GENEVA — The mystery behind the most enigmatic smile in art — Leonardo da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa” — just got more complicated.
In a coming-out party of sorts in Geneva, the nonprofit Mona Lisa Foundation, pulled back the curtain on what it claims is a predecessor of the famous portrait. Even the experts brought in by the foundation weren’t sure about that claim just yet.
A new claim about the world’s most famous painting, which draws millions of visitors to Paris’ Louvre Museum each year, resonates like a thunderclap in the art world. The “Isleworth Mona Lisa” features a dark-haired young woman with her arms crossed against a distant backdrop. The foundation insists it’s no copy but an earlier version of the Louvre masterpiece.
Alessandro Vezzosi, director of the Museo Ideale Leonardo da Vinci, said the painting was intriguing but needs further study.
Historical sources suggest that da Vinci painted two “Mona Lisa” versions. One was of Mona Lisa Gherardo around 1503, the foundation said.
The version in the Louvre was completed in 1517 for Giuliano de Medici, da Vinci’s patron.
