“Younger Mona Lisa” to be unveiled in Geneva

Experts have different opinions as to whether the second Mona Lisa was painted by Leonardo da Vinci...

13:49 29 September 2012

Back in 1914, Hugh Blaker, an artist and a critic from Isleworth, West London, bought a second Mona Lisa picture. Compared to the original Mona Lisa painting the world knows, the second painting was bigger and Mona Lisa’s smile was slightly jollier.

 

This is the painting that will be unveiled in Geneva on Friday.

 

The owner, a Swiss consortium, claims that – as reported by the Mail Online - this painting was the first one created by Leonardo da Vinci and that the one in Louvre in Paris was his second attempt to create the same picture. 

 

Although some people within the art world claim the second Mona Lisa picture was a creation of Leonardo’s, some are skeptical. 

 

The director of the Museo Ideale Leonardo da Vinci, Alessandro Vezzosi, is one of the people who is reportedly backing the theory. On Friday, he will be joined by Carlo Pedretti, from the University of California, in presenting historical, comparative, and scientific evidence to support the claim. 

 

On the other hand, portrait expert Philip Mould isn’t convinced as he told the Mail Online: “I would have to be deeply skeptical. You must remember that about one new supposed Mona Lisa turns up on the market every year. You’d have to look at the provenance and history of this one very, very carefully.”