Mona Lisa's true identity revealed: Researchers

London, Jan 15: For centuries, people have wondered about the identity of Leonardo Da Vinci's Mona Lisa. Now, German researchers claim that they have solved this mystery.

Academics at Heidelberg University said that the scribbled notes in the margin of a book 500 years old provide evidence, proving that the woman with the strange half-smile is Lisa Gherardini, the wife of Giocondo, a Florentine merchant. Many admirers for a long time made the assumption that La Gioconda, as she was also known, was the sitter, from comments made by Giorgio Vasari in 1550.

However, Vasari's discovery was made 50 years after Leonardo painted the Mona Lisa. The university said Leonardo was noted for elaborating the truth.

Now notes written by Agostino Vespucci, who knew Leonardo, found in the university library, confirm the sitter as Lisa del Giocondo.

"All doubts about the identity of the Mona Lisa have been eliminated by this discovery," Telegraph quoted Heidelberg library, as saying.

ANI