Inventor: Scans Reveal Mona Lisa Secrets

Al Sydnor, at right, examines a magnified version of Leonardo da Vinci's "Mona Lisa," including the eyes and the famous smile, in the "Da Vinci: Exhibition of Genius" exhibit at the Metreon in San Francisco, Friday, Oct. 19, 2007. The exhibit showcases the work of French engineer Pascal Cotte, who was allowed to photograph the original masterpiece and has broken it down to various versions; including an infrared image, an image with and without the varnish and a depiction of what the painting might have looked like when it was first finished by Da Vinci. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez) (Marcio Jose Sanchez - AP)

SAN FRANCISCO -- For centuries, the "Mona Lisa" has beguiled art buffs unable to resist speculating on its origins and meaning. Now a French inventor claims to have some answers, including the fate of the enigmatic subject's famously missing eyebrows and lashes.

Parisian engineer Pascal Cotte says his ultra-detailed digital scans of the painting allow him to effectively burrow through layers of paint to "see" into the past of Leonardo Da Vinci's 16th-century portrait of a Florentine merchant's wife.

The world's most famous painting originally included both brows and lashes, according to Parisian engineer Pascal Cotte, who says his 240-megapixel scans of the painting reveal traces of Mona Lisa's left brow, obliterated by long-ago restoration efforts.

"With just one photo you go deeper into the construction of the painting and understand that Leonardo was a genius," Cotte said at the U.S. debut of an exhibit detailing his findings.

As a boy growing up in Paris in the 1960s, Cotte said, he spent hours staring at the "Mona Lisa" the first time he saw it at the Louvre. He later used his scientific training in light and optics to develop a camera that would let him examine the object of his obsession.

Cotte, 49, estimates he has spent 3,000 hours analyzing the data from the scans he made of the painting in the Louvre's laboratory three years ago.

Using sensors to detect light from both the visible spectrum and the infrared and ultraviolet ranges invisible to the human eye, Cotte said, his camera allowed him to make these and other findings:

_ Da Vinci changed his mind about the position of two fingers on the subject's left hand.

_ Her face was originally wider and the smile more expressive than Da Vinci ultimately painted them.

_ She holds a blanket that has all but faded from view today.

Cotte said his analyses also revealed what he believes are the painting's colors as they looked on Da Vinci's easel.

Age, varnish and restorations performed by later conservators' hands have resulted in a painting that, in its permanent home behind bulletproof glass at the Louvre, appears saturated with heavy greens, yellows and browns.