Where is the landscape behind Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa? The question has been the subject of debate for several years, with some art historians suggesting that the landscape was invented and others claiming various links with Italy.
Now, Ann Pizzorusso, a geologist and Renaissance art historian, has combined her two areas of expertise to suggest that Leonardo da Vinci painted several features of Lecco, on the shores of Lake Como in the Lombardy region of northern Italy.
To reach this conclusion, details The Guardian, Pizzorusso combined Leonardo's bridge, the mountain range and the lake from the Mona Lisa painting with Lecco's 14th century Azzone Visconti bridge, the south-western Alps overlooking the area and Lake Garlate, which da Vinci visited 500 years ago.
Dalya Alberge
The similarities are "undeniable", he said.
In 2011, some theories suggested that the bridge and road depicted in the Mona Lisa were from Bobbio, a small town in northern Italy. In 2023, it was hypothesized that Leonardo had painted a bridge in the province of Arezzo. However, the expert felt that relying on the bridge alone was not enough.
"The arched bridge was ubiquitous, both in Italy and throughout Europe, and many of them were very similar. It's impossible to identify an exact location from a bridge. Everyone talks about the bridge and no one talks about the geology," he told the British daily.
"Geologists don't look at paintings and art historians don't look at geology. Art historians have said that Leonardo always used his imagination, but any geologist in the world will tell you exactly what I'm saying about Lecco. Even a non-geologist can now see the similarities," he added.
The rocks of Lecco are limestone and, according to Ann Pizzorusso, Leonardo da Vinci depicted his in a grayish-white color, "which is perfect, because that's the type of rock that exists."
The expert added that, unlike Lecco, neither Bobbio nor Arezzo have a lake. "We have really perfect evidence in Lecco."
"All art historians speculate about where the Mona Lisa was painted. Anyone who sees a bridge thinks it was there. But Pizzorusso has convincingly identified the location with evidence of Leonardo's presence in the area, its geology and, of course, a bridge," reacted Michael Daley, director of watchdog ArtWatch UK.
Jacques Franck, Leonardo's former adviser at the Louvre, said that he doesn't doubt, "for a second, that Pizzorusso is right, given his perfect knowledge of the geology of the Italian country - and more precisely of the places where Leonardo traveled during his life, which could correspond to the hilly landscape of the Mona Lisa."
