In Graphics | Where was Mona Lisa smiling? Geologist claims to have cracked the code

It’s the most famous painting in the world. The one with the enigmatic smile.

Now, a researcher says she may have solved another clue behind the fascinating Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci — where exactly the lady in question was when the Italian Renaissance master set about his work early in the 16th Century.

According to the Louvre, the painting is thought to be a portrait of Lisa Gherardini, the wife of a Florentine silk merchant.

Art historians have obssessed over both the subject of the portrait and its location for hundreds of years.

Now, geologist and Italian Renaissance specialist Ann Pizzorusso thinks she may have cracked the code.

“When I came to Lecco, I realised he had painted the ‘Mona Lisa’ here,” Pizzorusso said.

She was referring to small town on the shores of Lake Como perhaps  best known as the setting of Alessandro Manzoni’s masterpiece novel “The Betrothed.”

So where was the Mona Lisa smiling? And how did Pizzorusso do it?

Here’s everything you need to know