Mystery of Where Mona Lisa was Painted Has Been Solved

The painting’s bridge, lake and rocks might have finally identified the landscape. Photograph: IanDagnall Computing/Alamy
The painting’s bridge, lake and rocks might have finally identified the landscape. Photograph: IanDagnall Computing/Alamy
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Mystery of Where Mona Lisa was Painted Has Been Solved

The painting’s bridge, lake and rocks might have finally identified the landscape. Photograph: IanDagnall Computing/Alamy
The painting’s bridge, lake and rocks might have finally identified the landscape. Photograph: IanDagnall Computing/Alamy

A geologist and Renaissance art historian is claiming to have solved the centuries-old debate on the location of the Italian landscape behind Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa.

Ann Pizzorusso, the author of the 2014 book “Tweeting Da Vinci,” is claiming she cracked the case, The Guardian reported.

In her expert opinion, Leonardo portrayed parts of the city of Lecco, on the shore of Lake Como in the Lombardy region of northern Italy, in his 16th-century masterpiece.

Pizzorusso claims she pinpointed the bridge, mountain range and lake featured in the painting’s background as Lecco’s Azzone Visconti bridge, built in the 14th century, the Alps which overlook the area and Lake Garlate, located south of the city.

Leonardo is known to have visited the area about 250 miles north of his home region of Florence about 500 years ago.

“I’m so excited about this. I really feel it’s a home run,” Pizzorusso told The Guardian.

She credited her knowledge of both geology and art for the findings, saying, “Geologists don’t look at paintings and art historians don’t look at geology.”

Using her knowledge of rocks, she also identified the greyish-white ones in the artwork, which was painted between 1503 and 1519 and now hangs in the Louvre Museum in Paris, as limestone, which is prevalent in Lecco.



First Radioactive Rhino Horns to Curb Poaching in South Africa

A sedated rhinoceros lies unconscious as professor James Larkin (R) from the University of the Witwatersrand's Radiation and Health Physics Unit (RHPU) uses a can of identification spray (DataDot) after carefully implanting dosed and calculated radioisotopes into its horns along with other Rhisotope Project members at an undisclosed location in the Waterbury UNESCO biosphere in Mokopane on June 25, 2024. (Photo by EMMANUEL CROSET / AFP)
A sedated rhinoceros lies unconscious as professor James Larkin (R) from the University of the Witwatersrand's Radiation and Health Physics Unit (RHPU) uses a can of identification spray (DataDot) after carefully implanting dosed and calculated radioisotopes into its horns along with other Rhisotope Project members at an undisclosed location in the Waterbury UNESCO biosphere in Mokopane on June 25, 2024. (Photo by EMMANUEL CROSET / AFP)
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First Radioactive Rhino Horns to Curb Poaching in South Africa

A sedated rhinoceros lies unconscious as professor James Larkin (R) from the University of the Witwatersrand's Radiation and Health Physics Unit (RHPU) uses a can of identification spray (DataDot) after carefully implanting dosed and calculated radioisotopes into its horns along with other Rhisotope Project members at an undisclosed location in the Waterbury UNESCO biosphere in Mokopane on June 25, 2024. (Photo by EMMANUEL CROSET / AFP)
A sedated rhinoceros lies unconscious as professor James Larkin (R) from the University of the Witwatersrand's Radiation and Health Physics Unit (RHPU) uses a can of identification spray (DataDot) after carefully implanting dosed and calculated radioisotopes into its horns along with other Rhisotope Project members at an undisclosed location in the Waterbury UNESCO biosphere in Mokopane on June 25, 2024. (Photo by EMMANUEL CROSET / AFP)

South African scientists on Tuesday injected radioactive material into live rhino horns to make them easier to detect at border posts in a pioneering project aimed at curbing poaching.

The country is home to a large majority of the world's rhinos and as such is a hotspot for poaching driven by demand from Asia, where horns are used in traditional medicine for their supposed therapeutic effect.

At the Limpopo rhino orphanage in the Waterberg area, in the country's northeast, a few of the thick-skinned herbivores grazed in the low savannah.

James Larkin, director of the University of the Witwatersrand's radiation and health physics unit who spearheaded the initiative, told AFP he had put "two tiny little radioactive chips in the horn" as he administered the radioisotopes on one of the large animals' horns.

The radioactive material would "render the horn useless... essentially poisonous for human consumption" added Nithaya Chetty, professor and dean of science at the same university.

The dusty rhino, put to sleep and crouched on the ground, did not feel any pain, Larkin said.

The radioactive material's dose was so low it would not impact the animal's health or the environment in any way, he said.

In February the environment ministry said that, despite government efforts to tackle the illicit trade, 499 of the giant mammals were killed in 2023, mostly in state-run parks. This represents an 11 percent increase over the 2022 figures.

Twenty live rhinos in total would be part of the pilot Rhisotope project whereby they would be administered a dose "strong enough to set off detectors that are installed globally" at international border posts originally installed "to prevent nuclear terrorism", a pleased Larkin said, sporting a green hat and a khaki shirt.

Border agents often have handheld radiation detectors which can detect contraband in addition to thousands of radiation detectors installed at ports and airports, the scientists said.