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The Mona Lisa -
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bewitching,
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seductive,
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world-famous.
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In the minds of millions, she is the ultimate work of art -
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endlessly photographed and admired.
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Yet, behind the enigmatic smile,
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she remains a mystery.
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Who was she?
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Why was she painted?
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And what has made her the world's most famous painting?
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After 500 years in the spotlight
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the Mona Lisa is finally giving up her secrets.
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'Centuries-old documents are at last revealing long-forgotten truths.'
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This is wonderful. Ooh! I've got a shiver down my spine.
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State-of-the-art technology is taking us
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beneath the painted surface
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to decode astonishing new evidence.
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That's extraordinary - wow!
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That's quite a big discovery, isn't it?
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Yes, it is.
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This investigation -
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the first full forensic examination
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of the latest discoveries -
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takes me round the world in the hunt
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for the truth about Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece.
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'With exclusive access and some extraordinary encounters...'
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The first impression when I came in was...
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I did well not to jump backwards in shock!
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'..these revelations will change everything we thought we knew
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about history's most enigmatic work of art...'
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That's great. So we just made a new discovery.
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'..and unlock the secrets of the Mona Lisa.'
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All of this together marks an extraordinary moment
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in the history of art, but more than that,
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this is quite simply one of the stories of the century.
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500 years ago a man painted a woman.
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The man was Leonardo da Vinci -
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artist, inventor, genius -
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and the result of his work
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was the inscrutable portrait we now know as the Mona Lisa.
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'It's a masterpiece,
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'but one of the few works he actually finished.'
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So what draws us to the Mona Lisa?
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She's not a famous monarch or a legendary historical figure.
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We know hardly anything about her.
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So what is it about this picture that's gripped the human imagination
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for so many centuries?
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'I want to begin my investigation
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'by comparing notes with a detective
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'who's been on the case for more than 30 years.
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'One of the world's leading experts on Leonardo da Vinci,
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'Oxford professor Martin Kemp has spent much of his life
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'obsessed by the mystery of the Mona Lisa.'
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What do you think is the key to the Mona Lisa's extraordinary
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stature as without doubt
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the world's most famous painting?
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Well, there has to be something inherent in the picture.
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Some things are famous for being famous.
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We live in an age of celebrity
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and lots of celebrities are famous for being famous,
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but they're not going to last.
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This has gone on for ages.
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It is just extraordinary.
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And you've got this sense
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of something which is beyond pigment
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and beyond a good likeness and being beyond a face,
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and it just has that totally uncanny living presence.
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It was very daring at the time
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for a woman in a portrait to look at you.
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You know, women's portraits simply didn't do that,
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and I think the ambiguity, the... the tease - the visual tease -
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is something that Leonardo absolutely cultivated.
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Look at the Mona Lisa
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and you can't help feeling there's more going on than meets the eye.
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If her teasing smile's a question mark,
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the painting's a riddle.
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What makes a human being live and breathe?
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What forces govern the world we live in?
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Leonardo thought about these questions as deeply as anyone,
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and behind this breathtakingly lifelike image,
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lay years of investigation into spheres of knowledge
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like geology and anatomy, some of which
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were forbidden by the church.
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Tantalising evidence for the research that went into the Mona Lisa
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lies hidden in Windsor Castle.
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Amongst the gems of the Royal Collection
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is an intriguing clue to the genesis of the portrait.
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A page from what might be called the real da Vinci Code.
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If you want to see, or have some sense of,
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just how much work there was behind the surface of the picture
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then this is a great place to start.
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It's a sheet of drawings by Leonardo's own hand.
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And what does it contain in faint outline?
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Look here...
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It's a bit like the Cheshire Cat,
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it's the Mona Lisa's smile
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without the Mona Lisa attached.
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It may well have been Leonardo's first gropings towards his idea
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for the painting.
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It's a series of studies of the human mouth,
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the motions of the mouth.
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How the mouth puckers.
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How the mouth...bares its teeth.
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You have a very strong sense that for Leonardo
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every picture is a kind of encyclopaedia entry
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and this is just that part of it
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dealing with the mouth.
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It's just the tip of the iceberg.
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The Mona Lisa is the work into which Leonardo poured everything he knew
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about humanity and the world that surrounds us
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with its ceaseless play of light and shade.
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But there's a mystery there, too,
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and it's staring us in the face.
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'Who is the woman with the enigmatic smile?'
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It's a question that has fuelled all kinds of speculation
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ranging from the ingenious to the crackpot.
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She's a pregnant mother-to-be,
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she's a prostitute,
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she's even a man in drag.
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But if you look beyond the theories
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there are clues to her true identity.
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Florence, 1500.
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After many years away
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Leonardo da Vinci has returned
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to the city of his youth.
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He's come back to work on ambitious military projects
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for powerful men.
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He says he's too busy to paint portraits of wealthy aristocrats
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who clamour after him.
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Yet according to one writer
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Leonardo somehow finds time to paint the portrait, not of a noblewoman,
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but of a humble merchant's wife called Lisa.
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It was here that Leonardo da Vinci
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began the most famous painting
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in the world...
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and it was here that Giorgio Vasari -
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the inventor of the very idea of the Renaissance,
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the author of the very first book about the Renaissance -
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produced Exhibit A in the case of the Mona Lisa.
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The very first account of the painting.
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Who was she?
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She was the wife of Francesco del Giocondo, a rich merchant.
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He commissioned Leonardo to create her portrait,
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and Leonardo responded with a picture, says Vasari,
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"So miraculously lifelike
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"that it seems to be made of flesh, not paint."
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"Leonardo," he says, "wanted to avoid the melancholy
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"that dominates so many other portraits
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"so he employed musicians, entertainers, buffoons
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"to keep her amused."
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So there you have it -
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the wife of Francesco del Giocondo,
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and the smile caused by
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entertainers hired by the artist.
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An open-and-shut case.
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Or is it?
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How can we be sure that Vasari was right,
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and that Leonardo did indeed paint Lisa del Giocondo?
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After all, Vasari wrote his account 30 years after Leonardo's death,
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and although he did his homework here in Florence,
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he never disclosed his sources.
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So could it just be hearsay?
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Some inaccurate local legend?
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For centuries there was no way of telling.
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'Then suddenly new evidence emerged
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'from a completely unexpected source.'
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In 2006, a research scholar
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working in the University Library of Heidelberg
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turned up this.
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What it is, is a page from a copy of Cicero,
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the ancient Roman author,
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a book that was once owned
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here in Florence by a man called Agostino Vespucci.
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And not only does it have Cicero's text,
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but it's got Vespucci's commentaries
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and this particular passage is crucial.
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Because in it Cicero is discussing Apelles,
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the ancient Greek artist,
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and his remarks prompt Vespucci to make his own notes -
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his marginal note -
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and what he writes is a kind of bombshell
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in the history of Leonardo studies.
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He says "Apelles, ha!
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"He did just the same thing as Leonardo
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"in his portrait of Lisa del Giocondo."
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And best of all, there's a date -
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"October, 1503."
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So this was written almost immediately after Vespucci
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must have seen the portrait of Lisa del Giocondo
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in Leonardo da Vinci's workshop.
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This is gold dust, and it proves
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that Vasari was definitely right in at least one sense all along.
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Leonardo definitely did paint a portrait of Lisa del Giocondo.
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There you have it.
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Independent testimony from a man in Florence in 1503
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who probably saw the picture still wet on the artist's easel.
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But now there's another question.
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Why did Leonardo paint Lisa
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when the great and powerful couldn't coax a picture from him?
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Why agree to paint this obscure woman?
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One man has made it his life's work to uncover forgotten
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secrets about Lisa.
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Giuseppe Pallanti has found new details in the city archive.
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Historical dynamite,
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beginning with the house where Lisa,
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daughter of the Gherardinis, was born.
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On this street, this is the street where the Mona Lisa once lived.
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Yes, Lisa lived in the dark and narrow street of Florence.
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What was her family background?
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SPEAKS ITALIAN
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So they were small...as it were, labourers?
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- They never had their own house in Florence?
- No.
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Giuseppe's discoveries have deepened the mystery.
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If Lisa's origins were so humble why did the notoriously choosy
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Leonardo consent to paint her?
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In another part of town, Giuseppe believes he's found the answer.
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The place is there.
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It is important for another reason,
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because in front of this building lived Ser Piero, Leonardo's father.
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Wha...? Hang on, say that again.
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- Lisa Gherardini was living here, at the time...
- Yes.
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..Leonardo da Vinci's father was living there?
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Yes.
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How incredible!
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So he was... You're saying that Francesco del Giocondo,
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the merchant, he was actually a client of Leonardo's father?
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- Yes.
- Well, this is all new.
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- Yes.
- This is all new.
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For the first time we have a concrete connection
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between Leonardo and Lisa.
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Not only were they neighbours,
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their families did business together.
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And there's more.
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Giuseppe tells me that according to police records of the time,
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Francesco had a bit of a reputation.
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Described as "garoso" meaning swaggering -
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he wasn't just a merchant on the rise
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but an aggressive deal-maker
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who'd stop at almost nothing to get his way.
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Maybe this is the real reason
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Leonardo agreed to paint his wife.
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Maybe Francesco made him an offer
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he couldn't refuse.
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In the parish church of San Lorenzo
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there's another crucial piece of evidence.
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Something that had slipped through the net of history
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until just a few years ago
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when Giuseppe found it.
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The record of Mona Lisa's death.
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Wonderful thing.
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The handwriting isn't very easy to follow
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because the entries in these books weren't actually made
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by notaries like Leonardo da Vinci's father,
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they were actually made by the priests in the church,
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but I think I have found her.
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Here she is.
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This is wonderful. Ooh! I've got a shiver down my spine.
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"Lisa donna fu di Francesco del Giocondo..."
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So Lisa the wife of Francesco del Giocondo...
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.."mori"...
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..died on the 15th of July...
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00:15:45,440 --> 00:15:47,200
..1542.
264
00:15:50,080 --> 00:15:55,080
Just...I think what I love about this is...this is truth.
265
00:15:55,080 --> 00:15:58,760
What could be more true than the record of somebody's death?
266
00:15:58,760 --> 00:16:00,280
She was a real person.
267
00:16:02,120 --> 00:16:03,680
She was a real person.
268
00:16:05,360 --> 00:16:09,960
And there's one other sentence in this entry
269
00:16:09,960 --> 00:16:12,600
which my friend Pallanti didn't mention.
270
00:16:14,160 --> 00:16:17,400
It says that she was buried in Saint Ursula - he told me that -
271
00:16:17,400 --> 00:16:20,360
but what he didn't say is this last sentence
272
00:16:20,360 --> 00:16:22,680
"dulsa tutto il capito"
273
00:16:22,680 --> 00:16:24,360
Four words.
274
00:16:25,880 --> 00:16:29,440
She took with her the whole "capito".
275
00:16:31,120 --> 00:16:33,320
What that means is that her body
276
00:16:33,320 --> 00:16:35,640
was followed by the whole body
277
00:16:35,640 --> 00:16:37,520
of the church of San Lorenzo.
278
00:16:37,520 --> 00:16:43,520
So what is conjured up by this, is a very, very grand funeral,
279
00:16:43,520 --> 00:16:49,960
and for this brief moment in July, 1542,
280
00:16:49,960 --> 00:16:53,560
she was a very, very important person in the life of the city.
281
00:16:53,560 --> 00:16:57,440
Everybody in Florence would have known that Mona Lisa had passed away.
282
00:17:05,360 --> 00:17:07,600
A spectacular funeral.
283
00:17:07,600 --> 00:17:10,920
Dozens of canons, chaplains and clerics.
284
00:17:10,920 --> 00:17:15,800
The whole del Giocondo clan walking with Lisa's coffin.
285
00:17:15,800 --> 00:17:18,920
Francesco had died five years earlier
286
00:17:18,920 --> 00:17:23,200
but he made sure he provided for all this pomp and ceremony in his will
287
00:17:23,200 --> 00:17:24,760
where she is described as
288
00:17:24,760 --> 00:17:27,120
"his beloved, faithful wife".
289
00:17:28,800 --> 00:17:33,280
Lisa del Giocondo was laid to rest in the now ruined convent of Saint Ursula.
290
00:17:34,400 --> 00:17:36,960
Beyond here we can't follow her
291
00:17:36,960 --> 00:17:39,120
though we've learned a lot.
292
00:17:39,120 --> 00:17:41,880
Leonardo definitely knew Lisa,
293
00:17:41,880 --> 00:17:43,880
definitely painted her portrait.
294
00:17:45,840 --> 00:17:47,600
But if one riddle's been answered,
295
00:17:47,600 --> 00:17:50,560
there's still another mystery to solve.
296
00:17:51,880 --> 00:17:56,080
How can we be certain that Leonardo's portrait of Lisa
297
00:17:56,080 --> 00:17:59,200
and the portrait in the Louvre are one and the same?
298
00:18:09,920 --> 00:18:11,880
So what are the facts?
299
00:18:11,880 --> 00:18:13,800
According to Vasari,
300
00:18:13,800 --> 00:18:17,280
Leonardo painted Lisa smiling in Florence.
301
00:18:17,280 --> 00:18:22,040
Vespucci's marginal notes confirm that it happened in 1503.
302
00:18:23,200 --> 00:18:26,400
The picture in the Louvre shows a woman smiling.
303
00:18:26,400 --> 00:18:28,920
So far, so good.
304
00:18:28,920 --> 00:18:31,160
But other things don't add up.
305
00:18:32,360 --> 00:18:34,440
Vasari describes eyebrows
306
00:18:34,440 --> 00:18:36,760
but the Louvre portrait
307
00:18:36,760 --> 00:18:38,400
doesn't have eyebrows.
308
00:18:38,400 --> 00:18:43,000
Vasari tells us Leonardo painted Lisa for Francesco del Giocondo.
309
00:18:45,040 --> 00:18:49,840
But Francesco never owned the portrait we now call the Mona Lisa.
310
00:18:49,840 --> 00:18:52,520
Leonardo had it with him when he died.
311
00:18:53,600 --> 00:18:56,520
Most troubling of all is an eyewitness account
312
00:18:56,520 --> 00:18:59,440
written by a man called Antonio de Beatis.
313
00:18:59,440 --> 00:19:03,280
He was actually shown the picture that's now in the Louvre
314
00:19:03,280 --> 00:19:06,760
by Leonardo himself at the end of his life.
315
00:19:06,760 --> 00:19:09,880
Leonardo said he'd been asked to paint this portrait
316
00:19:09,880 --> 00:19:11,840
not by Francesco del Giocondo
317
00:19:11,840 --> 00:19:14,400
but by someone completely different.
318
00:19:15,600 --> 00:19:17,960
A noble patron, Giuliano de' Medici.
319
00:19:19,520 --> 00:19:21,480
It simply doesn't make sense.
320
00:19:24,520 --> 00:19:29,360
It's almost as if we might be talking about different paintings.
321
00:19:30,840 --> 00:19:33,760
So I'm beginning to wonder whether it's not possible Leonardo
322
00:19:33,760 --> 00:19:36,760
did paint two versions of the same painting
323
00:19:36,760 --> 00:19:38,800
on several occasions.
324
00:19:38,800 --> 00:19:42,560
I'm beginning to wonder if it's not possible that he did indeed
325
00:19:42,560 --> 00:19:45,720
finish his portrait of the Mona Lisa here in Florence,
326
00:19:45,720 --> 00:19:49,440
that he did indeed give it to Francesco del Giocondo
327
00:19:49,440 --> 00:19:52,720
and that the portrait of Mona Lisa in Paris is a second version.
328
00:19:52,720 --> 00:19:57,200
Is it possible that there might be more than one Mona Lisa?
329
00:20:00,360 --> 00:20:04,120
The idea is not as strange as you might think.
330
00:20:04,120 --> 00:20:07,880
Leonardo did habitually revisit the same subject more than once.
331
00:20:13,760 --> 00:20:17,520
I've come to Singapore to see for the first time a picture
332
00:20:17,520 --> 00:20:21,600
that might actually be Leonardo's first version of the painting.
333
00:20:23,720 --> 00:20:26,880
It's owned by an anonymous consortium of businessmen,
334
00:20:26,880 --> 00:20:29,640
and is currently locked away
335
00:20:29,640 --> 00:20:32,560
deep in the bowels of a state-of-the-art
336
00:20:32,560 --> 00:20:34,480
high security storage facility.
337
00:20:47,160 --> 00:20:50,160
So could THIS be the first Mona Lisa?
338
00:20:57,560 --> 00:21:00,000
I've come 7,000 miles to see you.
339
00:21:04,480 --> 00:21:05,640
Blimey.
340
00:21:20,480 --> 00:21:22,200
The background's...
341
00:21:22,200 --> 00:21:25,480
You might almost say a kind of roughing in,
342
00:21:25,480 --> 00:21:26,640
but the face...
343
00:21:27,880 --> 00:21:29,960
The face is really something.
344
00:21:31,560 --> 00:21:33,880
She's younger, she's smiling.
345
00:21:33,880 --> 00:21:36,720
I think there's a lot to be said for first impressions,
346
00:21:36,720 --> 00:21:41,680
and the first impression when I came in was,
347
00:21:41,680 --> 00:21:44,760
I did well not to jump backwards in shock.
348
00:21:46,280 --> 00:21:48,240
It's too good, in my opinion,
349
00:21:48,240 --> 00:21:52,120
for any of the other school of Leonardo painters.
350
00:21:53,520 --> 00:21:55,320
Very dangerous, things like this.
351
00:21:55,320 --> 00:21:56,640
Very dangerous to say
352
00:21:56,640 --> 00:21:59,760
"This is definitely painted by Leonardo da Vinci."
353
00:21:59,760 --> 00:22:01,640
Well, I can't say that, but...
354
00:22:01,640 --> 00:22:04,440
I think it's not beyond the realms of possibility
355
00:22:04,440 --> 00:22:07,600
that this is the picture that Francesco del Giocondo
356
00:22:07,600 --> 00:22:10,880
took and then Leonardo goes off, paints another picture
357
00:22:10,880 --> 00:22:13,280
based on the memory of this picture.
358
00:22:14,520 --> 00:22:17,160
And that's the Mona Lisa we know in the Louvre.
359
00:22:18,520 --> 00:22:21,000
It's very teasing that smile, isn't it?
360
00:22:22,360 --> 00:22:23,840
Very teasing.
361
00:22:28,440 --> 00:22:30,560
This version of the Mona Lisa
362
00:22:30,560 --> 00:22:33,040
first hit the headlines in 1914.
363
00:22:33,040 --> 00:22:35,360
British art dealer, Hugh Blaker,
364
00:22:35,360 --> 00:22:38,040
bought it from a private family collection
365
00:22:38,040 --> 00:22:41,640
and was convinced he'd stumbled across an early Leonardo.
366
00:22:43,080 --> 00:22:45,080
He kept it in his Isleworth studios
367
00:22:45,080 --> 00:22:48,120
and it became known as the Isleworth Mona Lisa.
368
00:22:50,720 --> 00:22:53,080
One thing in its favour was its similarity
369
00:22:53,080 --> 00:22:56,800
to this pencil sketch copy of the Mona Lisa,
370
00:22:56,800 --> 00:22:58,880
done in Florence in 1504
371
00:22:58,880 --> 00:23:01,920
by Leonardo's contemporary Raphael,
372
00:23:01,920 --> 00:23:06,280
which seems to show how the painting looked in its original state.
373
00:23:08,880 --> 00:23:11,680
Yet after a century of supporters, detractors
374
00:23:11,680 --> 00:23:13,760
and different owners,
375
00:23:13,760 --> 00:23:16,840
opinion on the Isleworth painting is still divided.
376
00:23:18,800 --> 00:23:22,400
One man who is convinced that Leonardo painted two Mona Lisas
377
00:23:22,400 --> 00:23:24,400
is Jean-Pierre Isbouts.
378
00:23:25,880 --> 00:23:28,440
'He was so impressed by the Isleworth portrait
379
00:23:28,440 --> 00:23:30,720
'he wrote a book about it.'
380
00:23:30,720 --> 00:23:33,840
So what would lead you to think
381
00:23:33,840 --> 00:23:37,960
that the Isleworth picture
382
00:23:37,960 --> 00:23:40,760
was indeed painted in 1503?
383
00:23:40,760 --> 00:23:43,680
What is to say that it wasn't painted in 1553?
384
00:23:44,840 --> 00:23:47,360
Well, I don't know about you, but when you talk about a copy
385
00:23:47,360 --> 00:23:49,760
usually a copy tries to imitate the original.
386
00:23:50,840 --> 00:23:52,280
This is not a copy.
387
00:23:52,280 --> 00:23:56,160
There are so many different things about this particular Isleworth version
388
00:23:56,160 --> 00:23:58,920
that do not appear in the Louvre version.
389
00:23:58,920 --> 00:24:01,040
Let's take one example - the columns.
390
00:24:02,120 --> 00:24:07,240
The portrait is framed by two robust Doric columns.
391
00:24:07,240 --> 00:24:12,720
Why do we know that those columns existed in 1503 and not later on?
392
00:24:12,720 --> 00:24:14,680
Because there is Raphael!
393
00:24:14,680 --> 00:24:16,280
He makes a sketch.
394
00:24:16,280 --> 00:24:18,360
And what do we have on both sides?
395
00:24:18,360 --> 00:24:21,800
We have the columns that appear in the Isleworth,
396
00:24:21,800 --> 00:24:24,400
they do not appear in the Louvre version.
397
00:24:25,520 --> 00:24:28,920
Let's talk about the record written by De Beatis,
398
00:24:28,920 --> 00:24:33,040
the secretary to Cardinal d'Aragon who visited Leonardo in 1516.
399
00:24:33,040 --> 00:24:35,760
- Which is seriously puzzling.
- Which is seriously puzzling.
400
00:24:35,760 --> 00:24:39,040
But here is... Here we have an eyewitness account.
401
00:24:39,040 --> 00:24:42,640
Here they are in the room with Leonardo and he says,
402
00:24:42,640 --> 00:24:47,040
"Yeah, this was done at the request of Giuliano de' Medici.
403
00:24:47,040 --> 00:24:48,680
Instigation - "istigazione."
404
00:24:48,680 --> 00:24:50,320
Istigazione.
405
00:24:50,320 --> 00:24:53,640
I think what he was doing at this time, is give Giuliano credit.
406
00:24:53,640 --> 00:24:56,600
Giuliano bailed Leonardo out,
407
00:24:56,600 --> 00:24:59,880
when Leonardo was without a mentor, penniless
408
00:24:59,880 --> 00:25:01,480
and that's when Leonardo -
409
00:25:01,480 --> 00:25:05,120
because of the patronage and the financial support of Giuliano -
410
00:25:05,120 --> 00:25:09,000
finds the time to create this new meditation, if you will -
411
00:25:09,000 --> 00:25:10,160
the Louvre version.
412
00:25:10,160 --> 00:25:11,680
So your explanation would be,
413
00:25:11,680 --> 00:25:14,000
"Well, here we are, two different explanations,
414
00:25:14,000 --> 00:25:17,720
- "but that's not so weird if you think there are two different pictures."
- Exactly.
415
00:25:20,040 --> 00:25:24,440
Jean-Pierre firmly believes this could be Leonardo's first Mona Lisa
416
00:25:24,440 --> 00:25:26,760
done for husband Francesco.
417
00:25:26,760 --> 00:25:30,200
But, if so, why would it be unfinished?
418
00:25:32,240 --> 00:25:34,880
Well, we know Leonardo was slow
419
00:25:34,880 --> 00:25:37,480
and Francesco was impatient,
420
00:25:37,480 --> 00:25:40,400
so perhaps he just snatched it away from Leonardo
421
00:25:40,400 --> 00:25:44,000
once his beloved Lisa's face was complete.
422
00:25:44,000 --> 00:25:46,520
A barrage of scientific tests
423
00:25:46,520 --> 00:25:49,640
have been carried out on this tantalising picture.
424
00:25:49,640 --> 00:25:53,840
The canvas was carbon dated to around the right period.
425
00:25:53,840 --> 00:25:56,880
Multiple tiny paint samples are consistent
426
00:25:56,880 --> 00:26:00,320
with the paints Leonardo used.
427
00:26:00,320 --> 00:26:03,240
X-ray, infrared and ultraviolet scans
428
00:26:03,240 --> 00:26:06,120
have found nothing to disprove it
429
00:26:06,120 --> 00:26:08,040
as an early Mona Lisa.
430
00:26:09,360 --> 00:26:10,920
But that's the problem.
431
00:26:10,920 --> 00:26:13,560
All that conventional tests can do
432
00:26:13,560 --> 00:26:16,040
is rule out a possible Leonardo.
433
00:26:16,040 --> 00:26:18,120
What about positive confirmation?
434
00:26:20,800 --> 00:26:24,520
An eminent scientist based in San Diego, California,
435
00:26:24,520 --> 00:26:26,560
has been looking for a solution.
436
00:26:28,280 --> 00:26:29,880
Hello.
437
00:26:29,880 --> 00:26:31,680
Good to see you, Andrew.
438
00:26:31,680 --> 00:26:35,440
'Dr John Asmus is a well respected nuclear physicist,
439
00:26:35,440 --> 00:26:40,040
'and a pioneer in the analysis of historic paintings.'
440
00:26:40,040 --> 00:26:43,080
He's one of very few who've been allowed to examine
441
00:26:43,080 --> 00:26:44,800
the Louvre Mona Lisa,
442
00:26:44,800 --> 00:26:46,920
and that's why the owners
443
00:26:46,920 --> 00:26:48,440
of the Isleworth Mona Lisa,
444
00:26:48,440 --> 00:26:49,960
tracked him down.
445
00:26:51,800 --> 00:26:54,560
I started receiving phone calls
446
00:26:54,560 --> 00:26:57,400
from a series of attorneys
447
00:26:57,400 --> 00:26:59,360
in Switzerland
448
00:26:59,360 --> 00:27:02,000
and they wanted me to look at a painting
449
00:27:02,000 --> 00:27:05,800
and, finally, we found that I was going to be on a train
450
00:27:05,800 --> 00:27:08,120
from Milan to Geneva
451
00:27:08,120 --> 00:27:11,520
and they asked me to get off the train in Lausanne
452
00:27:11,520 --> 00:27:13,760
and take a look at their painting
453
00:27:13,760 --> 00:27:16,640
and so they met me at the train station
454
00:27:16,640 --> 00:27:19,280
and they popped the bonnet
455
00:27:19,280 --> 00:27:21,080
of an automobile
456
00:27:21,080 --> 00:27:24,600
and there was a Mona Lisa in...in the trunk.
457
00:27:27,240 --> 00:27:29,480
And the attorney asked me
458
00:27:29,480 --> 00:27:32,320
"Do you think this Mona Lisa was painted by Leonardo?"
459
00:27:32,320 --> 00:27:34,640
And my exact words were,
460
00:27:34,640 --> 00:27:36,080
"How would I know?"
461
00:27:36,080 --> 00:27:39,240
So I got out my instamatic camera
462
00:27:39,240 --> 00:27:42,160
and took a photograph of the painting in the trunk
463
00:27:42,160 --> 00:27:45,440
and it was that image that I then compared
464
00:27:45,440 --> 00:27:47,600
with the Louvre Mona Lisa.
465
00:27:51,080 --> 00:27:53,720
A few years ago Dr Asmus developed a new test
466
00:27:53,720 --> 00:27:56,320
to authenticate paintings by Rembrandt.
467
00:27:57,400 --> 00:28:00,480
It compares the subtle distribution of light and shadow
468
00:28:00,480 --> 00:28:02,200
measured as histograms
469
00:28:02,200 --> 00:28:05,280
to isolate an artist's unique way of painting.
470
00:28:06,640 --> 00:28:11,000
I think it's a way of trying to quantify the artist's eye.
471
00:28:11,000 --> 00:28:13,720
Every artist has certain effects
472
00:28:13,720 --> 00:28:16,120
that he's trying to accomplish,
473
00:28:16,120 --> 00:28:18,320
and we used Rembrandt as a test case
474
00:28:18,320 --> 00:28:21,000
and the results were rather encouraging.
475
00:28:21,000 --> 00:28:23,880
We came up with some general rules
476
00:28:23,880 --> 00:28:25,560
as to how Rembrandt
477
00:28:25,560 --> 00:28:28,360
did his blending and his selection of pigments.
478
00:28:28,360 --> 00:28:33,120
So I tried that same technique on the Isleworth Mona Lisa,
479
00:28:33,120 --> 00:28:35,560
comparing it with the Louvre Mona Lisa
480
00:28:35,560 --> 00:28:38,160
and I was... I was stunned.
481
00:28:38,160 --> 00:28:42,240
The correlation between those two histograms
482
00:28:42,240 --> 00:28:44,080
was 99%.
483
00:28:44,080 --> 00:28:47,160
Stronger than it was between any histograms
484
00:28:47,160 --> 00:28:50,760
of any of the Rembrandt self-portraits that we'd looked at.
485
00:28:50,760 --> 00:28:52,200
How amazing.
486
00:28:53,560 --> 00:28:57,200
'This demonstrates that the technique for blending light and shade
487
00:28:57,200 --> 00:29:00,440
'in each face appears uncannily similar.
488
00:29:05,960 --> 00:29:08,320
'John plans to build a much bigger database
489
00:29:08,320 --> 00:29:10,800
'of Leonardo works with which to compare them.
490
00:29:12,000 --> 00:29:14,120
'His results are impressive.
491
00:29:15,640 --> 00:29:18,480
'But there's something still troubling me.'
492
00:29:20,240 --> 00:29:23,200
I would love to believe that
493
00:29:23,200 --> 00:29:26,600
that softly emerging face coming out of darkness
494
00:29:26,600 --> 00:29:30,320
really is young Mona Lisa.
495
00:29:32,520 --> 00:29:34,000
I'd love to believe that.
496
00:29:35,280 --> 00:29:38,200
But at the moment, for me, it's that too-good-to-be-true syndrome.
497
00:29:38,200 --> 00:29:39,760
It's a little bit too good.
498
00:29:39,760 --> 00:29:41,280
It's troubling.
499
00:29:41,280 --> 00:29:44,120
When I look at that chart that they've done
500
00:29:44,120 --> 00:29:47,240
of where they've taken the paint samples from.
501
00:29:47,240 --> 00:29:49,680
They've the taken the paint samples from everywhere
502
00:29:49,680 --> 00:29:51,760
except that beguiling face...
503
00:29:52,880 --> 00:29:55,360
..which is the most compelling part of the whole picture.
504
00:29:55,360 --> 00:29:57,880
It's the part that makes you think, "Yes!"
505
00:29:57,880 --> 00:30:00,040
"This could be the young Mona Lisa."
506
00:30:01,640 --> 00:30:04,400
I'm just wondering whether it's possible
507
00:30:04,400 --> 00:30:07,400
that some very skilful,
508
00:30:07,400 --> 00:30:10,360
careful restorer,
509
00:30:10,360 --> 00:30:13,520
some time before John Asmus saw it in the boot of that car...
510
00:30:15,280 --> 00:30:18,600
..didn't just bring that face...
511
00:30:20,200 --> 00:30:21,920
..up.
512
00:30:21,920 --> 00:30:28,720
Didn't just make whatever ghost or trace of possibly a Mona Lisa copy
513
00:30:28,720 --> 00:30:32,680
into something so much more compelling to the modern eye.
514
00:30:34,320 --> 00:30:36,520
To me NOT to test THAT...
515
00:30:37,720 --> 00:30:39,720
It's like a detective and his team
516
00:30:39,720 --> 00:30:42,680
coming to investigate the scene of a crime,
517
00:30:42,680 --> 00:30:44,840
the scene of a murder,
518
00:30:44,840 --> 00:30:47,920
and fingerprinting every square inch of it
519
00:30:47,920 --> 00:30:50,680
but forgetting to take fingerprints from
520
00:30:50,680 --> 00:30:53,040
the knife on the bed covered with blood.
521
00:30:54,800 --> 00:30:56,520
I could be wrong.
522
00:30:57,640 --> 00:31:00,080
Maybe Leonardo did paint this face in 1503
523
00:31:00,080 --> 00:31:03,040
while Lisa sat in front of him,
524
00:31:03,040 --> 00:31:06,040
but until the face is tested, doubt remains,
525
00:31:06,040 --> 00:31:10,280
and, to me, she just looks a bit too 20th-century.
526
00:31:13,320 --> 00:31:17,600
But I'm still convinced that Leonardo did paint two Mona Lisas.
527
00:31:18,680 --> 00:31:21,720
If the Isleworth painting isn't the earlier version,
528
00:31:21,720 --> 00:31:24,200
then it's either lost
529
00:31:24,200 --> 00:31:26,440
or still out there somewhere.
530
00:31:27,760 --> 00:31:29,080
And believe it or not,
531
00:31:29,080 --> 00:31:31,000
now there's a new lead.
532
00:31:31,000 --> 00:31:32,480
The reported discovery
533
00:31:32,480 --> 00:31:36,880
of another Mona Lisa in St Petersburg, Russia.
534
00:31:55,720 --> 00:31:58,480
This really is a plunge into the unknown.
535
00:31:59,800 --> 00:32:03,080
All we've been told is that a wealthy Russian art collector -
536
00:32:03,080 --> 00:32:04,880
identity a secret -
537
00:32:04,880 --> 00:32:06,920
recently acquired a painting
538
00:32:06,920 --> 00:32:10,560
that might be the missing link to the mystery.
539
00:32:10,560 --> 00:32:12,960
We haven't yet been told where it is,
540
00:32:12,960 --> 00:32:15,600
and then, at the last minute,
541
00:32:15,600 --> 00:32:17,360
we're given an address -
542
00:32:17,360 --> 00:32:20,560
a place with a dubious past.
543
00:32:33,440 --> 00:32:35,080
Certainly strange.
544
00:32:36,520 --> 00:32:39,560
This building was created in the 19th century.
545
00:32:40,560 --> 00:32:43,760
This room is a recreation
546
00:32:43,760 --> 00:32:47,680
of an old Russian hunting lodge.
547
00:32:47,680 --> 00:32:51,640
It survives because the KGB made it their headquarters
548
00:32:51,640 --> 00:32:53,280
during the Communist years.
549
00:32:56,760 --> 00:32:58,400
Here she is.
550
00:33:00,800 --> 00:33:02,520
So what is this?
551
00:33:04,080 --> 00:33:05,440
What is this?
552
00:33:06,560 --> 00:33:08,880
All I know about this picture
553
00:33:08,880 --> 00:33:12,760
is that it was purchased by a Russian art collector
554
00:33:12,760 --> 00:33:16,120
from a very old and established American family,
555
00:33:16,120 --> 00:33:20,080
who'd had it since the end of the 18th century,
556
00:33:20,080 --> 00:33:22,440
and has hardly been seen since.
557
00:33:23,840 --> 00:33:26,080
And what's the status of this picture?
558
00:33:28,440 --> 00:33:30,560
Smaller.
559
00:33:30,560 --> 00:33:31,960
The columns
560
00:33:31,960 --> 00:33:33,880
are more complete
561
00:33:33,880 --> 00:33:37,720
than they are in the version in the Louvre.
562
00:33:39,720 --> 00:33:41,160
You see, they've got me going!
563
00:33:41,160 --> 00:33:43,440
Now, I'm saying "The version in the Louvre."
564
00:33:43,440 --> 00:33:45,280
The version in the Louvre...(!)
565
00:33:45,280 --> 00:33:47,720
The Mona Lisa in the Louvre.
566
00:33:49,520 --> 00:33:51,160
She's enigmatic.
567
00:33:51,160 --> 00:33:52,600
She's removed.
568
00:33:52,600 --> 00:33:53,920
She's distant.
569
00:33:53,920 --> 00:33:55,200
Is she a copy?
570
00:33:55,200 --> 00:33:56,640
Not sure.
571
00:34:01,280 --> 00:34:05,080
This picture looks tantalisingly close to the picture in the Louvre,
572
00:34:05,080 --> 00:34:07,520
so many details are the same,
573
00:34:07,520 --> 00:34:10,720
but is this Leonardo's lost earlier version?
574
00:34:11,720 --> 00:34:13,360
As with the Isleworth picture,
575
00:34:13,360 --> 00:34:17,800
scientific tests have been done by Dr Chiara Matteucci
576
00:34:17,800 --> 00:34:20,240
of the University of Bologna,
577
00:34:20,240 --> 00:34:23,560
who's flown to Russia to share her results.
578
00:34:23,560 --> 00:34:26,880
SPEAKS ITALIAN
579
00:34:32,960 --> 00:34:35,280
This is the radiocarbon dating of the canvas? Si.
580
00:34:35,280 --> 00:34:39,800
Which shows a 95.4% probability
581
00:34:39,800 --> 00:34:45,160
that the canvas is between 1490 and 1670.
582
00:34:45,160 --> 00:34:47,680
So the canvas could well be correct.
583
00:34:47,680 --> 00:34:49,640
Si. OK.
584
00:35:12,200 --> 00:35:14,200
- Rossa?
- Rossa.
585
00:35:14,200 --> 00:35:16,680
Oh, that's the ground. Well, that's very clear.
586
00:35:16,680 --> 00:35:18,840
But as far as I understand it...
587
00:35:20,240 --> 00:35:23,360
..Leonardo da Vinci himself
588
00:35:23,360 --> 00:35:26,600
worked on a classic Italian
589
00:35:26,600 --> 00:35:29,520
renaissance ground of white, is that right?
590
00:35:29,520 --> 00:35:31,200
Si.
591
00:35:32,960 --> 00:35:37,120
'The presence of a red ground, the very first layer of paint,
592
00:35:37,120 --> 00:35:39,160
'seems to discount Leonardo's hand.
593
00:35:39,160 --> 00:35:44,680
'But it's Chiara's next discovery that really changes the picture.
594
00:35:44,680 --> 00:35:47,920
'A chemical not used before 1600.'
595
00:36:48,920 --> 00:36:51,800
I think Chiara's done all the research we need to know.
596
00:36:51,800 --> 00:36:56,800
So the barium allows us to place this canvas very precisely,
597
00:36:56,800 --> 00:37:00,280
1620 to 1680. And probably in Paris.
598
00:37:00,280 --> 00:37:03,680
So all the painters around Paris got this ground from this one guy
599
00:37:03,680 --> 00:37:05,640
and put it on their canvas.
600
00:37:05,640 --> 00:37:08,840
So, more and more that I talk to you, I feel..
601
00:37:29,920 --> 00:37:35,120
So this Mona Lisa isn't a Leonardo, but a mid-17th century French copy.
602
00:37:37,720 --> 00:37:40,360
'In fact, there are dozens of copies.
603
00:37:40,360 --> 00:37:42,520
'It's a real problem if you believe,
604
00:37:42,520 --> 00:37:45,440
'as I think you have to, given the conflicting evidence,
605
00:37:45,440 --> 00:37:49,240
'that Leonardo did paint two Mona Lisas.
606
00:37:52,640 --> 00:37:57,240
'What we're looking for, then, is Leonardo's image of young Lisa,
607
00:37:57,240 --> 00:37:59,280
'as described by Vasari,
608
00:37:59,280 --> 00:38:01,400
'as sketched by Raphael,
609
00:38:01,400 --> 00:38:06,000
'which must predate the famous picture in the Louvre.
610
00:38:06,000 --> 00:38:07,840
'So, where can it be?
611
00:38:09,440 --> 00:38:12,720
'I still believe that I can get to the bottom of the mystery.
612
00:38:12,720 --> 00:38:16,360
'Because there's one very strong lead I haven't yet followed up.
613
00:38:17,360 --> 00:38:19,640
'One more destination.
614
00:38:19,640 --> 00:38:21,080
'Paris.'
615
00:38:31,880 --> 00:38:33,920
'A scientist turned art detective
616
00:38:33,920 --> 00:38:37,640
'claims he can finally explain the discrepancies.
617
00:38:37,640 --> 00:38:40,040
'He believes the secrets of the Mona Lisa
618
00:38:40,040 --> 00:38:42,560
'lie not in other versions of the portrait,
619
00:38:42,560 --> 00:38:44,800
'but inside the Mona Lisa itself.
620
00:38:46,520 --> 00:38:48,800
'And he reckons he can prove it.'
621
00:38:48,800 --> 00:38:50,200
Pascal.
622
00:38:50,200 --> 00:38:51,680
Welcome.
623
00:38:51,680 --> 00:38:55,480
'Pascal Cotte is one of the world's leading experts
624
00:38:55,480 --> 00:38:58,160
'in the analysis of paintings.
625
00:38:58,160 --> 00:39:00,920
'He's a man in Leonardo's own image.
626
00:39:00,920 --> 00:39:02,560
'A self-taught physicist,
627
00:39:02,560 --> 00:39:05,160
'the brilliant inventor of a new technique
628
00:39:05,160 --> 00:39:08,120
'that's unlocked the secrets of paintings by Rubens,
629
00:39:08,120 --> 00:39:11,240
'Rembrandt, Picasso and many others.'
630
00:39:11,240 --> 00:39:14,520
His work on another Leonardo painting,
631
00:39:14,520 --> 00:39:16,400
the Lady with an Ermine,
632
00:39:16,400 --> 00:39:19,360
revealed earlier versions of the composition
633
00:39:19,360 --> 00:39:23,200
hidden beneath its surface that rewrote art history.
634
00:39:24,920 --> 00:39:27,680
'But his great obsession is the Mona Lisa.
635
00:39:27,680 --> 00:39:30,160
'Faithfully reproduced here in his studio.'
636
00:39:32,240 --> 00:39:37,480
In 2004, Pascal was invited by the Louvre to scan the painting.
637
00:39:37,480 --> 00:39:41,640
His task? Simply to identify the picture's original colours
638
00:39:41,640 --> 00:39:45,200
hidden beneath the discolourations of time.
639
00:39:45,200 --> 00:39:47,040
But Pascal's technique also revealed
640
00:39:47,040 --> 00:39:50,760
that there was far more going on beneath the surface.
641
00:39:50,760 --> 00:39:54,200
For the last decade, he's worked in secret,
642
00:39:54,200 --> 00:39:56,240
decoding those discoveries.
643
00:39:56,240 --> 00:39:58,280
And now he's ready to share them.
644
00:39:59,400 --> 00:40:05,160
So our goal is to peel, like an onion, all the layer of paint,
645
00:40:05,160 --> 00:40:09,800
to reconstruct the chronology of the construction of the painting.
646
00:40:09,800 --> 00:40:11,520
So, is this new? Is this a new...?
647
00:40:11,520 --> 00:40:13,440
This is a new technique, absolutely.
648
00:40:20,240 --> 00:40:25,320
Pascal's secret weapon is his ground-breaking multispectral camera.
649
00:40:25,320 --> 00:40:27,680
An invention truly worthy of Leonardo.
650
00:40:30,000 --> 00:40:34,200
13 different wavelengths of colour are projected onto the picture.
651
00:40:34,200 --> 00:40:37,480
Each penetrating the paint surface to a different depth.
652
00:40:40,400 --> 00:40:42,560
The camera captures the reflections,
653
00:40:42,560 --> 00:40:47,120
generating over three billion bits of data and thousands of images.
654
00:40:49,320 --> 00:40:52,680
By analysing each image, shown in black and white,
655
00:40:52,680 --> 00:40:57,760
Pascal can reveal a painting's secrets layer by layer.
656
00:40:59,880 --> 00:41:04,080
His first discovery in the Mona Lisa is buried deep within the painting.
657
00:41:06,920 --> 00:41:12,120
What we discover, we discover that the head...was bigger.
658
00:41:14,400 --> 00:41:17,640
- So you...you see a shadow of a bigger head.
- Yes, I can see.
659
00:41:19,040 --> 00:41:24,880
Mm. You can see also that the nose...is double here.
660
00:41:26,480 --> 00:41:27,960
Oh!
661
00:41:27,960 --> 00:41:29,560
Wow!
662
00:41:29,560 --> 00:41:32,520
So once, she had a larger head.
663
00:41:32,520 --> 00:41:35,360
And I discovered this hand, much more bigger.
664
00:41:36,800 --> 00:41:38,400
(Wow!)
665
00:41:43,120 --> 00:41:47,680
Pascal has pieced together several previously unknown details
666
00:41:47,680 --> 00:41:51,080
that lie beneath the Louvre portrait as we know it.
667
00:41:51,080 --> 00:41:56,280
Marked in red, they seem to be elements of a larger first portrait
668
00:41:56,280 --> 00:41:58,360
that never got beyond a draft stage.
669
00:41:59,720 --> 00:42:02,960
But that's just the beginning of Pascal's discoveries.
670
00:42:05,480 --> 00:42:08,400
So now we continue with one other layer.
671
00:42:11,200 --> 00:42:12,920
Ah. Here we are.
672
00:42:12,920 --> 00:42:14,720
What on earth is that?
673
00:42:14,720 --> 00:42:16,400
What is it?
674
00:42:16,400 --> 00:42:18,040
This is a hairpin.
675
00:42:19,800 --> 00:42:21,240
Like this one.
676
00:42:22,440 --> 00:42:25,920
- So, you found...
- Something like this.
- ..you found a...
677
00:42:25,920 --> 00:42:29,320
With that little bit of your magic light camera,
678
00:42:29,320 --> 00:42:32,280
you found a missing hairpin?
679
00:42:33,720 --> 00:42:37,840
Now you know there is a hairpin, you can see it.
680
00:42:37,840 --> 00:42:39,080
Hah!
681
00:42:40,520 --> 00:42:42,000
Because you know.
682
00:42:42,000 --> 00:42:44,560
But, yes... No, exactly. How fascinating!
683
00:42:45,720 --> 00:42:49,200
And more than that, if you look around the head,
684
00:42:49,200 --> 00:42:51,800
you discover 12 hairpins.
685
00:42:53,280 --> 00:42:54,920
ANDREW LAUGHS
686
00:42:58,480 --> 00:43:03,520
'The hairpins with pearls make no sense on the first large portrait,
687
00:43:03,520 --> 00:43:08,440
'but Pascal has found something else that appears to be connected to them.
688
00:43:08,440 --> 00:43:10,880
'Tiny rows of dots, known as spolveri.
689
00:43:13,000 --> 00:43:16,320
'They seem to suggest an elaborate headdress.
690
00:43:16,320 --> 00:43:20,080
'Intriguingly, a type of headdress that, as far as we know,
691
00:43:20,080 --> 00:43:23,520
'was only ever shown on the heads of saints or Madonnas.'
692
00:43:24,680 --> 00:43:27,720
This is a painting of a headdress
693
00:43:27,720 --> 00:43:30,640
that have nothing to do with Mona Lisa.
694
00:43:30,640 --> 00:43:33,760
- Nothing to do with Mona Lisa?
- Nothing to do with Mona Lisa.
695
00:43:33,760 --> 00:43:38,560
'The spolveri hidden inside the Mona Lisa have never been seen before.
696
00:43:38,560 --> 00:43:43,880
'They're concrete proof of the way Leonardo constructed a picture.
697
00:43:43,880 --> 00:43:46,840
'He would have begun with a preparatory drawing.
698
00:43:46,840 --> 00:43:50,840
'Marked the lines on tracing paper with a sharp point,
699
00:43:50,840 --> 00:43:54,800
'then transferred those outlines on to the wood with coal dust.
700
00:43:56,320 --> 00:43:58,800
'But what happened to the headdress?
701
00:43:58,800 --> 00:44:00,520
'Pascal's next piece of evidence
702
00:44:00,520 --> 00:44:03,320
'suggests it was deliberately removed.'
703
00:44:04,880 --> 00:44:07,920
So now I discovered this hatching.
704
00:44:07,920 --> 00:44:11,040
- Do you see this hatching?
- This is another layer of your...?
705
00:44:11,040 --> 00:44:13,000
- Yeah, another...
- Of the onion.
706
00:44:13,000 --> 00:44:15,760
- So, this is Leonardo with his rubber?
- Yes.
707
00:44:15,760 --> 00:44:18,560
You see, it's totally different from the cracks.
708
00:44:18,560 --> 00:44:20,120
It's not craquelure, no.
709
00:44:20,120 --> 00:44:25,360
You see, this is clearly to erase what is behind.
710
00:44:26,440 --> 00:44:30,320
It's very important. Because that explains how Leonardo,
711
00:44:30,320 --> 00:44:33,560
from one stage, goes to another stage.
712
00:44:36,160 --> 00:44:41,160
'Pascal's scans are crucial evidence of the way Leonardo worked.
713
00:44:41,160 --> 00:44:43,640
'Building up a painting stage by stage.
714
00:44:44,840 --> 00:44:47,360
'Above the scratchings, Pascal reveals
715
00:44:47,360 --> 00:44:49,840
'the first impression of yet another layer.
716
00:44:50,840 --> 00:44:53,560
'The ghostly imprint of a face.
717
00:44:53,560 --> 00:44:55,640
'Like a Leonardo Turin Shroud.'
718
00:44:57,600 --> 00:44:59,720
- Is that another head?
- Yes.
719
00:44:59,720 --> 00:45:01,880
How many heads is that so far?
720
00:45:03,040 --> 00:45:05,000
Er...this is the number three.
721
00:45:05,000 --> 00:45:06,880
- So the big head...
- The big head...
722
00:45:06,880 --> 00:45:08,640
- The pearl head.
- The pearl head.
723
00:45:08,640 --> 00:45:10,840
- And then there's another head.
- Yes.
724
00:45:10,840 --> 00:45:13,000
Now the...the eyes.
725
00:45:13,000 --> 00:45:16,440
So it's a wonderful proof.
726
00:45:16,440 --> 00:45:20,680
I discovered two crosses just here.
727
00:45:20,680 --> 00:45:22,920
Oh! ANDREW LAUGHS
728
00:45:22,920 --> 00:45:24,960
That's extraordinary!
729
00:45:24,960 --> 00:45:29,640
And these crosses do not match with Mona Lisa's...glance.
730
00:45:31,240 --> 00:45:32,840
- No.
- No.
731
00:45:34,960 --> 00:45:38,120
'The crosses clearly mark a different set of pupils
732
00:45:38,120 --> 00:45:41,040
'looking in a different direction.'
733
00:45:42,760 --> 00:45:45,080
- The face behind Mona Lisa...
- Mm.
734
00:45:45,080 --> 00:45:50,640
..the face is turned 14 degrees in the right direction.
735
00:45:50,640 --> 00:45:54,120
So there she is, she's looking like that.
736
00:45:54,120 --> 00:45:57,240
- So she should be like that.
- Yeah.
- More like that.
737
00:45:57,240 --> 00:45:59,400
Also, eyebrows. This...
738
00:45:59,400 --> 00:46:01,960
Can I just see this? Because this is an important point.
739
00:46:01,960 --> 00:46:06,160
Because Vasari says specifically, you know,
740
00:46:06,160 --> 00:46:08,520
that the eyebrows are beautifully painted.
741
00:46:08,520 --> 00:46:09,920
Yes. These eyebrows...
742
00:46:09,920 --> 00:46:12,840
And the Mona Lisa, as we see her, doesn't have eyebrows.
743
00:46:12,840 --> 00:46:15,840
- So, have you found...?
- You can see it. Yeah, look, here.
744
00:46:17,760 --> 00:46:19,280
So there are the eyebrows!
745
00:46:22,960 --> 00:46:25,600
And here, you have another mouth.
746
00:46:25,600 --> 00:46:28,840
Look at this mouth. Nothing to do with Mona Lisa.
747
00:46:28,840 --> 00:46:30,520
Absolutely amazing.
748
00:46:30,520 --> 00:46:32,560
She's barely smiling.
749
00:46:32,560 --> 00:46:36,680
Do you see? Because she...she turns the head on the left,
750
00:46:36,680 --> 00:46:39,520
the mouth is a little smaller.
751
00:46:39,520 --> 00:46:41,960
- You see?
- Quite a lot smaller.
- Yeah.
752
00:46:43,400 --> 00:46:45,360
ANDREW LAUGHS
753
00:46:48,560 --> 00:46:51,800
So, Pascal, you've found a complete face.
754
00:46:51,800 --> 00:46:53,880
- Yes.
- Inside...
- Inside.
755
00:46:53,880 --> 00:46:55,480
- ..the Mona Lisa.
- Yes.
756
00:46:55,480 --> 00:46:57,640
ANDREW LAUGHS Wow!
757
00:46:57,640 --> 00:46:59,760
That's quite a big discovery, isn't it?
758
00:46:59,760 --> 00:47:01,240
Yes, it is.
759
00:47:01,240 --> 00:47:03,520
- Yes, it is.
- Yes, it is.
760
00:47:06,200 --> 00:47:11,320
Pascal's work has revealed for the first time in 500 years,
761
00:47:11,320 --> 00:47:14,880
a detailed earlier portrait by Leonardo da Vinci.
762
00:47:16,400 --> 00:47:18,680
It's the same size as the face we see now,
763
00:47:18,680 --> 00:47:20,960
but turned by 14 degrees.
764
00:47:22,160 --> 00:47:26,200
There's clear evidence of a different, swept-back hairstyle.
765
00:47:27,760 --> 00:47:32,160
Elaborate ties at the top of an earlier sleeve are clearly visible.
766
00:47:33,800 --> 00:47:38,680
There's even a suggestion that she once held a blanket in her lap.
767
00:47:41,040 --> 00:47:43,920
Is this the portrait of Lisa I've been looking for?
768
00:47:47,440 --> 00:47:50,000
So throughout my journey, I thought,
769
00:47:50,000 --> 00:47:52,320
well, it seems as though
770
00:47:52,320 --> 00:47:55,600
they're talking about two different pictures.
771
00:47:55,600 --> 00:47:59,560
You seem to be saying to me that, yes, there are two Mona Lisas,
772
00:47:59,560 --> 00:48:03,520
- but they happen to be on the same piece of wood.
- Yes.
773
00:48:03,520 --> 00:48:09,600
So this must surely be...Lisa del Giocondo.
774
00:48:09,600 --> 00:48:11,680
- Of course.
- Francesco's wife.
775
00:48:11,680 --> 00:48:13,680
I agree with you. It's...
776
00:48:13,680 --> 00:48:17,600
This is a real portrait of Mrs Lisa Gherardini.
777
00:48:22,960 --> 00:48:24,840
Pascal's pioneering work
778
00:48:24,840 --> 00:48:28,000
marks an extraordinary moment in the history of art.
779
00:48:29,280 --> 00:48:32,840
By piecing together all the details, then decoding the data
780
00:48:32,840 --> 00:48:37,080
to identify the original pigments used by Leonardo,
781
00:48:37,080 --> 00:48:42,040
Pascal has been able to construct a digital Photofit of the image.
782
00:48:43,560 --> 00:48:46,400
It's a perfect match with the historical record.
783
00:48:49,200 --> 00:48:54,080
But if this computer image represents the original portrait of Mona Lisa,
784
00:48:54,080 --> 00:48:56,640
it's a portrait her husband never received.
785
00:48:57,920 --> 00:49:00,120
Instead, Leonardo went on to paint
786
00:49:00,120 --> 00:49:03,240
the world's most famous picture over the top.
787
00:49:07,000 --> 00:49:09,600
So there were two Mona Lisa's all along.
788
00:49:11,360 --> 00:49:14,640
But how do we make sense of these discoveries?
789
00:49:14,640 --> 00:49:17,720
And what are we now to make of Leonardo's masterpiece?
790
00:49:22,240 --> 00:49:25,120
'In search of the final piece to the puzzle,
791
00:49:25,120 --> 00:49:28,720
'I'm meeting a woman who's spent years reconstructing the scene
792
00:49:28,720 --> 00:49:31,360
'of that day back in 1503
793
00:49:31,360 --> 00:49:34,840
'when Leonardo started to paint Lisa.'
794
00:49:39,120 --> 00:49:42,560
Leading expert on renaissance hairstyles and costumes,
795
00:49:42,560 --> 00:49:44,280
Elisabetta Gnignera,
796
00:49:44,280 --> 00:49:47,960
has based her work closely on Pascal's findings.
797
00:49:47,960 --> 00:49:52,160
Every Renaissance fashion can be precisely pinpointed.
798
00:49:52,160 --> 00:49:57,160
Whether to Rome in 1512, or Florence in 1503.
799
00:49:57,160 --> 00:50:00,680
So by recreating the costume Pascal found
800
00:50:00,680 --> 00:50:02,840
in the painting beneath the painting,
801
00:50:02,840 --> 00:50:06,920
Elisabetta can place and date it very precisely.
802
00:50:08,080 --> 00:50:09,960
Her results are a revelation.
803
00:50:13,720 --> 00:50:18,800
Looking at the fashions shown in these other contemporary portraits,
804
00:50:18,800 --> 00:50:23,280
this lady perfectly fits with the historical image
805
00:50:23,280 --> 00:50:25,920
of a wealthy Florentine lady
806
00:50:25,920 --> 00:50:30,120
of the early years of the 16th century.
807
00:50:30,120 --> 00:50:34,600
I cannot see any inconsistencies.
808
00:50:34,600 --> 00:50:39,560
So, this must be Lisa del Giocondo as Raphael painted her?
809
00:50:39,560 --> 00:50:41,960
Yes, this is very close.
810
00:50:41,960 --> 00:50:45,000
The closest version we know to the Raphael sketch.
811
00:50:45,000 --> 00:50:46,680
It's like a Polaroid.
812
00:50:46,680 --> 00:50:48,480
- It's like a Polaroid?
- Yeah.
813
00:50:51,000 --> 00:50:54,360
Raphael had actually seen Leonardo's portrait of Lisa
814
00:50:54,360 --> 00:50:56,520
when he drew this copy in 1504.
815
00:50:57,760 --> 00:51:01,720
Apart from one slight difference, the veil over the bodice,
816
00:51:01,720 --> 00:51:04,760
it's identical to Elisabetta's reconstruction
817
00:51:04,760 --> 00:51:06,480
and Pascal's Photofit.
818
00:51:08,240 --> 00:51:12,680
It's compelling evidence that Pascal has indeed found the first version,
819
00:51:12,680 --> 00:51:14,800
Leonardo's original Lisa,
820
00:51:14,800 --> 00:51:17,640
lurking beneath the finished work.
821
00:51:19,640 --> 00:51:23,040
But where does all this leave the picture we see today?
822
00:51:26,000 --> 00:51:31,760
So, when you look at the Mona Lisa in the Louvre, as she is now,
823
00:51:31,760 --> 00:51:36,360
from the point of view of costume, what do you see?
824
00:51:36,360 --> 00:51:38,680
To me, she is not a real person
825
00:51:38,680 --> 00:51:42,920
because there are so many details which go in this sense.
826
00:51:42,920 --> 00:51:45,360
Mm. Can you give me an example?
827
00:51:45,360 --> 00:51:49,440
Yeah. The long hair worn on her shoulder.
828
00:51:49,440 --> 00:51:51,720
This wouldn't be conceivable,
829
00:51:51,720 --> 00:51:54,680
unless you were the very high ranks,
830
00:51:54,680 --> 00:51:57,520
or it was a posthumous portrait.
831
00:51:57,520 --> 00:52:01,880
What about this sort of sash of drapery that comes over her shoulder?
832
00:52:01,880 --> 00:52:03,720
- The twist.
- The twist.
- Yeah.
833
00:52:03,720 --> 00:52:08,640
This is the most interesting element in Louvre's Gioconda.
834
00:52:08,640 --> 00:52:13,960
Because Greco-Roman classical art devoted such detail
835
00:52:13,960 --> 00:52:16,200
only on one shoulder only.
836
00:52:16,200 --> 00:52:18,320
To Venus, Venus,
837
00:52:18,320 --> 00:52:23,320
and virtues like purity, chastity, faith.
838
00:52:23,320 --> 00:52:26,640
So that...that beautiful strand of drapery
839
00:52:26,640 --> 00:52:29,640
that seems to continue the flow of the river
840
00:52:29,640 --> 00:52:31,520
- and the landscape behind...
- Yeah.
841
00:52:31,520 --> 00:52:34,680
That is not something that a real woman would have worn?
842
00:52:34,680 --> 00:52:36,240
Not at all, even if it was a...
843
00:52:36,240 --> 00:52:38,480
- So, it's more like an attribute of a goddess?
- Yes.
844
00:52:38,480 --> 00:52:42,280
So the Louvre painting shows an idealised woman,
845
00:52:42,280 --> 00:52:44,680
maybe a posthumous portrait.
846
00:52:44,680 --> 00:52:47,760
Surely, then, she can no longer be Mona Lisa.
847
00:52:47,760 --> 00:52:51,000
Because Mona Lisa outlived Leonardo.
848
00:52:51,000 --> 00:52:53,280
Wow! Heh-heh!
849
00:52:53,280 --> 00:52:56,920
'Now, for Elisabetta, the moment of truth.
850
00:52:58,160 --> 00:53:01,680
'As the results of years of research and hard work finally come together,
851
00:53:01,680 --> 00:53:05,200
'we can at last see how Lisa del Giocondo,
852
00:53:05,200 --> 00:53:09,280
'the original Mona Lisa, might have looked.'
853
00:53:22,040 --> 00:53:24,080
- So, Elisabetta...
- Yeah?
854
00:53:24,080 --> 00:53:28,160
- You have made the sleeves that Pascal found.
- Yeah.
855
00:53:28,160 --> 00:53:31,920
- And this is the line, you've recreated the line.
- Yeah, exactly.
856
00:53:33,640 --> 00:53:36,040
'It's been an elaborate process,
857
00:53:36,040 --> 00:53:38,240
'but it leads to a genuine insight
858
00:53:38,240 --> 00:53:42,120
'into Leonardo's obsessive relationship with this painting.
859
00:53:43,280 --> 00:53:44,840
'The key is in the colours,
860
00:53:44,840 --> 00:53:48,320
'which have been exactly matched to Pascal's calculations.'
861
00:53:49,520 --> 00:53:53,160
The dress for the bodice, he found a...
862
00:53:53,160 --> 00:53:55,680
- a greenish-grey pigment.
- Mm.
863
00:53:55,680 --> 00:53:57,920
And also, there's leaves.
864
00:53:57,920 --> 00:54:01,000
We know how Leonardo would call this colour,
865
00:54:01,000 --> 00:54:03,720
which was called Leonato.
866
00:54:03,720 --> 00:54:07,640
That is, the colours of the lion's fur.
867
00:54:07,640 --> 00:54:10,520
- Leonato colour.
- I never knew that, I never knew that.
868
00:54:10,520 --> 00:54:13,600
You know what that makes me think? It makes me think, when you say that,
869
00:54:13,600 --> 00:54:15,560
that this is...this is Leonardo...
870
00:54:15,560 --> 00:54:17,680
Because, of course, he didn't sign pictures,
871
00:54:17,680 --> 00:54:22,520
but this is Leonardo's way of signing the painting.
872
00:54:22,520 --> 00:54:25,560
- Exactly.
- He loved to play games with words.
- Exactly.
- So the colour...
873
00:54:25,560 --> 00:54:27,280
That's great. The colour, Leonato,
874
00:54:27,280 --> 00:54:30,400
- and the knot pattern, Vinceri.
- Yeah.
875
00:54:30,400 --> 00:54:33,040
- Leonato da Vinci.
- Yeah.
876
00:54:33,040 --> 00:54:36,960
It could be, no? We are not joking. I agree with you totally.
877
00:54:36,960 --> 00:54:39,240
- You agree with me?
- Yeah, exactly. Because...
878
00:54:41,360 --> 00:54:43,560
'For me, the presence of a hidden signature
879
00:54:43,560 --> 00:54:45,960
'would answer a nagging question.
880
00:54:45,960 --> 00:54:48,360
'Why didn't he finish his first version
881
00:54:48,360 --> 00:54:50,720
'and give it to Francesco?
882
00:54:50,720 --> 00:54:55,760
'Knotting his name into her bodice, it's like an act of possession.
883
00:54:55,760 --> 00:55:00,600
'As if Leonardo knew this was always destined to be more than a portrait.
884
00:55:00,600 --> 00:55:02,800
'No-one's painting but his own.'
885
00:55:02,800 --> 00:55:04,600
If we go one, two, three,
886
00:55:04,600 --> 00:55:08,040
uno, due, tre, you look at me.
887
00:55:08,040 --> 00:55:10,640
Uno, due, tre.
888
00:55:14,000 --> 00:55:16,720
Our investigation has revealed for the first time
889
00:55:16,720 --> 00:55:21,080
what Leonardo's hidden earlier portrait might have looked like.
890
00:55:21,080 --> 00:55:25,040
The portrait, surely, of the Florentine merchant's wife,
891
00:55:25,040 --> 00:55:26,960
Lisa del Giocondo.
892
00:55:28,560 --> 00:55:31,880
'We found a solution to the historic inconsistencies
893
00:55:31,880 --> 00:55:33,800
'that have long baffled experts.
894
00:55:35,120 --> 00:55:38,880
'And, it seems, we've discovered that the portrait in the Louvre
895
00:55:38,880 --> 00:55:41,520
'may not be the Mona Lisa after all.'
896
00:55:44,760 --> 00:55:47,920
So we're left with the million-dollar question.
897
00:55:47,920 --> 00:55:49,400
Who is she?
898
00:55:52,200 --> 00:55:54,840
The one piece of evidence that still stands out
899
00:55:54,840 --> 00:55:57,000
is the eyewitness account of de Beatis,
900
00:55:57,000 --> 00:56:00,040
who had it from Leonardo himself
901
00:56:00,040 --> 00:56:05,920
that the woman we now see was painted at the behest of Giuliano de' Medici.
902
00:56:07,400 --> 00:56:10,880
So, who replaced Mona Lisa in Leonardo's painting?
903
00:56:10,880 --> 00:56:14,080
Did Giuliano commission a posthumous portrait?
904
00:56:14,080 --> 00:56:17,400
Perhaps of a lost love idealised like a goddess?
905
00:56:21,400 --> 00:56:24,240
'For me, there's only one candidate.
906
00:56:24,240 --> 00:56:27,600
'A woman with whom Giuliano had a brief, passionate affair.
907
00:56:28,600 --> 00:56:32,360
'A woman who tragically died giving birth to their son.
908
00:56:32,360 --> 00:56:34,680
'A little boy who was still calling for her
909
00:56:34,680 --> 00:56:37,080
'when Giuliano commissioned the picture.
910
00:56:38,160 --> 00:56:40,040
'Her name was Pacifica Brandano.
911
00:56:41,880 --> 00:56:44,040
'Could this be her?
912
00:56:50,800 --> 00:56:53,040
'It's a romantic notion,
913
00:56:53,040 --> 00:56:56,640
'but just as Leonardo never gave the picture to Francesco,
914
00:56:56,640 --> 00:56:59,840
'he never gave it to Giuliano either.
915
00:56:59,840 --> 00:57:04,960
'Instead, he kept the image of the woman he'd signed in code
916
00:57:04,960 --> 00:57:08,040
'and made her more his own than ever.'
917
00:57:11,280 --> 00:57:13,120
At the end of Leonardo's life,
918
00:57:13,120 --> 00:57:16,760
the Mona Lisa, this shape-shifting picture
919
00:57:16,760 --> 00:57:19,200
that had begun as the portrait of one woman
920
00:57:19,200 --> 00:57:21,800
and then metamorphosed into another,
921
00:57:21,800 --> 00:57:24,160
became something else again.
922
00:57:24,160 --> 00:57:27,840
Namely, a work of art that transcended portraiture
923
00:57:27,840 --> 00:57:32,360
and turned into an expression of all his knowledge, all his philosophy.
924
00:57:34,400 --> 00:57:36,680
The painting's like a shimmering mosaic
925
00:57:36,680 --> 00:57:41,680
in which Leonardo has pieced together all that he knows about nature
926
00:57:41,680 --> 00:57:44,120
and about human nature.
927
00:57:44,120 --> 00:57:48,520
And I think the key to it is that famous smile.
928
00:57:48,520 --> 00:57:51,920
Leonardo's way of saying that while we might strive to understand
929
00:57:51,920 --> 00:57:54,680
this vast cosmos that surrounds us,
930
00:57:54,680 --> 00:57:58,640
in the end, it's our destiny to pass through life
931
00:57:58,640 --> 00:58:03,440
as swiftly as the smile that flickers across a human face.
932
00:58:04,680 --> 00:58:08,080
So the Mona Lisa really isn't Mona Lisa after all,
933
00:58:08,080 --> 00:58:10,720
but something much more than that.
934
00:58:10,720 --> 00:58:12,960
It's a painting of life itself,
935
00:58:12,960 --> 00:58:15,320
as Leonardo had come to think of it.
936
00:58:15,320 --> 00:58:17,800
His way of painting us all.
74329
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