The mystery of where the Mona Lisa was painted appears to have been solved, according to a geologist. Ann Pizzorusso claims to have identified the background landscape of the world's most famous painting.
The landscape behind Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa has provoked endless debate, with some art historians suggesting that the view was imaginary and idealized, while others assert various connections to specific locations in Italy. Now a geologist and Renaissance art historian believes she has finally solved the mystery in one of the world's most famous paintings. Ann Pizzorusso combined her two areas of expertise to suggest that Leonardo painted several recognizable features of Lecco, on the shores of Lake Como in the Lombardy region of northern Italy.
Pizzorusso compared Leonardo's bridge, mountain range and lake in the Mona Lisa to the 14th-century Azzone Visconti Bridge, the southwestern Alps mountains that dominate the area, and Lake Garlate, which Leonardo is known to have visited 500 years ago.
The similarities are undeniable, she said. "I'm really excited about this. I really feel like it's a huge success."
Previous theories included a 2011 claim that a bridge and road in the Mona Lisa belonged to Bobbio, a small town in northern Italy, and a 2023 discovery that Leonardo had painted a bridge in the province of Arezzo. But focusing on the bridge wasn't enough. "The arch bridge was ubiquitous throughout Italy and Europe and many looked very similar. It is impossible to pinpoint an exact location from just one bridge. Everyone talks about the bridge and no one talks about the geology." Ann Pizzorusso believes that Leonardo painted several recognizable features of Lecco, which sits on the shores of Lake Como.
Ann Pizzorusso believes that Leonardo painted several recognizable features of Lecco, which sits on the shores of Lake Como. Photography: Courtesy of Ann Pizzorusso
"Geologists don't look at paintings and art historians don't look at geology," she added. "Art historians said that Leonardo always used his imagination, but you can give this image to any geologist in the world and they will say what I am saying about Lecco. Even a non-geologist can now see the similarities."
He noted that the rocks at Lecco are limestone and that Leonardo depicted his rocks in a grey-white color - "which is perfect, because that's the type of rock that's there". She added that unlike Lecco, neither Bobbio nor Arezzo have a lake: "So we have really perfect evidence in Lecco."
His previous research on Leonardo involved studying both versions of the Virgin of the Rocks - the one in the Louvre in Paris and the replica in National Gallery In London. Until 2010, the National Gallery he believed that the one he owned was mainly the work of assistants, but after restoration he declared it possible that Leonardo had painted the entire image himself. Pizzorusso's analysis of the vegetation and geology in the landscape around the central figures reinvigorated the debate. She concluded: "The botany in the Louvre version is perfect, showing plants that would have thrived in a damp, dark cave. But the plants in the London version are inaccurate. Some do not exist in nature."
He noted that Leonardo always emphasized to his students the importance of representing nature accurately. For her most recent research on the Mona Lisa, she visited Lecco, tracing Leonardo's steps: "We know from his notebooks that he spent a lot of time exploring the Lecco area and the territory further north."
Michael Daley, director of ArtWatch UK, said of Pizzorusso's discoveries: "Because she has legitimate scientific knowledge, when she notices things about Leonardo - the most scientific artist of all time - they are important moments.
"All art historians speculate about where the Mona Lisa was painted. Anyone who sees a bridge thinks it was there. But Pizzorusso convincingly identified the location with proof of Leonardo's presence in the area, its geology and, er, Of course, a bridge."
Jacques Franck, Leonardo's former consultant at the Louvre, said: "I don't doubt for a second that Pizzorusso is right in her theory, given her perfect knowledge of the geology of the Italian country - and more precisely of the places where Leonardo traveled in his life, which could correspond to the mountainous landscape in the Mona Lisa."
This weekend, Pizzorusso will present his evidence at a geology conference in Lecco.
"I'm really excited about these discoveries - and there's an almost certain possibility that Leonardo painted [the landscape] right where we're holding our conference," she said.
Source: The Guardian