Geologist and Renaissance art historian Ann Pizzorusso has suggested that Leonardo da Vinci depicted some recognizable features of Lecco, on the shores of Lake Como in Italy’s Lombardy region, in his painting of the Mona Lisa. The similarities are undeniable, Pizzorusso said, adding, “I’m very excited about this. I really feel this is an achievement.”
Geologist and Renaissance art historian Ann Pizzorusso believes she has solved the mystery of the landscape behind Leonardo da Vinci’s famous Mona Lisa painting.
In a debate that has raged for years, some art historians have argued that the landscape behind the Mona Lisa is imaginary and idealized, while others have tried to draw links to specific Italian regions.
According to The Guardian, Ann Pizzorusso combined her expertise in geology and art history to argue that Leonardo painted some recognizable features of Lecco, a town on the shores of Lake Como in Lombardy.
Pizzorusso said the bridge, mountain range and lake in the painting match the 14th-century Azzone Visconti bridge in Lecco, the southwestern Alps and Lake Garlate, which Leonardo is known to have visited 500 years ago.
“I’m very excited about this, I really feel that this is an achievement,” Pizzorusso said, adding that the similarities were obvious.
Previous theories included a 2011 claim that a bridge and road in the Mona Lisa belonged to Bobbio and findings in 2023 that Leonardo painted a bridge in Arezzo. But Pizzorusso said that focusing on the bridge was insufficient:
“Arch bridges were common all over Italy and Europe, and many of them were very similar. It is impossible to pinpoint the exact location based on just one bridge. Everyone talks about the bridge, but no one talks about the geology.”
Pizzorusso noted that geologists don’t look at the paintings and art historians don’t look at the geology: “Art historians always say that Leonardo used his imagination, but if you give this painting to any geologist in the world, he will say the same thing I say about Lecco. Even a non-geologist can now see the similarities.”
Pizzorusso emphasized that the rocks in Lecco are limestone and Leonardo depicted them in a gray-white color: “This is perfect, because this is the type of rock there.” He also noted that, unlike Lecco, neither Bobbio nor Arezzo has a lake: “So in Lecco we have really excellent evidence.”
Pizzorusso had previously examined both versions of Leonardo’s “Virgin of the Rocks”. His analysis of the copy in the Louvre in Paris and the one on display in the National Gallery in London reignited the debate over whether the work was painted by Leonardo’s students or by Leonardo himself. He found that the botanical details of the Louvre version showed plants suitable for a damp and dark cave, but that the London version contained faulty plants.
Stating that Leonardo always emphasized to his students the importance of depicting nature accurately, Pizzorusso argued that his analysis was important in this context.
