The Mona Lisa is probably the most famous painting in the world and it still poses a mystery. At least one of them should now have been solved. Art historian Silvano Vinceti claims to have discovered which bridge is behind the Mona Lisa. Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) painted the Romito Bridge from Laterina, a town in the province of Arezzo in Tuscany, according to the renowned da Vinci expert.
So far, scientists have mainly suspected two other bridges. Vinceti was also a longtime supporter of one of the two theories. “But today I have no doubts: the Etruscan-Roman bridge of Romito can be seen in the painting,” he said at a press conference in Rome. The 74-year-old is the president of a commission to clarify previously unanswered mysteries about great personalities or works in Italy.
Through research in archives and on-site drone flights, Vinceti considers it proven that da Vinci painted the Romito Bridge, of which only part remains today. The course of the Arno river and even the movement of the waves in the picture – visible behind the left shoulder of the Mona Lisa – also match the bridge in Tuscany. Da Vinci himself saw the building frequently in the early 16th century when he was painting the Mona Lisa. At that time he was in charge of work in that area for a long time.
The hills of Tuscany
The Mona Lisa is one of the most famous oil paintings in the world and is on display in the Louvre in Paris. For centuries there have been debates surrounding the work of the painter, inventor and universal genius da Vinci, such as which landscapes can be seen in the background. The question of who da Vinci painted at all is still controversial in art history.
In Italy the painting is known as “La Gioconda”, the French call it “La Joconde”. The names come from a Florentine merchant whose wife may be in the painting. Other theories have it that the Renaissance painter depicted a different woman, that he might be painting a man, or that he simply did not immortalize a real person in his work.
Vinceti, meanwhile, isn’t done researching the landscape behind the Mona Lisa. During the drone flight in Tuscany, pictures were taken that can also be used to decode the landscape behind the right shoulder of the person portrayed. These pyramid-shaped mounds closely resemble elevations just a few kilometers from the Romito Bridge, the historian reported. But he’s not as sure about the detail as he was about the bridge – yet.