On January 9, 1963, the National Gallery of Art in Washington first displayed the “Mona Lisa,” if you’ve ever heard of it. The painting had already been seen by a group of VIPs the night before, including Jacqueline Kennedy, who spearheaded the effort to get it to America.
Fox News’ Shepard Smith got his Leos wrong during a segment in which he discussed the ongoing search for the woman who posed for the Mona Lisa. Instead of Leonardo da Vinci, Smith named DiCaprio as the painter behind the famous work, via THR. Leonardo DiCaprio, may be quite the artiste, but he ain’t that kind of…
Bob Hoskins, your favorite gumshoe detective from Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, has passed away.
The Mona Lisa Foundation, a Zurich-based consortium that knows absolutely nothing of this Illuminati that you keep bringing up, will be unveiling a painting of a "younger, happier" looking Mona Lisa that they believe was painted by Da Vinci 10 years prior to the older, wiser Mona Lisa that we all know and love.
Prompted by nothing in particular, besides boredom, Melborne artist Thomas Pavitte did a quick online search to see what the world's largest connect the dots puzzle was. When his searches returned nothing, he decided to set the world record on his own by creating his own variation of the Mona Lisa, made out of 6,239…
Experts have discovered tiny symbols in Mona Lisa's eyes, sending Da Vinci Code fans into a tizzy. Under high magnification, "LV" is visible in the right eye, and the letters "C" and "E" or "B" are painted in the left.
An Italian scientist is arguing that Mona Lisa's facial expression reveals signs of "very high cholesterol." Vito Franco also claims this mannerist masterpiece and this renaissance painting both depict subjects with Marfan syndrome. [Telegraph]
She may be famous for her smile, but some inhabitants of Warsaw seem more interested in the Mona Lisa's other assets. We have no idea what this billboard is advertising, but take a gander after the jump (NSFW). [Copyranter]
• Did you know there was a such thing as a "Stripper-mobile?" Yes, it's exactly what it sounds like. But some people are worried that driving around in a clear plastic truck while pole dancing may not be safe.
• The president of Mali has announced that he is not going to sign the new family law, which would give greater rights to women, including the right to disobey their husbands and raise the age of marriage to 18.
A Russian woman, upset over a failure to obtain French nationality, entered the Louvre and threw a ceramic cup at the Mona Lisa. Thanks to a protective screen, the enigmatic lady was unharmed. [Yahoo]
A "naked Mona Lisa" - who doesn't actually resemble La Giaconda that much - has been discovered in a hidden panel in a private library. It's thought to be "at least based on never-seen similar work by da Vinci." [MSNBC]
• A five-week-old seal pup has astonished caretakers by refusing to eat fish. Staff at a marine sanctuary say that this is the first time they've seen a seal with a fish phobia. •
The Mona Lisa's smile is now a little less enigmatic. A German academic claims that he has definitive proof as to the identity of the model for da Vinci's famous painting, who he believes is Lisa Gherardini, the wife of a wealthy Florentine merchant. The researcher found notes in the margins of a book, dated 1503,…
