Did Leonardo Da Vinci really leave all of these secrets in his paintings, or was he the Ashton Kutcher of the Renaissance?

Like something right out of a best-selling Dan Brown novel, tiny hidden numbers and letters have recently revealed to have been painted into the eyes of the famous 'Mona Lisa' portrait, prompting an investigation by art historians and conspiracy buffs from around the world.  Members of Italy's National Committee for Cultural Heritage says the letters and numbers can be seen when magnifying high resolution images of the Mona Lisa'a eyes... or just using a magnifying glass.

"To the naked eye, the symbols are not visible.  But with a magnifying glass, they can clearly be seen," Silvano Vinceti, president of the Committee, was quoted as saying.  "In the right eye appear to be the letters LV, which could well stand for his name, (Leonardo Da Vinci), while in the left eye there are also symbols, but they are not yet as defined.  It is very difficult to make them out clearly, but they appear to be the letters CE - or - it could be the letter B.  You have to remember the picture is almost 500 years old, so it is not as sharp and clear as when first painted.  While in the arch of the bridge in the background the number 72 can be seen or it could be an L and the number 2."

Somehow, the discovery of a 50-year-old book in an antique shop is claimed to be the catalyst for the discovery of the symbols.  Why exactly, nobody has yet said.

"We are only at the start of this investigation and we hope to be able to dig deeper into this mystery and reveal further details as soon as possible," says Mr Vinceti.  "It's remarkable that no-one has noticed these symbols before.  And from the preliminary investigations we have carried out, we are confident they are not a mistake and were put there by the artist."