Stephanie G. Mathis Joel Feldman insists that an earlier copy of Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa hangs in a Turin gallery.
Feldman is the general secretary of the Swiss Mona Lisa Foundation. The foundation promotes this piece, known as the Isleworth Mona Lisa, on behalf of its owners and investigates its origins. Feldman told Tom Kington of the London Times that “we have proven beyond reasonable doubt” that Leonardo painted at least two Mona Lisas.
The Mona Lisa Foundation has now displayed the painting, which it calls the Earlier Mona Lisa, as part of a “First Mona Lisa” exhibition at Turin’s Promotrice delle Belle Arti Gallery.
Feldman, in a press release, says: “This exhibition allows us to show the huge strides made over the last few years in cementing the attribution of Leonardo’s work.”
But not everyone is convinced by these “massive steps.”
Vittorio Sgarbi, Italy’s junior art minister, told the London Times that “it’s junk. A wind-up.” It lacks the spirit of Leonardo, and I don’t know why anyone believed it.
The Isleworth painting, named after the Isleworth studio in London of the dealer who purchased it in 1913, is not a replica of the Louvre masterpiece. The Isleworth painting depicts a woman in the same pose, but she is younger. In the background, she is flanked by a landscape that has not been completed and two columns. Leonardo painted the famous version of this painting a decade after he made his original version.
According to the account of the foundation, Florentine merchant Francesco del Giocondo commissioned the 1503 copy, while Leonardo’s patron Giuliano de’ Medici commissioned the latter piece, as BBC Culture’s Alastair Sooke reported in 2022.
The foundation cites a number of pieces of evidence, including a 1503 note written by a Florentine employee who claimed that Leonardo worked on a Lisa del Giocondo portrait at the time.
Some, however, argue that the note is referring to the Mona Lisa, which hangs in Paris. Jonathan Jones of The Guardian writes that “The Mona Lisa Foundation’s argument omits a crucial aspect about this source.” It emphasizes the fact that Leonardo’s painting of Lisa was unfinished and is unlikely to be completed any time soon.
Experts also note that the Isleworth Portrait is painted on canvas. BBC Culture reported that while Leonardo painted on canvas occasionally, his “general rule” was that “his mature oil paintings, such as the Louvre’s Mona Lisa were executed on wooden,”
The foundation cites an estate inventory from 1525 by Leonardo’s slave that lists a Mona Lisa as part of the artist’s art collection, even though the original was in the French royal group eight years prior.
Style is another point of disagreement. Leonardo’s use of Sfumato is renowned for its smooth transitions in color and tone. The London Times reports that the Isleworth version does not possess the “magic” of Leonardo, who achieved this through the use of many transparent layers of paint. Martin Kemp is an art historian from the University of Oxford and an expert in Leonardo’s works. Leonardo thought that the eye was not able to render an object scientifically. It could not discern the edges of things. His advantages were elusive from the Mona Lisa onwards. Artists who copy him don’t know how to deal with the lack of sharpness. In this painting, the edges are soft, but they lack that strange elusiveness.
Philip Mould is an expert in art and a BBC show called Fake Or Fortune? that authenticates artworks. He told Alex Diggins of Telegraph that the authentication process includes a series of complex questions. What does the analysis of style and science show? Who is claiming that the work is authentic, and are they involved in the issue?
Mould says, “Aut,hentication is ultimately a human emotional reaction–and as with all human responses there is an element of subjectiveness.” “It is never as simple as you might think.”
