The Mona Lisa Code

Intrigue was usually focused on her enigmatic smile...

There was always something strange about Lisa del Giocondo's eyes, always full of secrets, always hiding something. Buried in the dark of her pupils is something no one can explain, something that only the creator of this puzzling configuration can understand. There are numbers and letters in her eyes. They are so miniscule that they can't be seen with the naked eye. To truly apprehend the answer to this cryptogram we will need to ask the creator himself, 511 years ago...

I never considered myself to be a social man, but a man of my work. I study many things, such as painting, sculpting, music, math, anatomy, geology, and writing. I have just recently begun a new painting; it is one of the lovely Lisa del Giocondo. There is a new technique have been wanting to try for quite a while. It is a glaze that makes the painting have a hazy, dark tone to it. Because Lisa del Giocondo has the most mysterious smile anyone could imagine, I am going to use the glazing technique on her smile. I shall paint Lisa del Giocondo in front of her house, but that will not be the background. She wants the background to be a wide range, almost like a portion of the world will be behind her back. The perspective of color may be hard if I am going to pant a wide range behind a close figure. You see, color perspective is like this, through variations in the air we are made aware of the different distances of various buildings, therefore make the first building its own shade of blue, then next most distant make more blue, at another distance bluer yet and that is which is five times more distant make five times more blue. My work will begin tomorrow.

Today I have just begun painting 'The Mona Lisa'. I have only gotten the basic figure and part of the background, but it is going well. Her eyes are so deep and extensive that I so wish to paint them. I think she should wear something simple so it brings out her face and eyes. Lisa del Giocondo wanted to wear an extravagant dress in the portrait but I merely told her, 'simplicity is the ultimate sophistication'.

Almost a week has gone by and I have not gotten to working on Lisa del Giocondo's portrait. I have been busy working on multiple things and have not had the time to travel out to Caserta. I have heard that more types of art are being banned this week. I will have to tell the Art Makers. The Art Makers is a secret society of artists like myself that do not want to be limited in their artistic views. The art that is being banned is that of pieces that are unrealistic, which means we artists cannot paint from our own imagination. After I finish painting 'The Mona Lisa' it will be the code for members of the secret society to know where and when to come to the meetings. I will put the numbers 72 in the painting to represent the house number of which we are meeting. I will also put in the letters CB to stand for Capella Boulevard, and to finish off my work I will put in the letters LV to stand for my initials. I have to go to the Art Makers meeting now, so farewell until tomorrow.

The police are after us. At the Art Makers meeting last night we almost got caught. We were in the basement of the baker's shop, 72 Capella Boulevard, and we heard a banging on the door and someone shouting 'open up, this is the police'. So Georgino, the baker, went to the front of the shop and opened up to the police. All of the rest of us hid in the basement, but we couldn't hide all of the paintings. Then, when the police came to check the basement, Georgino had to explain why he had those paintings down there. "Well," he said, "my grandmother was very into art and she painted these before the law was passed." The police officer accepted the excuse and left with the rest of his men. "We'll be keeping a close eye on this place from now on" said the police officer right before he left the shop. Georgino is one of my closest friends and I would never want to put him or his family in harm, so I decided that we move the location of our meetings to a different location. We are thinking of moving it to somewhere in Caserta, since it is farther away and safer for all of us. This way, I can also work on Lisa del Giocondo's portrait while not having to go far. Today was an exciting day.

I have just moved to Caserta with Georgino and the other Art Makers members. Today I have also worked on Lisa del Giocondo's portrait. It is turning out well, but unfortunately I have already painted her eyes and placed the numbers and letters in them. The Art Makers have found a new place to use as a studio to make our art. It is in Lisa del Giocondo's underground shed. You see, one night I had to leave early from painting her portrait to attend an Art Makers meeting and she asked where I was going. I tried to make up an excuse but she could see right past that, so I told her. She agreed with me that this ban is not right and she said that if she could help us in any way she would. I told her we needed a place to hold our meetings and she offered to let us use her underground basement. There will be another meeting tomorrow.

Today I am going to Lisa del Giocondo's house to work on her portrait. I am almost finished and I believe it looks good. I wonder what she will think of it. I hope she thinks it well because she is one of the head judges on the best portrait contest. I am on the trip to her house in the hills of Caserta. It is not too far but the horses have some trouble getting up the hills to reach her house. Her house is a lovely cabin, just about thirty minutes from the center of the city. I do hope to finish her portrait soon so I can begin painting the landscape of the surrounding hills by her house. Hopefully I can finish her portrait by today.

I saw an officer talking to Georgino today. When I asked Georgino what it was about he said that the officer was suspicious of him and he thinks that he may have an underground operation. If we are going to have this society than we need to be more conspicuous. I have changed the time so the meetings go from 10:00 pm till 3:00 am. That way, no police will be out on the streets to see us. I have not yet finished Lisa del Giocondo's portrait. Tomorrow I will be going to her house and will finish it then. The whole painting is coming together and I believe it has a chance of winning the portrait contest. Until tomorrow.

I finally finished Lisa del Giocondo's portrait. It looks splendid and Lisa del Giocondo thinks so too. I am very excited about the contest next week. Five judges from around Italy will be there to pick the winner of the contest. Tonight we have another Art Makers meeting and I am nervous. A lot of the police around town have been watching most of the members of the society very closely. I believe that they are going to catch us during the meeting tonight, so I am choosing not to go. I have warned the other members but they didn't believe me. Even Georgino refused not to go and he said I was being silly. I fear he is not right and they will get captured. We will find out soon.

Last night the police infiltrated the Art Makers meeting. They all got captured and are being brought to Latia. Latia is almost three hours away so I will never get there in time if I don't leave soon. I am leaving immediately.

I have just arrived at the police station where they are being held. Many of the members that were in the society have never been in jail so it is very rough for them. I don't have much money so I can't bail them out. My only hope of saving my best friend, Georgino, is to break him out of the jail. I will have to stay in an inn because I don't know anyone who lives in Latia. My plan is to go at twilight and enter through the back door. Then, I will saw through the wooden bars holding them in the cell. We will exit through the back door and no one will ever know I was there. I really hope it works.

Georgino and I just made it out. We barely missed the guards. If it wasn't for one kind man who was in jail next to Georgino, we would have been caught. We are currently taking a carriage to Naples and hope to arrive there by dawn. It is there where we will start a new life for ourselves and become new men. We need to forget the past and become new people. I hope the trip there will go smoothly for us.

We have just made it into Naples and all the people are so friendly here. Georgino and I opened up our own painting shop where we sell our own original paintings. We occasionally paint unrealistic things in the basement be we are careful to hide them. We just got a new neighbor, Lisa del Giocondo. She is so kind and we spend most of our free tome together. There is a little café right down the street where Georgino, Lisa del Giocondo and I go for lunch almost every day. It is a good life in Naples, probably the best I've ever had.