Solving Mona Lisa

This version contains color images.

You’ll never look at Mona Lisa the same way again. Literally.

Though he had been an artist his whole life, Ron Piccirillo never cared much about the mysteries behind one of the art world’s most famed paintings—Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa. Historians have debated everything from the subject’s identity, to possible significance behind that almost smirk-like smile, and the physical setting of the background scene. Piccirillo simply didn’t understand why scholars wasted so much time trying to figure out the answers to questions like these. He didn't believe the answers existed, just like he didn't believe God existed.

But all that would change after Piccirillo makes an accidental discovery. While examining Mona Lisa, he notices something no one had ever reported on before—a hidden image that appears only when viewed in a specific way, which leads him to a series of undiscovered clues. In search of their meaning, Piccirillo goes public with his findings, and though experts are aware that Leonardo invented that type of optical illusion, they doubt Piccirillo's claims that Leonardo used the technique in his art. Thus begins Piccirillo’s journey, determined to figure out the reason for the hidden images. Did Leonardo place secret messages in his art? And did he create Mona Lisa as some kind of puzzle that would lead to something bigger than anyone could have ever imagined?

In this true story of an artist who did the impossible, Piccirillo takes us through his revolutionary discoveries as he solves the mysteries behind the world’s most enigmatic painting. He unearths some of the most amazing optical illusions since their creation centuries earlier—potentially changing art history in the process—all while deciphering the identity of the woman in Mona Lisa and the exact meaning of her smile. His astonishing story will make you wonder about the power of divine intervention.

Piccirillo first made headlines in 2011, receiving worldwide attention with his discovery of hidden imagery in Leonardo da Vinci’s art, including coverage by major media outlets like The Today Show, NBC, and the Daily Mail. Since then, Piccirillo has been busy figuring out exactly why artists like Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Sandro Botticelli hid secret images throughout their art—and what it all means. The result is Piccirillo’s debut book—a mystery memoir that will show how Renaissance artists were more astonishing than anyone had ever realized. It’s sure to get the world talking about what has been hiding in front of our eyes.