There's no trace of that celebrated, knowing expression, but archaeologists hope that one of two skeletons unearthed in a Tuscan convent will be shown to be that of the model who became Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa.
In their hunt for the remains of the most famous portrait-sitter in history, experts have been digging in the former convent of St Ursula in Florence since April. They have previously found and disregarded the bones of five other people.
But the team, led by Dr Silvano Vinceti, head of the National Committee for the Promotion of Historic and Cultural Heritage, is convinced that the remains of Mona Lisa, or Lisa Gherardini del Giocondo, the wife of a wealthy silk merchant, are buried in the basement of the building.
He said that armed with the skull of Gherardini, the wife of a wealthy Renaissance silk merchant, he would be able to make an accurate reconstruction of the sitter's face.
Researchers say that Gherardini spent the last years of her life at the convent, looked after by her two daughters, and was buried there when she died in 1542, aged 63.
