A French scientist claims to have discovered am image of a portrait underneath the Mona Lisa painting using reflective light technology.

Pascal Cotte has spent more than 10 years using the technology to analyse the painting and claims that Mona Lisa contains an earlier portrait underneath its surface.

A reconstruction shows another image of a sitter looking off to the side, BBC reports.

The Louvre Museum has refused to comment on his claims because it “was not part of the scientific team”.

Art historian Andrew Graham-Dixon, who has made a new BBC documentary called The Secrets of the Mona Lisa, has suggested that the find could lead to the painting’s name having to be changed.

“I have no doubt that this is definitely one of the stories of the century,” he told the BBC.

“There will probably be some reluctance on the part of the authorities at the Louvre in changing the title of the painting because that’s what we’re talking about – it’s goodbye Mona Lisa, she is somebody else.”

Mr. Cotte claims that the image that Leonardo da Vinci has reconstructed underneath the surface of Mona Lisa painting is Leonardo’s original Lisa, and that the portrait named Mona Lisa for more than 500 years is, in fact, a different woman.
He said: “The results shatter many myths and alter our vision of Leonardo’s masterpiece forever.

“When I finished the reconstruction of Lisa Gherardini, I was in front of the portrait and she is totally different to Mona Lisa today. This is not the same woman.”

Mr. Cotte also claims to have found two more images under the surface of the famous painting.