Modern art: Is this how the Mona Lisa would have REALLY looked?

It’s undeniably one of the most famous paintings in the world – and thanks to modern technology we may finally know what the Mona Lisa would have really looked like.

A clever new digital art project has set out to recreate classic portraits in a photorealistic style – and Leonardo da Vinci’s iconic artwork is its standout work.

British digital artist Quentin Devine headed up the creative team, which also included a photographer, a stylist and a make up artist.

A model poses as Mona Lisa

The clever crew initially took photos using a lookalike model who had been carefully styled to look as much like the Mona Lisa as possible, before finishing touches were added by a digital expert.

The photo-realistic recreation of the classic painting

The team also recreated three other classic works – Thomas Gainsborough’s The Blue Boy and self-portraits of Rembrandt and Raphael. Each image took around 36 hours to create.

TV channel Yesterday commissioned the project for its Raiders of the Lost Art series, which begins at 2pm on 9 November and will be repeated on UK Play.

Adrian Wills, general manager for Yesterday said: “The selfie is the most popular form of contemporary portraiture and so this is our present-day interpretation of these historic masterpieces.

“People have pondered for centuries on Mona Lisa’s ambiguous facial expression – was she smiling or frowning? This recreation indicates it was indeed a smile, and she was perhaps more beautiful than the painting suggests.”

Image credit: Flickr/Taylor Herring