Mona Lisa，the mysterious woman in Leonardo da Vinci's 16th century masterpiece，had just given birth to her second son when she sat for the painting，a French art expert said on Tuesday.The discovery was made by a team of Canadian scientists who used special technology to peer through the paint layers on the work，which now sits in the Louvre Museum in Paris.
One of the researchers said that on very close examination of the painting it became clear that the Mona Lisa's dress was covered in a thin transparent gauze veil.“This type of dress was typical of the kind worn in early 16th century Italy by women who were pregnant or who had just given birth.This is something that has never been seen up to now because the painting was always judged to be dark and difficult to examine，”he told a news conference.
He also said that，contrary to popular belief，the subject had not let her hair hang freely but in fact wore a bonnet from which only a few curls managed to escape.“People always wrote that Mona Lisa had allowed her hair to hang freely over her shoulders.This greatly surprised historians because letting your hair hang freely during the Renaissance was typical of young girls and women of poor virtue，”he said.
The team had hoped to discover more details about Leonardo's painting technique，which the artist used to create a hazy effect.But scientist John Taylor said the team had been frustrated by the lack of brush stroke detail on the painting.
[阅读障碍词]
1．peer v．凝视；盯着看
2．gauze n．薄纱
3．veil n．面纱
4．bonnet n．(带子系于下巴的)旧式女帽
5．curl n．(一绺)卷发
6．hazy adj.朦胧的
