Curators at Madrid’s Prado museum have unearthed a copy of Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa that was painted at the same time as the original by one of the master’s favourite pupils, either Andrea Salai or Francesco Melzi.
Spanish experts have spent months cleaning and analysing the painting of a young woman believed to be Lisa Gherardini, the wife of a rich merchant named Francesco del Giocondo, which initially had been considered to be just another copy.
Top experts at the Prado and the Musée du Louvre in Paris – which holds the original – have now accepted that this is a major find.
The work most likely be temporarily loaned to the Louvre in Paris, where it will be exhibited in the same gallery as the original.
Although many copies of the Mona Lisa exist, this is the earliest known replica, as it was painted virtually at the same time, inside Leonardo’s own studio, and not after his death as previously believed.
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