
0:17:10 > 0:17:15The whole del Giocondo clan walking with Lisa's coffin.
0:17:15 > 0:17:18Francesco had died five years earlier
0:17:18 > 0:17:23but he made sure he provided for all this pomp and ceremony in his will
0:17:23 > 0:17:24where she is described as
0:17:24 > 0:17:27"his beloved, faithful wife".
0:17:28 > 0:17:33Lisa del Giocondo was laid to rest in the now ruined convent of Saint Ursula.
0:17:34 > 0:17:36Beyond here we can't follow her
0:17:36 > 0:17:39though we've learned a lot.
0:17:39 > 0:17:41Leonardo definitely knew Lisa,
0:17:41 > 0:17:43definitely painted her portrait.
0:17:45 > 0:17:47But if one riddle's been answered,
0:17:47 > 0:17:50there's still another mystery to solve.
0:17:51 > 0:17:56How can we be certain that Leonardo's portrait of Lisa
0:17:56 > 0:17:59and the portrait in the Louvre are one and the same?
0:18:09 > 0:18:11So what are the facts?
0:18:11 > 0:18:13According to Vasari,
0:18:13 > 0:18:17Leonardo painted Lisa smiling in Florence.
0:18:17 > 0:18:22Vespucci's marginal notes confirm that it happened in 1503.
0:18:23 > 0:18:26The picture in the Louvre shows a woman smiling.
0:18:26 > 0:18:28So far, so good.
0:18:28 > 0:18:31But other things don't add up.
0:18:32 > 0:18:34Vasari describes eyebrows
0:18:34 > 0:18:36but the Louvre portrait
0:18:36 > 0:18:38doesn't have eyebrows.
0:18:38 > 0:18:43Vasari tells us Leonardo painted Lisa for Francesco del Giocondo.
0:18:45 > 0:18:49But Francesco never owned the portrait we now call the Mona Lisa.
0:18:49 > 0:18:52Leonardo had it with him when he died.
0:18:53 > 0:18:56Most troubling of all is an eyewitness account
0:18:56 > 0:18:59written by a man called Antonio de Beatis.
0:18:59 > 0:19:03He was actually shown the picture that's now in the Louvre
0:19:03 > 0:19:06by Leonardo himself at the end of his life.
0:19:06 > 0:19:09Leonardo said he'd been asked to paint this portrait
0:19:09 > 0:19:11not by Francesco del Giocondo
0:19:11 > 0:19:14but by someone completely different.
0:19:15 > 0:19:17A noble patron, Giuliano de' Medici.
0:19:19 > 0:19:21It simply doesn't make sense.
0:19:24 > 0:19:29It's almost as if we might be talking about different paintings.
0:19:30 > 0:19:33So I'm beginning to wonder whether it's not possible Leonardo
0:19:33 > 0:19:36did paint two versions of the same painting
0:19:36 > 0:19:38on several occasions.
0:19:38 > 0:19:42I'm beginning to wonder if it's not possible that he did indeed
0:19:42 > 0:19:45finish his portrait of the Mona Lisa here in Florence,
0:19:45 > 0:19:49that he did indeed give it to Francesco del Giocondo
0:19:49 > 0:19:52and that the portrait of Mona Lisa in Paris is a second version.
0:19:52 > 0:19:57Is it possible that there might be more than one Mona Lisa?
0:20:00 > 0:20:04The idea is not as strange as you might think.
0:20:04 > 0:20:07Leonardo did habitually revisit the same subject more than once.
0:20:13 > 0:20:17I've come to Singapore to see for the first time a picture
0:20:17 > 0:20:21that might actually be Leonardo's first version of the painting.
0:20:23 > 0:20:26It's owned by an anonymous consortium of businessmen,
0:20:26 > 0:20:29and is currently locked away
0:20:29 > 0:20:32deep in the bowels of a state-of-the-art
0:20:32 > 0:20:34high security storage facility.
0:20:47 > 0:20:50So could THIS be the first Mona Lisa?
0:20:57 > 0:21:00I've come 7,000 miles to see you.
0:21:04 > 0:21:05Blimey.
0:21:20 > 0:21:22The background's...
0:21:22 > 0:21:25You might almost say a kind of roughing in,
0:21:25 > 0:21:26but the face...
0:21:27 > 0:21:29The face is really something.
0:21:31 > 0:21:33She's younger, she's smiling.
0:21:33 > 0:21:36I think there's a lot to be said for first impressions,
0:21:36 > 0:21:41and the first impression when I came in was,
0:21:41 > 0:21:44I did well not to jump backwards in shock.
0:21:46 > 0:21:48It's too good, in my opinion,
0:21:48 > 0:21:52for any of the other school of Leonardo painters.
0:21:53 > 0:21:55Very dangerous, things like this.
0:21:55 > 0:21:56Very dangerous to say
0:21:56 > 0:21:59"This is definitely painted by Leonardo da Vinci."
0:21:59 > 0:22:01Well, I can't say that, but...
0:22:01 > 0:22:04I think it's not beyond the realms of possibility
0:22:04 > 0:22:07that this is the picture that Francesco del Giocondo
0:22:07 > 0:22:10took and then Leonardo goes off, paints another picture
0:22:10 > 0:22:13based on the memory of this picture.
0:22:14 > 0:22:17And that's the Mona Lisa we know in the Louvre.
0:22:18 > 0:22:21It's very teasing that smile, isn't it?
0:22:22 > 0:22:23Very teasing.
0:22:28 > 0:22:30This version of the Mona Lisa
0:22:30 > 0:22:33first hit the headlines in 1914.
0:22:33 > 0:22:35British art dealer, Hugh Blaker,
0:22:35 > 0:22:38bought it from a private family collection
0:22:38 > 0:22:41and was convinced he'd stumbled across an early Leonardo.
0:22:43 > 0:22:45He kept it in his Isleworth studios
0:22:45 > 0:22:48and it became known as the Isleworth Mona Lisa.
0:22:50 > 0:22:53One thing in its favour was its similarity
0:22:53 > 0:22:56to this pencil sketch copy of the Mona Lisa,
0:22:56 > 0:22:58done in Florence in 1504
0:22:58 > 0:23:01by Leonardo's contemporary Raphael,
0:23:01 > 0:23:06which seems to show how the painting looked in its original state.
0:23:08 > 0:23:11Yet after a century of supporters, detractors
0:23:11 > 0:23:13and different owners,
0:23:13 > 0:23:16opinion on the Isleworth painting is still divided.
0:23:18 > 0:23:22One man who is convinced that Leonardo painted two Mona Lisas
0:23:22 > 0:23:24is Jean-Pierre Isbouts.
0:23:25 > 0:23:28'He was so impressed by the Isleworth portrait
0:23:28 > 0:23:30'he wrote a book about it.'
0:23:30 > 0:23:33So what would lead you to think
0:23:33 > 0:23:37that the Isleworth picture
0:23:37 > 0:23:40was indeed painted in 1503?
0:23:40 > 0:23:43What is to say that it wasn't painted in 1553?
0:23:44 > 0:23:47Well, I don't know about you, but when you talk about a copy
0:23:47 > 0:23:49usually a copy tries to imitate the original.
0:23:50 > 0:23:52This is not a copy.
0:23:52 > 0:23:56There are so many different things about this particular Isleworth version
0:23:56 > 0:23:58that do not appear in the Louvre version.
0:23:58 > 0:24:01Let's take one example - the columns.
0:24:02 > 0:24:07The portrait is framed by two robust Doric columns.
0:24:07 > 0:24:12Why do we know that those columns existed in 1503 and not later on?
0:24:12 > 0:24:14Because there is Raphael!
0:24:14 > 0:24:16He makes a sketch.
0:24:16 > 0:24:18And what do we have on both sides?
0:24:18 > 0:24:21We have the columns that appear in the Isleworth,
0:24:21 > 0:24:24they do not appear in the Louvre version.
0:24:25 > 0:24:28Let's talk about the record written by De Beatis,
0:24:28 > 0:24:33the secretary to Cardinal d'Aragon who visited Leonardo in 1516.
0:24:33 > 0:24:35- Which is seriously puzzling. - Which is seriously puzzling.
0:24:35 > 0:24:39But here is... Here we have an eyewitness account.
0:24:39 > 0:24:42Here they are in the room with Leonardo and he says,
0:24:42 > 0:24:47"Yeah, this was done at the request of Giuliano de' Medici.
0:24:47 > 0:24:48Instigation - "istigazione."
0:24:48 > 0:24:50Istigazione.
0:24:50 > 0:24:53I think what he was doing at this time, is give Giuliano credit.
0:24:53 > 0:24:56Giuliano bailed Leonardo out,
0:24:56 > 0:24:59when Leonardo was without a mentor, penniless
0:24:59 > 0:25:01and that's when Leonardo -
0:25:01 > 0:25:05because of the patronage and the financial support of Giuliano -
0:25:05 > 0:25:09finds the time to create this new meditation, if you will -
0:25:09 > 0:25:10the Louvre version.
0:25:10 > 0:25:11So your explanation would be,
0:25:11 > 0:25:14"Well, here we are, two different explanations,
0:25:14 > 0:25:17- "but that's not so weird if you think there are two different pictures." - Exactly.
0:25:20 > 0:25:24Jean-Pierre firmly believes this could be Leonardo's first Mona Lisa
0:25:24 > 0:25:26done for husband Francesco.
0:25:26 > 0:25:30But, if so, why would it be unfinished?
0:25:32 > 0:25:34Well, we know Leonardo was slow
0:25:34 > 0:25:37and Francesco was impatient,
0:25:37 > 0:25:40so perhaps he just snatched it away from Leonardo
0:25:40 > 0:25:44once his beloved Lisa's face was complete.
0:25:44 > 0:25:46A barrage of scientific tests
0:25:46 > 0:25:49have been carried out on this tantalising picture.
0:25:49 > 0:25:53The canvas was carbon dated to around the right period.
0:25:53 > 0:25:56Multiple tiny paint samples are consistent
0:25:56 > 0:26:00with the paints Leonardo used.
0:26:00 > 0:26:03X-ray, infrared and ultraviolet scans
0:26:03 > 0:26:06have found nothing to disprove it
0:26:06 > 0:26:08as an early Mona Lisa.
0:26:09 > 0:26:10But that's the problem.
0:26:10 > 0:26:13All that conventional tests can do
0:26:13 > 0:26:16is rule out a possible Leonardo.
0:26:16 > 0:26:18What about positive confirmation?
0:26:20 > 0:26:24An eminent scientist based in San Diego, California,
0:26:24 > 0:26:26has been looking for a solution.
0:26:28 > 0:26:29Hello.
0:26:29 > 0:26:31Good to see you, Andrew.
0:26:31 > 0:26:35'Dr John Asmus is a well respected nuclear physicist,
0:26:35 > 0:26:40'and a pioneer in the analysis of historic paintings.'
0:26:40 > 0:26:43He's one of very few who've been allowed to examine
0:26:43 > 0:26:44the Louvre Mona Lisa,
0:26:44 > 0:26:46and that's why the owners
0:26:46 > 0:26:48of the Isleworth Mona Lisa,
0:26:48 > 0:26:49tracked him down.
0:26:51 > 0:26:54I started receiving phone calls
0:26:54 > 0:26:57from a series of attorneys
0:26:57 > 0:26:59in Switzerland
0:26:59 > 0:27:02and they wanted me to look at a painting
0:27:02 > 0:27:05and, finally, we found that I was going to be on a train
0:27:05 > 0:27:08from Milan to Geneva
0:27:08 > 0:27:11and they asked me to get off the train in Lausanne
0:27:11 > 0:27:13and take a look at their painting
0:27:13 > 0:27:16and so they met me at the train station
0:27:16 > 0:27:19and they popped the bonnet
0:27:19 > 0:27:21of an automobile
0:27:21 > 0:27:24and there was a Mona Lisa in...in the trunk.
0:27:27 > 0:27:29And the attorney asked me
0:27:29 > 0:27:32"Do you think this Mona Lisa was painted by Leonardo?"
0:27:32 > 0:27:34And my exact words were,
0:27:34 > 0:27:36"How would I know?"
0:27:36 > 0:27:39So I got out my instamatic camera
0:27:39 > 0:27:42and took a photograph of the painting in the trunk
0:27:42 > 0:27:45and it was that image that I then compared
0:27:45 > 0:27:47with the Louvre Mona Lisa.
0:27:51 > 0:27:53A few years ago Dr Asmus developed a new test
0:27:53 > 0:27:56to authenticate paintings by Rembrandt.
0:27:57 > 0:28:00It compares the subtle distribution of light and shadow
0:28:00 > 0:28:02measured as histograms
0:28:02 > 0:28:05to isolate an artist's unique way of painting.
0:28:06 > 0:28:11I think it's a way of trying to quantify the artist's eye.
0:28:11 > 0:28:13Every artist has certain effects
0:28:13 > 0:28:16that he's trying to accomplish,
0:28:16 > 0:28:18and we used Rembrandt as a test case
0:28:18 > 0:28:21and the results were rather encouraging.
0:28:21 > 0:28:23We came up with some general rules
0:28:23 > 0:28:25as to how Rembrandt
0:28:25 > 0:28:28did his blending and his selection of pigments.
0:28:28 > 0:28:33So I tried that same technique on the Isleworth Mona Lisa,
0:28:33 > 0:28:35comparing it with the Louvre Mona Lisa
0:28:35 > 0:28:38and I was... I was stunned.
0:28:38 > 0:28:42The correlation between those two histograms
0:28:42 > 0:28:44was 99%.
0:28:44 > 0:28:47Stronger than it was between any histograms
0:28:47 > 0:28:50of any of the Rembrandt self-portraits that we'd looked at.
0:28:50 > 0:28:52How amazing.
0:28:53 > 0:28:57'This demonstrates that the technique for blending light and shade
0:28:57 > 0:29:00'in each face appears uncannily similar.
0:29:05 > 0:29:08'John plans to build a much bigger database
0:29:08 > 0:29:10'of Leonardo works with which to compare them.
0:29:12 > 0:29:14'His results are impressive.
0:29:15 > 0:29:18'But there's something still troubling me.'
0:29:20 > 0:29:23I would love to believe that
0:29:23 > 0:29:26that softly emerging face coming out of darkness
0:29:26 > 0:29:30really is young Mona Lisa.
0:29:32 > 0:29:34I'd love to believe that.
0:29:35 > 0:29:38But at the moment, for me, it's that too-good-to-be-true syndrome.
0:29:38 > 0:29:39It's a little bit too good.
0:29:39 > 0:29:41It's troubling.
0:29:41 > 0:29:44When I look at that chart that they've done
0:29:44 > 0:29:47of where they've taken the paint samples from.
0:29:47 > 0:29:49They've the taken the paint samples from everywhere
0:29:49 > 0:29:51except that beguiling face...
0:29:52 > 0:29:55..which is the most compelling part of the whole picture.
0:29:55 > 0:29:57It's the part that makes you think, "Yes!"
0:29:57 > 0:30:00"This could be the young Mona Lisa."
0:30:01 > 0:30:04I'm just wondering whether it's possible
0:30:04 > 0:30:07that some very skilful,
0:30:07 > 0:30:10careful restorer,
0:30:10 > 0:30:13some time before John Asmus saw it in the boot of that car...
0:30:15 > 0:30:18..didn't just bring that face...
0:30:20 > 0:30:21..up.
0:30:21 > 0:30:28Didn't just make whatever ghost or trace of possibly a Mona Lisa copy
0:30:28 > 0:30:32into something so much more compelling to the modern eye.
0:30:34 > 0:30:36To me NOT to test THAT...
0:30:37 > 0:30:39It's like a detective and his team
0:30:39 > 0:30:42coming to investigate the scene of a crime,
0:30:42 > 0:30:44the scene of a murder,
0:30:44 > 0:30:47and fingerprinting every square inch of it
0:30:47 > 0:30:50but forgetting to take fingerprints from
0:30:50 > 0:30:53the knife on the bed covered with blood.
0:30:54 > 0:30:56I could be wrong.
0:30:57 > 0:31:00Maybe Leonardo did paint this face in 1503
0:31:00 > 0:31:03while Lisa sat in front of him,
0:31:03 > 0:31:06but until the face is tested, doubt remains,
0:31:06 > 0:31:10and, to me, she just looks a bit too 20th-century.
0:31:13 > 0:31:17But I'm still convinced that Leonardo did paint two Mona Lisas.
0:31:18 > 0:31:21If the Isleworth painting isn't the earlier version,
0:31:21 > 0:31:24then it's either lost
0:31:24 > 0:31:26or still out there somewhere.
0:31:27 > 0:31:29And believe it or not,
0:31:29 > 0:31:31now there's a new lead.
0:31:31 > 0:31:32The reported discovery
0:31:32 > 0:31:36of another Mona Lisa in St Petersburg, Russia.
0:31:55 > 0:31:58This really is a plunge into the unknown.
0:31:59 > 0:32:03All we've been told is that a wealthy Russian art collector -
0:32:03 > 0:32:04identity a secret -
0:32:04 > 0:32:06recently acquired a painting
0:32:06 > 0:32:10that might be the missing link to the mystery.
0:32:10 > 0:32:12We haven't yet been told where it is,
0:32:12 > 0:32:15and then, at the last minute,
0:32:15 > 0:32:17we're given an address -
0:32:17 > 0:32:20a place with a dubious past.
0:32:33 > 0:32:35Certainly strange.
0:32:36 > 0:32:39This building was created in the 19th century.
0:32:40 > 0:32:43This room is a recreation
0:32:43 > 0:32:47of an old Russian hunting lodge.
0:32:47 > 0:32:51It survives because the KGB made it their headquarters
0:32:51 > 0:32:53during the Communist years.
0:32:56 > 0:32:58Here she is.
0:33:00 > 0:33:02So what is this?
0:33:04 > 0:33:05What is this?
0:33:06 > 0:33:08All I know about this picture
0:33:08 > 0:33:12is that it was purchased by a Russian art collector
0:33:12 > 0:33:16from a very old and established American family,
0:33:16 > 0:33:20who'd had it since the end of the 18th century,
0:33:20 > 0:33:22and has hardly been seen since.
0:33:23 > 0:33:26And what's the status of this picture?
0:33:28 > 0:33:30Smaller.
0:33:30 > 0:33:31The columns
0:33:31 > 0:33:33are more complete
0:33:33 > 0:33:37than they are in the version in the Louvre.
0:33:39 > 0:33:41You see, they've got me going!
0:33:41 > 0:33:43Now, I'm saying "The version in the Louvre."
0:33:43 > 0:33:45The version in the Louvre...(!)
0:33:45 > 0:33:47The Mona Lisa in the Louvre.
0:33:49 > 0:33:51She's enigmatic.
0:33:51 > 0:33:52She's removed.
0:33:52 > 0:33:53She's distant.
0:33:53 > 0:33:55Is she a copy?
0:33:55 > 0:33:56Not sure.
0:34:01 > 0:34:05This picture looks tantalisingly close to the picture in the Louvre,
0:34:05 > 0:34:07so many details are the same,
0:34:07 > 0:34:10but is this Leonardo's lost earlier version?
0:34:11 > 0:34:13As with the Isleworth picture,
0:34:13 > 0:34:17scientific tests have been done by Dr Chiara Matteucci
0:34:17 > 0:34:20of the University of Bologna,
0:34:20 > 0:34:23who's flown to Russia to share her results.
0:34:23 > 0:34:26SPEAKS ITALIAN
0:34:32 > 0:34:35This is the radiocarbon dating of the canvas? Si.
0:34:35 > 0:34:39Which shows a 95.4% probability
0:34:39 > 0:34:45that the canvas is between 1490 and 1670.
0:34:45 > 0:34:47So the canvas could well be correct.
0:34:47 > 0:34:49Si. OK.
0:35:12 > 0:35:14- Rossa?- Rossa.
0:35:14 > 0:35:16Oh, that's the ground. Well, that's very clear.
0:35:16 > 0:35:18But as far as I understand it...
0:35:20 > 0:35:23..Leonardo da Vinci himself
0:35:23 > 0:35:26worked on a classic Italian
0:35:26 > 0:35:29renaissance ground of white, is that right?
0:35:29 > 0:35:31Si.
0:35:32 > 0:35:37'The presence of a red ground, the very first layer of paint,
0:35:37 > 0:35:39'seems to discount Leonardo's hand.
0:35:39 > 0:35:44'But it's Chiara's next discovery that really changes the picture.
0:35:44 > 0:35:47'A chemical not used before 1600.'
0:36:48 > 0:36:51I think Chiara's done all the research we need to know.
0:36:51 > 0:36:56So the barium allows us to place this canvas very precisely,
0:36:56 > 0:37:001620 to 1680. And probably in Paris.
0:37:00 > 0:37:03So all the painters around Paris got this ground from this one guy
0:37:03 > 0:37:05and put it on their canvas.
0:37:05 > 0:37:08So, more and more that I talk to you, I feel..
0:37:29 > 0:37:35So this Mona Lisa isn't a Leonardo, but a mid-17th century French copy.
0:37:37 > 0:37:40'In fact, there are dozens of copies.
0:37:40 > 0:37:42'It's a real problem if you believe,
0:37:42 > 0:37:45'as I think you have to, given the conflicting evidence,
0:37:45 > 0:37:49'that Leonardo did paint two Mona Lisas.
0:37:52 > 0:37:57'What we're looking for, then, is Leonardo's image of young Lisa,
0:37:57 > 0:37:59'as described by Vasari,
0:37:59 > 0:38:01'as sketched by Raphael,
0:38:01 > 0:38:06'which must predate the famous picture in the Louvre.
0:38:06 > 0:38:07'So, where can it be?
0:38:09 > 0:38:12'I still believe that I can get to the bottom of the mystery.
0:38:12 > 0:38:16'Because there's one very strong lead I haven't yet followed up.
0:38:17 > 0:38:19'One more destination.
0:38:19 > 0:38:21'Paris.'
0:38:31 > 0:38:33'A scientist turned art detective
0:38:33 > 0:38:37'claims he can finally explain the discrepancies.
0:38:37 > 0:38:40'He believes the secrets of the Mona Lisa
0:38:40 > 0:38:42'lie not in other versions of the portrait,
0:38:42 > 0:38:44'but inside the Mona Lisa itself.
0:38:46 > 0:38:48'And he reckons he can prove it.'
0:38:48 > 0:38:50Pascal.
0:38:50 > 0:38:51Welcome.
0:38:51 > 0:38:55'Pascal Cotte is one of the world's leading experts
0:38:55 > 0:38:58'in the analysis of paintings.
0:38:58 > 0:39:00'He's a man in Leonardo's own image.
0:39:00 > 0:39:02'A self-taught physicist,
0:39:02 > 0:39:05'the brilliant inventor of a new technique
0:39:05 > 0:39:08'that's unlocked the secrets of paintings by Rubens,
0:39:08 > 0:39:11'Rembrandt, Picasso and many others.'
0:39:11 > 0:39:14His work on another Leonardo painting,
0:39:14 > 0:39:16the Lady with an Ermine,
0:39:16 > 0:39:19revealed earlier versions of the composition
0:39:19 > 0:39:23hidden beneath its surface that rewrote art history.
0:39:24 > 0:39:27'But his great obsession is the Mona Lisa.
0:39:27 > 0:39:30'Faithfully reproduced here in his studio.'
0:39:32 > 0:39:37In 2004, Pascal was invited by the Louvre to scan the painting.
0:39:37 > 0:39:41His task? Simply to identify the picture's original colours
0:39:41 > 0:39:45hidden beneath the discolourations of time.
0:39:45 > 0:39:47But Pascal's technique also revealed
0:39:47 > 0:39:50that there was far more going on beneath the surface.
0:39:50 > 0:39:54For the last decade, he's worked in secret,
0:39:54 > 0:39:56decoding those discoveries.
0:39:56 > 0:39:58And now he's ready to share them.
0:39:59 > 0:40:05So our goal is to peel, like an onion, all the layer of paint,
0:40:05 > 0:40:09to reconstruct the chronology of the construction of the painting.
0:40:09 > 0:40:11So, is this new? Is this a new...?
0:40:11 > 0:40:13This is a new technique, absolutely.
0:40:20 > 0:40:25Pascal's secret weapon is his ground-breaking multispectral camera.
0:40:25 > 0:40:27An invention truly worthy of Leonardo.
0:40:30 > 0:40:3413 different wavelengths of colour are projected onto the picture.
0:40:34 > 0:40:37Each penetrating the paint surface to a different depth.
0:40:40 > 0:40:42The camera captures the reflections,
0:40:42 > 0:40:47generating over three billion bits of data and thousands of images.
0:40:49 > 0:40:52By analysing each image, shown in black and white,
0:40:52 > 0:40:57Pascal can reveal a painting's secrets layer by layer.
0:40:59 > 0:41:04His first discovery in the Mona Lisa is buried deep within the painting.
0:41:06 > 0:41:12What we discover, we discover that the head...was bigger.
0:41:14 > 0:41:17- So you...you see a shadow of a bigger head.- Yes, I can see.
0:41:19 > 0:41:24Mm. You can see also that the nose...is double here.
0:41:26 > 0:41:27Oh!
0:41:27 > 0:41:29Wow!
0:41:29 > 0:41:32So once, she had a larger head.
0:41:32 > 0:41:35And I discovered this hand, much more bigger.
0:41:36 > 0:41:38(Wow!)
0:41:43 > 0:41:47Pascal has pieced together several previously unknown details
0:41:47 > 0:41:51that lie beneath the Louvre portrait as we know it.
0:41:51 > 0:41:56Marked in red, they seem to be elements of a larger first portrait
0:41:56 > 0:41:58that never got beyond a draft stage.
0:41:59 > 0:42:02But that's just the beginning of Pascal's discoveries.
0:42:05 > 0:42:08So now we continue with one other layer.
0:42:11 > 0:42:12Ah. Here we are.
0:42:12 > 0:42:14What on earth is that?
0:42:14 > 0:42:16What is it?
0:42:16 > 0:42:18This is a hairpin.
0:42:19 > 0:42:21Like this one.
0:42:22 > 0:42:25- So, you found...- Something like this. - ..you found a...
0:42:25 > 0:42:29With that little bit of your magic light camera,
0:42:29 > 0:42:32you found a missing hairpin?
0:42:33 > 0:42:37Now you know there is a hairpin, you can see it.
0:42:37 > 0:42:39Hah!
0:42:40 > 0:42:42Because you know.
0:42:42 > 0:42:44But, yes... No, exactly. How fascinating!
0:42:45 > 0:42:49And more than that, if you look around the head,
0:42:49 > 0:42:51you discover 12 hairpins.
0:42:53 > 0:42:54ANDREW LAUGHS
0:42:58 > 0:43:03'The hairpins with pearls make no sense on the first large portrait,
0:43:03 > 0:43:08'but Pascal has found something else that appears to be connected to them.
0:43:08 > 0:43:10'Tiny rows of dots, known as spolveri.
0:43:13 > 0:43:16'They seem to suggest an elaborate headdress.
0:43:16 > 0:43:20'Intriguingly, a type of headdress that, as far as we know,
0:43:20 > 0:43:23'was only ever shown on the heads of saints or Madonnas.'
0:43:24 > 0:43:27This is a painting of a headdress
0:43:27 > 0:43:30that have nothing to do with Mona Lisa.
0:43:30 > 0:43:33- Nothing to do with Mona Lisa? - Nothing to do with Mona Lisa.
0:43:33 > 0:43:38'The spolveri hidden inside the Mona Lisa have never been seen before.
0:43:38 > 0:43:43'They're concrete proof of the way Leonardo constructed a picture.
0:43:43 > 0:43:46'He would have begun with a preparatory drawing.
0:43:46 > 0:43:50'Marked the lines on tracing paper with a sharp point,
0:43:50 > 0:43:54'then transferred those outlines on to the wood with coal dust.
0:43:56 > 0:43:58'But what happened to the headdress?
0:43:58 > 0:44:00'Pascal's next piece of evidence
0:44:00 > 0:44:03'suggests it was deliberately removed.'
0:44:04 > 0:44:07So now I discovered this hatching.
0:44:07 > 0:44:11- Do you see this hatching? - This is another layer of your...?
0:44:11 > 0:44:13- Yeah, another...- Of the onion.
0:44:13 > 0:44:15- So, this is Leonardo with his rubber? - Yes.
0:44:15 > 0:44:18You see, it's totally different from the cracks.
0:44:18 > 0:44:20It's not craquelure, no.
0:44:20 > 0:44:25You see, this is clearly to erase what is behind.
0:44:26 > 0:44:30It's very important. Because that explains how Leonardo,
0:44:30 > 0:44:33from one stage, goes to another stage.
0:44:36 > 0:44:41'Pascal's scans are crucial evidence of the way Leonardo worked.
0:44:41 > 0:44:43'Building up a painting stage by stage.
0:44:44 > 0:44:47'Above the scratchings, Pascal reveals
0:44:47 > 0:44:49'the first impression of yet another layer.
0:44:50 > 0:44:53'The ghostly imprint of a face.
0:44:53 > 0:44:55'Like a Leonardo Turin Shroud.'
0:44:57 > 0:44:59- Is that another head?- Yes.
0:44:59 > 0:45:01How many heads is that so far?
0:45:03 > 0:45:05Er...this is the number three.
0:45:05 > 0:45:06- So the big head...- The big head...
0:45:06 > 0:45:08- The pearl head.- The pearl head.
0:45:08 > 0:45:10- And then there's another head.- Yes.
0:45:10 > 0:45:13Now the...the eyes.
0:45:13 > 0:45:16So it's a wonderful proof.
0:45:16 > 0:45:20I discovered two crosses just here.
0:45:20 > 0:45:22Oh! ANDREW LAUGHS
0:45:22 > 0:45:24That's extraordinary!
0:45:24 > 0:45:29And these crosses do not match with Mona Lisa's...glance.
0:45:31 > 0:45:32- No.- No.
0:45:34 > 0:45:38'The crosses clearly mark a different set of pupils
0:45:38 > 0:45:41'looking in a different direction.'
0:45:42 > 0:45:45- The face behind Mona Lisa...- Mm.
0:45:45 > 0:45:50..the face is turned 14 degrees in the right direction.
0:45:50 > 0:45:54So there she is, she's looking like that.
0:45:54 > 0:45:57- So she should be like that.- Yeah. - More like that.
0:45:57 > 0:45:59Also, eyebrows. This...
0:45:59 > 0:46:01Can I just see this? Because this is an important point.
0:46:01 > 0:46:06Because Vasari says specifically, you know,
0:46:06 > 0:46:08that the eyebrows are beautifully painted.
0:46:08 > 0:46:09Yes. These eyebrows...
0:46:09 > 0:46:12And the Mona Lisa, as we see her, doesn't have eyebrows.
0:46:12 > 0:46:15- So, have you found...? - You can see it. Yeah, look, here.
0:46:17 > 0:46:19So there are the eyebrows!
0:46:22 > 0:46:25And here, you have another mouth.
0:46:25 > 0:46:28Look at this mouth. Nothing to do with Mona Lisa.
0:46:28 > 0:46:30Absolutely amazing.
0:46:30 > 0:46:32She's barely smiling.
0:46:32 > 0:46:36Do you see? Because she...she turns the head on the left,
0:46:36 > 0:46:39the mouth is a little smaller.
0:46:39 > 0:46:41- You see?- Quite a lot smaller.- Yeah.
0:46:43 > 0:46:45ANDREW LAUGHS
0:46:48 > 0:46:51So, Pascal, you've found a complete face.
0:46:51 > 0:46:53- Yes.- Inside...- Inside.
0:46:53 > 0:46:55- ..the Mona Lisa.- Yes.
0:46:55 > 0:46:57ANDREW LAUGHS Wow!
0:46:57 > 0:46:59That's quite a big discovery, isn't it?
0:46:59 > 0:47:01Yes, it is.
0:47:01 > 0:47:03- Yes, it is.- Yes, it is.
0:47:06 > 0:47:11Pascal's work has revealed for the first time in 500 years,
0:47:11 > 0:47:14a detailed earlier portrait by Leonardo da Vinci.
0:47:16 > 0:47:18It's the same size as the face we see now,
0:47:18 > 0:47:20but turned by 14 degrees.
0:47:22 > 0:47:26There's clear evidence of a different, swept-back hairstyle.
0:47:27 > 0:47:32Elaborate ties at the top of an earlier sleeve are clearly visible.
0:47:33 > 0:47:38There's even a suggestion that she once held a blanket in her lap.
0:47:41 > 0:47:43Is this the portrait of Lisa I've been looking for?
0:47:47 > 0:47:50So throughout my journey, I thought,
0:47:50 > 0:47:52well, it seems as though
0:47:52 > 0:47:55they're talking about two different pictures.
0:47:55 > 0:47:59You seem to be saying to me that, yes, there are two Mona Lisas,
0:47:59 > 0:48:03- but they happen to be on the same piece of wood.- Yes.
0:48:03 > 0:48:09So this must surely be...Lisa del Giocondo.
0:48:09 > 0:48:11- Of course.- Francesco's wife.
0:48:11 > 0:48:13I agree with you. It's...
0:48:13 > 0:48:17This is a real portrait of Mrs Lisa Gherardini.
0:48:22 > 0:48:24Pascal's pioneering work
0:48:24 > 0:48:28marks an extraordinary moment in the history of art.
0:48:29 > 0:48:32By piecing together all the details, then decoding the data
0:48:32 > 0:48:37to identify the original pigments used by Leonardo,
0:48:37 > 0:48:42Pascal has been able to construct a digital Photofit of the image.
0:48:43 > 0:48:46It's a perfect match with the historical record.
0:48:49 > 0:48:54But if this computer image represents the original portrait of Mona Lisa,
0:48:54 > 0:48:56it's a portrait her husband never received.
0:48:57 > 0:49:00Instead, Leonardo went on to paint
0:49:00 > 0:49:03the world's most famous picture over the top.
0:49:07 > 0:49:09So there were two Mona Lisa's all along.
0:49:11 > 0:49:14But how do we make sense of these discoveries?
0:49:14 > 0:49:17And what are we now to make of Leonardo's masterpiece?
0:49:22 > 0:49:25'In search of the final piece to the puzzle,
0:49:25 > 0:49:28'I'm meeting a woman who's spent years reconstructing the scene
0:49:28 > 0:49:31'of that day back in 1503
0:49:31 > 0:49:34'when Leonardo started to paint Lisa.'
0:49:39 > 0:49:42Leading expert on renaissance hairstyles and costumes,
0:49:42 > 0:49:44Elisabetta Gnignera,
0:49:44 > 0:49:47has based her work closely on Pascal's findings.
0:49:47 > 0:49:52Every Renaissance fashion can be precisely pinpointed.
0:49:52 > 0:49:57Whether to Rome in 1512, or Florence in 1503.
0:49:57 > 0:50:00So by recreating the costume Pascal found
0:50:00 > 0:50:02in the painting beneath the painting,
0:50:02 > 0:50:06Elisabetta can place and date it very precisely.
0:50:08 > 0:50:09Her results are a revelation.
0:50:13 > 0:50:18Looking at the fashions shown in these other contemporary portraits,
0:50:18 > 0:50:23this lady perfectly fits with the historical image
0:50:23 > 0:50:25of a wealthy Florentine lady
0:50:25 > 0:50:30of the early years of the 16th century.
0:50:30 > 0:50:34I cannot see any inconsistencies.
0:50:34 > 0:50:39So, this must be Lisa del Giocondo as Raphael painted her?
0:50:39 > 0:50:41Yes, this is very close.
0:50:41 > 0:50:45The closest version we know to the Raphael sketch.
0:50:45 > 0:50:46It's like a Polaroid.
0:50:46 > 0:50:48- It's like a Polaroid?- Yeah.
0:50:51 > 0:50:54Raphael had actually seen Leonardo's portrait of Lisa
0:50:54 > 0:50:56when he drew this copy in 1504.
0:50:57 > 0:51:01Apart from one slight difference, the veil over the bodice,
0:51:01 > 0:51:04it's identical to Elisabetta's reconstruction
0:51:04 > 0:51:06and Pascal's Photofit.
0:51:08 > 0:51:12It's compelling evidence that Pascal has indeed found the first version,
0:51:12 > 0:51:14Leonardo's original Lisa,
0:51:14 > 0:51:17lurking beneath the finished work.
0:51:19 > 0:51:23But where does all this leave the picture we see today?
0:51:26 > 0:51:31So, when you look at the Mona Lisa in the Louvre, as she is now,
0:51:31 > 0:51:36from the point of view of costume, what do you see?
0:51:36 > 0:51:38To me, she is not a real person
0:51:38 > 0:51:42because there are so many details which go in this sense.
0:51:42 > 0:51:45Mm. Can you give me an example?
0:51:45 > 0:51:49Yeah. The long hair worn on her shoulder.
0:51:49 > 0:51:51This wouldn't be conceivable,
0:51:51 > 0:51:54unless you were the very high ranks,
0:51:54 > 0:51:57or it was a posthumous portrait.
0:51:57 > 0:52:01What about this sort of sash of drapery that comes over her shoulder?
0:52:01 > 0:52:03- The twist.- The twist.- Yeah.
0:52:03 > 0:52:08This is the most interesting element in Louvre's Gioconda.
0:52:08 > 0:52:13Because Greco-Roman classical art devoted such detail
0:52:13 > 0:52:16only on one shoulder only.
0:52:16 > 0:52:18To Venus, Venus,
0:52:18 > 0:52:23and virtues like purity, chastity, faith.
0:52:23 > 0:52:26So that...that beautiful strand of drapery
0:52:26 > 0:52:29that seems to continue the flow of the river
0:52:29 > 0:52:31- and the landscape behind...- Yeah.
0:52:31 > 0:52:34That is not something that a real woman would have worn?
0:52:34 > 0:52:36Not at all, even if it was a...
0:52:36 > 0:52:38- So, it's more like an attribute of a goddess?- Yes.
0:52:38 > 0:52:42So the Louvre painting shows an idealised woman,
0:52:42 > 0:52:44maybe a posthumous portrait.
0:52:44 > 0:52:47Surely, then, she can no longer be Mona Lisa.
0:52:47 > 0:52:51Because Mona Lisa outlived Leonardo.
0:52:51 > 0:52:53Wow! Heh-heh!
0:52:53 > 0:52:56'Now, for Elisabetta, the moment of truth.
0:52:58 > 0:53:01'As the results of years of research and hard work finally come together,
0:53:01 > 0:53:05'we can at last see how Lisa del Giocondo,
0:53:05 > 0:53:09'the original Mona Lisa, might have looked.'
0:53:22 > 0:53:24- So, Elisabetta...- Yeah?
0:53:24 > 0:53:28- You have made the sleeves that Pascal found.- Yeah.
0:53:28 > 0:53:31- And this is the line, you've recreated the line.- Yeah, exactly.
0:53:33 > 0:53:36'It's been an elaborate process,
0:53:36 > 0:53:38'but it leads to a genuine insight
0:53:38 > 0:53:42'into Leonardo's obsessive relationship with this painting.
0:53:43 > 0:53:44'The key is in the colours,
0:53:44 > 0:53:48'which have been exactly matched to Pascal's calculations.'
0:53:49 > 0:53:53The dress for the bodice, he found a...
0:53:53 > 0:53:55- a greenish-grey pigment.- Mm.
0:53:55 > 0:53:57And also, there's leaves.
0:53:57 > 0:54:01We know how Leonardo would call this colour,
0:54:01 > 0:54:03which was called Leonato.
0:54:03 > 0:54:07That is, the colours of the lion's fur.
0:54:07 > 0:54:10- Leonato colour. - I never knew that, I never knew that.
0:54:10 > 0:54:13You know what that makes me think? It makes me think, when you say that,
0:54:13 > 0:54:15that this is...this is Leonardo...
0:54:15 > 0:54:17Because, of course, he didn't sign pictures,
0:54:17 > 0:54:22but this is Leonardo's way of signing the painting.
0:54:22 > 0:54:25- Exactly.- He loved to play games with words.- Exactly.- So the colour...
0:54:25 > 0:54:27That's great. The colour, Leonato,
0:54:27 > 0:54:30- and the knot pattern, Vinceri. - Yeah.
0:54:30 > 0:54:33- Leonato da Vinci.- Yeah.
0:54:33 > 0:54:36It could be, no? We are not joking. I agree with you totally.
0:54:36 > 0:54:39- You agree with me? - Yeah, exactly. Because...
0:54:41 > 0:54:43'For me, the presence of a hidden signature
0:54:43 > 0:54:45'would answer a nagging question.
0:54:45 > 0:54:48'Why didn't he finish his first version
0:54:48 > 0:54:50'and give it to Francesco?
0:54:50 > 0:54:55'Knotting his name into her bodice, it's like an act of possession.
0:54:55 > 0:55:00'As if Leonardo knew this was always destined to be more than a portrait.
0:55:00 > 0:55:02'No-one's painting but his own.'
0:55:02 > 0:55:04If we go one, two, three,
0:55:04 > 0:55:08uno, due, tre, you look at me.
0:55:08 > 0:55:10Uno, due, tre.
0:55:14 > 0:55:16Our investigation has revealed for the first time
0:55:16 > 0:55:21what Leonardo's hidden earlier portrait might have looked like.
0:55:21 > 0:55:25The portrait, surely, of the Florentine merchant's wife,
0:55:25 > 0:55:26Lisa del Giocondo.
0:55:28 > 0:55:31'We found a solution to the historic inconsistencies
0:55:31 > 0:55:33'that have long baffled experts.
0:55:35 > 0:55:38'And, it seems, we've discovered that the portrait in the Louvre
0:55:38 > 0:55:41'may not be the Mona Lisa after all.'
0:55:44 > 0:55:47So we're left with the million-dollar question.
0:55:47 > 0:55:49Who is she?
0:55:52 > 0:55:54The one piece of evidence that still stands out
0:55:54 > 0:55:57is the eyewitness account of de Beatis,
0:55:57 > 0:56:00who had it from Leonardo himself
0:56:00 > 0:56:05that the woman we now see was painted at the behest of Giuliano de' Medici.
0:56:07 > 0:56:10So, who replaced Mona Lisa in Leonardo's painting?
0:56:10 > 0:56:14Did Giuliano commission a posthumous portrait?
0:56:14 > 0:56:17Perhaps of a lost love idealised like a goddess?
0:56:21 > 0:56:24'For me, there's only one candidate.
0:56:24 > 0:56:27'A woman with whom Giuliano had a brief, passionate affair.
0:56:28 > 0:56:32'A woman who tragically died giving birth to their son.
0:56:32 > 0:56:34'A little boy who was still calling for her
0:56:34 > 0:56:37'when Giuliano commissioned the picture.
0:56:38 > 0:56:40'Her name was Pacifica Brandano.
0:56:41 > 0:56:44'Could this be her?
0:56:50 > 0:56:53'It's a romantic notion,
0:56:53 > 0:56:56'but just as Leonardo never gave the picture to Francesco,
0:56:56 > 0:56:59'he never gave it to Giuliano either.
0:56:59 > 0:57:04'Instead, he kept the image of the woman he'd signed in code
0:57:04 > 0:57:08'and made her more his own than ever.'
0:57:11 > 0:57:13At the end of Leonardo's life,
0:57:13 > 0:57:16the Mona Lisa, this shape-shifting picture
0:57:16 > 0:57:19that had begun as the portrait of one woman
0:57:19 > 0:57:21and then metamorphosed into another,
0:57:21 > 0:57:24became something else again.
0:57:24 > 0:57:27Namely, a work of art that transcended portraiture
0:57:27 > 0:57:32and turned into an expression of all his knowledge, all his philosophy.
0:57:34 > 0:57:36The painting's like a shimmering mosaic
0:57:36 > 0:57:41in which Leonardo has pieced together all that he knows about nature
0:57:41 > 0:57:44and about human nature.
0:57:44 > 0:57:48And I think the key to it is that famous smile.
0:57:48 > 0:57:51Leonardo's way of saying that while we might strive to understand
0:57:51 > 0:57:54this vast cosmos that surrounds us,
0:57:54 > 0:57:58in the end, it's our destiny to pass through life
0:57:58 > 0:58:03as swiftly as the smile that flickers across a human face.
0:58:04 > 0:58:08So the Mona Lisa really isn't Mona Lisa after all,
0:58:08 > 0:58:10but something much more than that.
0:58:10 > 0:58:12It's a painting of life itself,
0:58:12 > 0:58:15as Leonardo had come to think of it.
0:58:15 > 0:58:17His way of painting us all.