Inventor scans Mona Lisa”s past

For centuries, the “Mona Lisa” has beguiled art buffs unable to resist speculating on its origins and meaning. Now a French inventor claims to have some answers.

Parisian engineer Pascal Cotte says his ultradetailed digital scans allow him to burrow through layers of paint to “see” into the past of Leonardo Da Vinci’s 16th-century portrait of a Florentine merchant’s wife.

The world’s most famous painting originally included both brows and lashes, according to Cotte, who recently opened an exhibit in San Francisco detailing his findings. Those also include:

“Her face was originally wider and the smile more expressive than Da Vinci ultimately painted them.

“She holds a blanket that has all but faded from view today.

“Da Vinci changed his mind about the position of two fingers on the subject’s left hand.

Cotte said his analyses also revealed what he believes are the painting’s colors as they looked on Da Vinci’s easel – light blues and brilliant whites, as opposed to the familiar heavy greens, yellows and browns brought on by age, varnish and restoration efforts.

Cotte estimates he has spent 3,000 hours analyzing the data from the scans he made of the painting in the Louvre’s laboratory three years ago.