The woman with the most famous smile in the world, depicted in the painting by Leonardo da Vinci, has a twin sister: for many years a copy of the famous painting has hung in the Prado Museum in Madrid.
Now, however, experts have determined the true value of the painting – the plagiarism was painted simultaneously with the original in da Vinci’s workshop, the German publication Süddeutsche Zeitung reported.
Her smile was considered unique, but now the lady with the mysterious expression on her face has acquired a competitor in the art world, so to speak, from her family.
The painting hung on a wall at the Prado for years but is only now being truly appreciated, said Miguel Falomir, head of the museum’s Italian painting department.
During the restoration work it was discovered that the painting was painted at the same time as the original.
The artist was probably Francesco Melz, one of da Vinci’s famous students.
“Mona Lisa from the Prado,” as the painting is named, was still considered to be part of the Flemish school. During the restoration of the painting, however, it turned out that this assumption was erroneous, Falmomir said.
Experts found that the black background was applied to the copy later. Under it, experts found an image of the Italian landscape as in the original. The copy is almost the same size as the original Mona Lisa and was painted at the beginning of the 16th century.
Using infrared rays, it was established that the artist made the same changes to the painting during his work as Vinci did on the original. This proves that both works were created at the same time.
The copy is better preserved than the original. Its discovery will provide art experts with the opportunity to learn new details about the creation of the original, the Prado Museum said.
Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa is in the Louvre Museum, Paris.
The Italian original is called La Gioconda, “Gioconda” (joyful), after the Florentine Lisa del Giocondo. The origin of the copy has also been confirmed by the Louvre, the Spanish news agency reported.
