A Swiss group claims that Leonardo Da Vinci painted a Mona Lisa 10 years earlier. From the looks of it, there’s a younger happier Mona Lisa painting.
The Mona Lisa mystery has been puzzling scientists for what feels like ages. A Swiss research group announced it has identified another Mona Lisa painting by Leonardo Da Vinci. The Mona Lisa Foundation in Zurich claims it has evidence that the Isleworth Mona Lisa painting is in fact a work by Da Vinci.
The Isleworth Mona Lisa painting has a much darker tonality than the already highly popular work. The work isn’t fully completed, while the younger Mona Lisa in the painting isn’t smiling so enigmatic. The newly confirmed Da Vinci painting will be unveiled by the Mona Lisa Foundation this Thursday in Geneva.
The Mona Lisa Foundation will also release a 320-page book that proves the younger happier Mona Lisa painting is a work of Da Vinci. “Mona Lisa: Leonardo’s Earlier Version” will provide a “historical, comparative and scientific evidence”.
The younger, happier Mona Lisa painting called the Isleworth Mona Lisa was first discovered in the late 19th century in England. Henry F. Pulitzer once owned this earlier Mona Lisa painting and even wrote a book about it, “Where is the Mona Lisa?”.
In 1913, the earlier version of the Mona Lisa painting ended up in the hands of art collector Hugh Blaker. He bought it from a noble family and ever since he took it to the Isleworth studio, the debate on it being a work by Da Vinci started.
His stepfather, John R. Eyre, argued Leonardo Da Vinci painted the both versions, or at least the bust, the face and the hands of the younger happier Mona Lisa. He concluded that the Isleworth Mona Lisa painting was a sort of prequel to the insanely famous portrait.
Since the Isleworth Mona Lisa painting wasn’t finished, it got some people thinking this was the work Da Vinci sold to King Francis 1 in 1516. The famous portrait of the mysteriously smiling woman would be a later version that Da Vinci painted for his own use.
Now, the 10 years younger Mona Lisa painting is hanging in the Louvre in Paris.
