'Early Mona Lisa'
|
Scientific tests suggest Da Vinci started working
on the ‘Early Mona Lisa’ in 1503, 10 years before
the one in the Louvre. |
A second painting of the Mona Lisa thought to be produced a decade
earlier than the one on display in the Paris Louvre has been unveiled in
Singapore.
Scientific tests suggest that Leonardo da Vinci started working on
the "Early Mona Lisa" in 1503, ten years before the one in the Louvre,
but left it unfinished.
It was acquired by an English nobleman in 1778. But it was not until
1913 that Hugh Blaker, an art connoisseur, rediscovered the portrait.
He brought the artwork back to his studio in Isleworth, south-west
London, to restore it. The work, which shows a younger woman against a
different backdrop from the more familiar version, changed hands several
times before it was passed to an international consortium in 2008.
The painting was presented to the media in 2012 by the Mona Lisa
Foundation, which had compiled 35 years of research and tests.
It published more findings the following year, leading most da Vinci
scholars to believe that the second Mona Lisa is indeed the Italian's
work of art.
The painting will be on exhibit at Singapore's Arts House until
February 11 next year and is expected to reach Europe later in the year.
-The Independent
|
