Was Mona Lisa's smile not genuine?

So if her smile is ‘forced’, what could that mean? Dr Ricciardi explained: “Of course, we know that posing for a picture for many hours will result in a forced expression. But we also know that Leonardo was a master of ‘sfumato’ – the technique of shading which is used to demonstrate expression. He deliberately raised her left lip, as if to paint a smirk. He would have known that curving the lip on both sides and adding folds around the eyes would have shown a genuine smile. And he had this knowledge hundreds of years before Duchenne’s work in the 1800s. So we have enjoyed hypothesising that this asymmetry was a deliberate action. What we still don’t know is the reason that he portrayed her this way – so her smile is as elusive as ever!”

Source:
St George’s University of London
Media Contacts:
Lucia Ricciardi – St George’s University of London

samueltyler2 · 80-89, M Best Comment

I have never actually posed myself for an artist, it is on my bucket list, but have drawn, painted, photographed and sculpted from life for decades. No manual artist actually expects their model to remain totally still for hours at a time. We always draw in twenty minute segments, and our drawings all have our own style on them. This if anyone believes DaVinci drew her exactly as she was, you need to take a drawing class.