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Mona Lisa's Skeleton? Scientists Perform DNA Testing, Digital Reconstruction On Da Vinci's Neighbor
Headlines and Global News ^
| 08/09/2013
| By Rebekah Marcarelli
Posted on 08/09/2013 11:54:34 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Researchers may have found the "Mona Lisa" model's skeleton. (Photo : Wikimedia Commons)
Scientists are on a mission to find the model for the "Mona Lisa," they plan to dig up centuries-old graves and digitally reconstruct the face of a choice skeleton.
Experts believe the model for the famous "Mona Lisa" painting was Leonardo da Vinci's neighbor, Lisa Gherardini Del Giocondo, ANSA reported.
Several skeletons found in a Florence convent last year could be the remains of the model. Experts plan to identify the most likely candidate and compare the DNA with a body believed to be her son.
"Right now we are carrying out Carbon-14 tests on three of the eight skeletons found in St Ursula, which could be the age Lisa Gherardini was when she died," Silvano Vinceti, of the National Committee for the valuation of historic, cultural and environmental assets, said. "The Carbon-14 test will tell us which of the three dates back to the 1500s. Only then will we know which skeleton to do the final DNA test on"
A document believed to be written by da Vinci's scribe pinpoints a woman named "Lisa" as the woman with the famous half-smile.
"It was her, Lisa, the wife of the merchant Francesco Del Giocondo - and she lived right opposite Leonardo in Via Ghibellina," Giuseppe Pallanti, an author on the subject, said, according to ANSA.
The woman in question is believed to have become a nun at the age of 63 following the death of her husband.
Gherardini married Del Giocondo when she was only 16-years-old, he was 35.
The "Mona Lisa" could have been painted as a celebration of Gheradini's pregnancy.
If the team can link the supposed Gheradini skeleton to her relatives, a virtual reconstruction will be made from her facial bone structure and compared with the original painting, NBC News reported.
Kristina Killgrove, a bioarchaeologist at the University of West Florida is concerned about how solid the evidence will be.
"This will probably bring in some tourist dollars, but other than confirming that this is the "Mona Lisa," I don't see any scholarly relevance to it," Killgrove told NBC News. "They could figure out her diet. They could figure out if she had any old injuries or pathological conditions. But I've never seen anything written up about that. And these bones, as far as I can tell from the pictures, are in fairly poor condition."
TOPICS: Arts/Photography; History
KEYWORDS: carbon14; davinci; florence; florida; godsgravesglyphs; helixmakemineadouble; italy; kristinakillgrove; leonardo; leonardodavinci; menhavenamedyou; monalisa; santissimaannunziata; univofwestflorida
To: SeekAndFind
Just keep that grant money coming!!!
To: SeekAndFind
Digging up poor Giaconda? It’s one thing to find a lost king buried under a car park but to dig up consecrated graves...yuck.
To: SeekAndFind
I’ve got a great idea. Let’s dig up George Washington’s rotten carcass and see if he looks like the dollar bill painting.
It’s cremation for me. Leave me alone.
To: eartrumpet
Its cremation for me. Leave me alone.
+1 on that
Besides cemeteries are such a waste of prime real estate.
5
posted on
08/09/2013 12:08:52 PM PDT
by
BobinIL
To: BobinIL
"Besides cemeteries are such a waste of prime real estate."
6
posted on
08/09/2013 12:14:34 PM PDT
by
EEGator
To: SeekAndFind
I fail to see a valid reason for opening these graves other than morbid curiosity. As Hillary said..."What difference does it make?" The finding of King Richard's body in a long lost abbey has some historical significance, but in this case let these poor souls rest.
I'm donating my dead body to a medical school where some use can be made of it rather than to enrich an undertaker or make some public spectacle in the future when someone digs up my old bones.
To: miss marmelstein
Whatever happened to “Rest In Peace?”
To: SeekAndFind
At what point does research become desecration?
9
posted on
08/09/2013 1:33:45 PM PDT
by
JimRed
(Excise the cancer before it kills us; feed &water the Tree of Liberty! TERM LIMITS, NOW & FOREVER!)
To: Dr. Bogus Pachysandra; JimRed; miss marmelstein; BobinIL; eartrumpet
"Cursed be he..."
10
posted on
08/09/2013 1:59:53 PM PDT
by
BenLurkin
(This is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion or satire; or both.)
To: The Great RJ
no one will want to dig her up when she is buried, i guarantee that.
11
posted on
08/09/2013 2:22:14 PM PDT
by
longfellow
(Bill Maher, the 21st hijacker.)
To: StayAt HomeMother; Ernest_at_the_Beach; decimon; 1010RD; 21twelve; 24Karet; 2ndDivisionVet; ...
Thanks SeekAndFind.
12
posted on
08/10/2013 2:51:31 PM PDT
by
SunkenCiv
(It's no coincidence that some "conservatives" echo the hard left.)
To: The Great RJ; SunkenCiv
And I am donating my body to science. When they are done taking it apart to see what made me tick, they can cremate the remains and divide them between my two children. That way, neither can complain about funeral expenses, and both can “bury” me the way they want.
I see no benefit to being buried and making a funeral home rich.
13
posted on
08/10/2013 3:07:24 PM PDT
by
Monkey Face
(A negative mind will never give you a positive life.)
To: SeekAndFind
I keep telling the wife and kids that I want a Viking funeral.
14
posted on
08/10/2013 3:15:19 PM PDT
by
EricT.
(Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength. Big brother is watching you.)
To: Sacajaweau
Bingo. This guy nailed it.
“This will probably bring in some tourist dollars, but other than confirming that this is the “Mona Lisa,” I don’t see any scholarly relevance to it,” Killgrove told NBC News.”
15
posted on
08/11/2013 6:54:59 AM PDT
by
wildbill
To: SeekAndFind
Last Tuesday (after reading several of the Mona articles)...I pasted up a proposed 22" x 34" sign for a pioneer cemetery for a preservation committee. As I taped it on the wall, I said....This is just a little bit bigger than the Mona Lisa in Paris.
Talk about playing with their heads. Their expressions were...well the same way as folks look at Monk..Priceless...
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