Curators believe that a nude portrait kept for years could be a sketch version of the Mona Lisa.
Art experts from the Louvre Museum believe that a portrait of a nude woman could be a draft sketch of the world-famous Mona Lisa (or Gioconda), by Leonardo Da Vinci.
Leonardo da Vinci and workshop. Monna Vanna, c.1515. Musée Condé – Chateau de Chantilly. Enjoy the details: https://t.co/byKEUxobpo pic.twitter.com/P4dO5UMmNA
— ColecciónMMoret (@ColeccionMMoret) September 29, 2017
“It is almost certainly a preparatory work for an oil painting,” said curator Mathieu Deldicque.
The charcoal portrait, also known as the Monna Vanna, depicts a woman looking straight over her left shoulder with her chest exposed. Her position and expression are very similar to that of Mona Lisa’s.
The Monna Vanna has been attributed to Da Vinci’s studio for years but the curators now believe Da Vinci was directly involved in the creation of the piece.
The portrait has been kept since 1862 at the Conde Museum at the Palace of Chantilly, 50 km north of Paris.
Au
c2rmf</a> ce matin, point presse exclusif autour de la Joconde nue avec <a href="https://twitter.com/mathieudeldicqu?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">mathieudeldicqu et Bruno Mottin, conservateur au C2RMF. pic.twitter.com/tMQ3VybT0t— Heymann, Renoult (@HeymannRenoult) September 27, 2017