Illinois: Scientists have analyzed the portrait of Mona Lisa, a woman with famously mixed emotions, hoping to unlock the secret to her smile.
They applied emotion recognition software that measures a person's mood by examining features such as the curve of the lips and the wrinkles around the eyes.
The findings show that Mona Lisa was 83 per cent happy, 9 per cent disgusted, 6 per cent fearful, and 2 per cent angry, according to the British weekly New Scientist.
However, scientists will probably never know what made her feel the way she did.
The computer software, developed by Nicu Sebe at the University of Amsterdam and researchers at the University of Illinois, examines key facial features, the journal reports.
Sebe uploaded average, neutral expressions of female faces into a database, which the software used to compare with the painting.
Painter Leonardo Da Vinci's masterpiece is housed at the Louvre, in Paris, France and is the museum's top draw.
The Mona Lisa ? called La Gioconda in Italian and La Joconde in French ? has captivated and mystified the art world for centuries. The portrait was painted in Florence, Italy, between 1503 and 1506.
Historians have long debated Mona Lisa's identity, with theories ranging from being Da Vinci's mother, a self-portrait or a Florentine prostitute.
Research conducted in 2004 support a claim first made almost 500 years ago ? that she really existed and that she was the wife of a rich silk merchant.
The Mona Lisa is also featured in author Dan Brown's best-selling novel The Da Vinci Code.
Comments
0 comment