Discovery that could wipe the smile off face of Mona Lisa

London: The mysterious Mona Lisa may have to change its name after scans revealed that an earlier portrait showing a different woman lurks beneath it.

Pascal Cotte, who used reflective light technology to scan the painting, said the original sitter is “totally different” to the woman seen by the public. Mona Lisa is often believed to be Lisa Gherardini, the wife of a Florentine silk merchant who commissioned Leonardo da Vinci more than 500 years ago.

Cotte now claims the image under the surface is the original Lisa.

“I was in front of the portrait and she is totally different to Mona Lisa today. This is not the same woman,” he said.

Instead of the front-on gaze, the hidden portrait shows a woman looking to the side.

She also has smaller lips than those in the famous Mona Lisa smile.

Andrew Graham Dixon, an art historian, said the painting may now have to undergo a name change, although Martin Kemp, Emeritus Professor of the History of Art at Oxford University, said the idea of a hidden picture was “untenable”.

The findings will be shown in a BBC Two documentary, The Secrets of the Mona Lisa, at 9pm on Wednesday.