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The Mona Lisa Foundation’s mission is to make Leonardo’s ‘Earlier Mona Lisa‘ known and loved in its own right, as much as the version that hangs in the Louvre Museum. The Foundation tells the remarkable story of this 500-year-old masterpiece, mobilizes art historians, scientists, forensic artists, and other experts to prove the ‘Earlier Mona Lisa’s‘ authenticity, and Leonardo’s exceptional skills. Read the book that tells the whole story. Examine the painting’s details with a magnifying glass. Compare the two portraits set next to each other. Enjoy Leonardo’s genius!
(Reuters) - A Swiss-based art foundation on Thursday unveiled what it argues is Leonardo da Vinci's original "Mona Lisa", backing its claim with evidence from a U.S. research physicist, a forensic imaging specialist and a top Italian expert on the artist.
GENEVA — What could be an earlier version of Leonardo da Vinci's "Mona Lisa" was unveiled in Geneva along with research hinting the piece was indeed the work of the Italian master, although some experts said the claim was unlikely.
The foundation gathered experts in Geneva to testify to the probability that the portrait was painted but left unfinished by da Vinci about a decade before he completed its famous "sister", now on display at the Louvre in Paris.
"Martin Kemp, an Oxford University professor and Leonardo expert, wrote in an e-mail that 'the reliable primary evidence provides no basis for thinking that there was an earlier portrait of Lisa del Giocondo' — referring to the subject of the painting that's known as the Mona Lisa in English and La Joconde in French.
"Kemp questioned the 'debatable interpretations' of source material about the Isleworth painting, and said that scientific analysis cannot categorically deny that Da Vinci didn't paint it. However, he added: 'The infrared reflectography and X-ray points very strongly to its not being by Leonardo.' "
Originally posted by Silcone Synapse
she still looks like a proper slaphead though.
(slaphead=big forehead)
I think he gave her too big a forehead in both paintings.
Hmm.
Originally posted by rtyfx
I'm standing behind my previous post. Hoax.
it takes that's long if you make every little bit of the painting 100% perfection, that's y paintings nowa days suck horribly bcuz not many people try
Originally posted by randomname
does it really take 5 years to paint a portrait of a person.
Alessandro Vezzosi, director of the Museo Ideale Leonardo da Vinci, said the painting was intriguing but needs further study. He declined to line up behind the foundation's claims that it was truly a "Mona Lisa" predecessor painted by da Vinci.
"The Isleworth Mona Lisa is an important work of art deserving respect and strong consideration — as well as a scientific, historic and artistic debate among specialists rather than a purely media interest," he said.
Ever since the 16th century, several historical sources suggest that da Vinci painted two "Mona Lisa" versions. One was of Mona Lisa Gherardo around 1503 that was commissioned by her husband, Francesco del Giocondo, the foundation said. Another — the one in the Louvre — was completed in 1517 for Giuliano de Medici, da Vinci's patron. That theory fits with da Vinci's tendency at times to paint two versions of some of his works, like the Virgin of the Rocks, the group said.
However, the foundation acknowledged that the "Isleworth Mona Lisa" remains unfinished, and that da Vinci didn't paint all parts of the work. Still, the group pointed to newly discovered evidence in 2005 from Heidelberg, Germany, that suggested da Vinci was working on at least the head of such a painting in 1503.
In 2005, an expert at the University Library of Heidelberg discovered a margin note in the library's collection that established with certainty the traditional view that the sitter was Lisa. The note, written by Agostino Vespucci in 1503, states that Leonardo was working on a portrait of Lisa del Giocondo.