Luigi Capasso, an anthropologist and director of the Anthropology Research Institute at Chieti University in central Italy.
Was Mona Lisa pregnant when she posed
Alessandro Vezzosi, a Leonardo expert and the director of a museum dedicated to the artist in his hometown of Vinci, said there are documents that appear to back this up.
"This coincides with documented indications that she was Oriental, at least from the Mediterranean area, not a peasant of Vinci," he said.