Overview: Scientists test the Mona Lisa and the ''Isleworth Mona Lisa'' to determine whether Leonardo da Vinci painted an earlier version of the famous portrait.

DVD Verdict: It is the most famous painting in the world, created by the hand of a genius, marveled at by millions every year in the Louvre in Paris. BUT could there be a second Mona Lisa?

In 1913, an interesting portrait surfaced, the so-called "Isleworth Mona Lisa." Using sophisticated scientific analysis, scientists will test both paintings to determine whether Leonardo da Vinci painted an earlier version of the iconic portrait.

Running at just under an hour, 'Secrets of the Dead: The Mona Lisa Mystery' is an incredible, enthralling ride; whether you're a fan of the arts or not. Just to get to the other side and hear after all the scientific analysis just what the scientists really believe is, well, mind blowing!

And just to entice you more into watching this delightful expose, if you which, it has for a long time been argued that after Leonardo's death the painting was cut down by having part of the panel at both sides removed. Early copies depict columns on both sides of the figure. Only the edges of the bases can be seen in the original.

However, some art historians, such as Martin Kemp, now argue that the painting has not been altered, and that the columns depicted in the copies were added by the copyists. The latter view was bolstered during 2004 and 2005 when an international team of 39 specialists (this documentary, here today) undertook the most thorough scientific examination of the Mona Lisa yet undertaken.

** SPOILER ALERT ** Beneath the frame (the current one was fitted to the Mona Lisa in 2004) there was discovered a "reserve" around all four edges of the panel. A reserve is an area of bare wood surrounding the gessoed and painted portion of the panel. That this is a genuine reserve, and not the result of removal of the gesso or paint, is demonstrated by a raised edge still existing around the gesso, the result of build up from the edge of brush strokes at the edge of the gesso area.

** SPOILER ALERT ** The reserve area, which was likely to have been as much as 20 mm originally appears to have been trimmed at some point probably to fit a frame (we know that in the 1906 framing it was the frame itself which was trimmed, not the picture, so it must have been earlier), however at no point has any of Leonardo's actual paint been trimmed. Therefore the columns in early copies must be inventions of those artists, or copies of another (unknown) studio version of Mona Lisa. This is a Widescreen Presentation (1.85:1) enhanced for 16x9 TVs.