The Eyes Have It

The good nuns taught us that “the eyes are the windows to the soul.” In the case of the Mona Lisa, could they lead to even more? In what may be a life-imitates-art moment for readers of Dan Brown's The DaVinci Code, art historians are investigating the possibility of microscopic numbers and letters painted into the eyes of the Leonardo's most famous portrait.

Leonardo Da Vinci's 500-year-old Renaissance masterpiece has long been steeped in mystery, and even today the true identity of the woman with the alluring smile still far from certain.

Now members of Italy's National Committee for Cultural Heritage have revealed that by magnifying high resolution images of the Mona Lisa's eyes letters and numbers can be seen.

"To the naked the symbols are not visible but with a magnifying glass they can clearly be seen," said Silvano Vinceti, president of the Committee.

Then again, they're probably just cracks in the pigment, like when you look at clouds and see a duck or a horse. And with that, the plot thickens ...