Numbers Found in Mona Lisa's Eyes

It seems Dan Brown was on to something. Italy's National Committee for Cultural Heritage announced that magnifying the Mona Lisa reveals hidden symbols: the letters LV in the woman's right pupil, CE or "B" in her left, and the number 72 or the letter L and the number 2 on a bridge in the background. A member of the committee found a 50-year-old book in an antique shop that described symbols in the Mona Lisa's eyes. "The question now is what do they mean—we are fairly confident that the LV is probably his signature but the other numbers and letters? Who knows, they may even possibly be a love message to the figure in the painting," said Silvano Vincenti, the head of the committee, who has been seeking permission to exhume Da Vinci's skull so they can recreate his face and determine whether the Mona Lisa is a self-portrait of the artist as a woman.