Don't know of this, but if true, could be for privacy/modesty during nursing. Just a thought.
-----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Dawn Sent: Wednesday, September 27, 2006 8:05 AM To: Historical Costume Subject: Re: [h-cost] Mona Lisa [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > IN the last day or so, there have been a number of reports on the > intensive laser scan that a Canadian outfit is doing on DaVinci's Mona Lisa. In addition to a number of other new information, they are saying that they have detected a gauze veil on her head that they are claiming demonstrates that she had just given birth. > I don't know about the symbology of the veil they are talking about, but the reports are saying it was placed over her dress, not on her head. There's also talk of a 'bonnet'. I've copied a few quotes below, from several articles, there seems to be some variation in what's being reported and quoted. Dawn The NRC study discovered, under dark varnish, a previously unseen gauzy, veil-like cloth hanging from the bodice of Mona Lisa's dress. Such a garment was common in Renaissance Italy for women who had recently given birth, French and Canadian scientists said during a news conference yesterday at NRC headquarters. Dark varnish had also made invisible a newly discovered small bonnet worn on the back part of Mona Lisa's head. The bonnet peeks through the varnish only with the aid of the NRC's high-tech laser vision. "Thanks to laser scanning, we were able to uncover the very fine gauze veil Mona Lisa was wearing on her dress. This was something typical for either soon-to-be or new mothers at the time," Michel Menu, research director of the French Museums' Center for Research and Restoration, said on LCI television. It said other details obscured by darkened paint and varnish included the hair originally being in a bun and a slightly different posture, as well as the gauze dress. "This type of gauze dress ... was typical of the kind worn in early 16th Century Italy by women who were pregnant or who had just given birth," said Bruno Mottin of the French Museums' Center for Research and Restoration. Using infrared technology that allowed them to see more clearly beneath dark varnish, the scientists found that Leonardo da Vinci's model had a gauzy, nearly transparent layer over her dress that was typically worn by pregnant women of the time, or mothers who had recently given birth. The model for Mona Lisa was Lisa Gherardini, the wife of Francesco del Giocondo, a Florentine cloth merchant. The discovery of the filmy garment, sewn to her dress at the shoulders, means the painting was commissioned to celebrate the birth of her third child, also found that in addition to her veil, Mona Lisa was wearing a dark bonnet which cannot be seen under the layer of varnish. It was applied long after Leonardo da Vinci died, ... _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
