During the annual audits of the state of conservation of the Mona Lisawe were treated to an extremely rare vision, that of the reverse side of the Renaissance masterpiece. Distributed by Matthias Grolierchief of staff of the Louvre Museum, several photos showing the back side of the painting were thus broadcast on
The incredible reverse of the Mona Lisa revealed to the public
This Thursday, November 20, Rachida Dati joined the teams of Louvre for a strong moment in the institution's agenda: the annual review of its flagship table, the Mona Lisa. In the presence of Laurence des Cars, president and director of the museum, the experts involved carried out a careful analysis of the state of conservation of the work of Leonardo da Vinci.
To do this, it was necessary to remove the canvas from its frame and delicately place it for study. More than 500 years after the creation of the work having become hyper sensitive to variations in temperature and humidity, it was time for her annual health check-up. So, restorers and engineers came together and proceeded, notably using cutting-edge techniques.
It was then the opportunity to discover an extremely rare facet of the painting, namely its reverse side. Unveiled in detail like never before by Matthias Grolier on X, this back side then revealed some curiosities. In addition to a few signs of wear and other scratches, we also discover several inscriptions such as a large letter H, the number 29 or even the simple “Mona Lisa” in black. Also, and this is more curious, we discover three sticky strips on which we can discern other sentences. We'll let you interpret but for our part, we can guess the words “director's pieces” or even “save the Versailles paintings”. Perhaps a trace of his stay at the Château during the reign of Louis XIV?
