Who was the most talented person that ever lived? It might be Leonardo Da Vinci. The Italian was a painter, sculptor (雕塑家) and inventor. This year, we celebrated his 566th birthday on April 15th.
Da Vinci is still widely considered as one of the greatest painters. His most famous painting, the Mona Lisa which still sits in the Louvre Museum (卢浮宫), is one of the greatest art works of the world.
The Mona Lisa is famous for the mysterious(神秘的) smile. What is the reason for the woman's smile? This is a question always asked, but it remains unanswered to this day.
Some believe that the Mona Lisa is actually a portrait (肖像) of Da Vinci himself! This is because some of her expressions on the face are similar to those in one of Da Vinci's self-portraits. Others might suggest she smiles because she has lost her teeth! We will never know for sure… It is just fun to guess!
But the new research from scientists showed that some people even think she isn't smiling but looks unhappy. The scientists also said that if Mona Lisa doesn't look happy to you, it might be because of your own feelings.The researchers showed 43 people two groups of pictures. Group One all had neutral(中性的) faces. Group Two had happy and angry faces. Each time, people saw two pictures, one from Group One, the other from Group Two. Later, they described what the neutral faces were like. When people saw a neutral face after a happy face, most of them thought it was smiling. When they saw a neutral face after a sad face, most of them thought it had a sad expression. Scientists believe our brain has predictive (预测性的) power. People use their past experiences to predict what they are going to experience next.
"____▲____" said Erika Siegel, one of the researchers. "However, if you see the Mona Lisa after you have great fun, you can see her beautiful smile. "
