MikeLigalig.com

To find the DNA they needed, scientists cut a round hole in the stone church floor above the family crypt of Florentine silk merchant Francesco del Giocondo. The tomb lies behind the altar of the Santissima Annunziata Basilica.

Writer and researcher Silvano Vinceti plans to compare DNA from the bones with that of three women buried at the nearby convent of Saint Ursula.

Lisa Gherardini died there as a nun in 1542.

It is hoped that some of the bones will belong to at least one of her blood relation, probably her son, Piero.

"When we find a match between mother and child - then we will have found the Mona Lisa," said Mr Vinceti.

He added that once a DNA match is made, an image of Gherardini's face can be generated from the skull and compared with the painting.

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The Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre in 1911 but returned three years later

He was apprehended by police two years later, and the Mona Lisa was safely returned.

While its small size can surprise Louvre visitors, the painting is the biggest attraction in the museum.

One popular, if unlikely, theory suggests it was a self-portrait.

There are similarities between the facial features of the Mona Lisa and of the artist's self-portrait painted many years later, with some suggesting this is the reason behind the portrait's famed enigmatic smile.

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Mona Lisa close-up



Begun between 1503 and 1506, the half-portrait measures just 77cm by 53 cm (2ft 6in by 1 ft 8in)

Painted using sfumato technique to blur sharp edges by blending colours, leaving corners of the eyes and the mouth in shadow

Background painted with fewer distinct outlines than foreground in technique known as aerial perspective, that gives painting more depth

Acquired by France's King Francis I and put on permanent display in the Louvre in 1797

Stolen in 1911 by ex-Louvre employee Vincenzo Peruggia who believed it should be returned to Italy; replaced in the Louvre when Peruggia was apprehended two years later


http://www.bbc.co.uk/


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