Mona Lisa's identity confirmed

It's a mystery that's taken over 500 years to unravel - but finally, the doubts over Mona Lisa's identity have been settled. German academicians say the smile on Leonardo da Vinci's famous portrait, the Mona Lisa, belongs to the wife of a wealthy Florentine merchant.

A manuscript expert at the Heidelberg University library, says the artist had scribbed notes in his book in October 1503 that confirm that Lisa del Giocondo was indeed the model for one of the most famous portraits in the world.

"This is the oldest mentioning of the fact that Leonardo da Vinci did a painting showing one Lisa del Giocondo. It was assumed that he worked on the painting in 1503. The assignment of the painting, or rather the identification of the person on the painting as Lisa del Giocondo as Mona Lisa happened much later, decades later," said historian and manuscript expert Armin Schlechter.

For over five centuries, art historians have wondered whether the smiling woman was Leonardo da Vinci's lover, his mother - or the artist himself.

But the question seems to have been settled - at least for now.