Thursday, February 23, 2012

What Does the Prado’s Mona Lisa Copy Tell Us About the Real Thing?


Short of inventing a time machine and travelling back to the 16th century, we’ll most likely never know what Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa looked like when it was first painted. Mini “time machines” in the form of copies made between Leonardo’s day and our own give us an idea of what Mona may have looked like at different points in time, but nothing could bring us back to the moment of creation—until now. On view now at the Prado Museum in Madrid, Spain, is what experts believe is a copy of the Mona Lisa painted by a student at the same time and even in the same room as Leonardo the master. A modern miracle of conservation and art history research, this new discovery will change the way we look at the most famous painting in the world forever. Please come over to Picture This at Big Think to read more of "What Does the Prado’s Mona Lisa Copy Tell Us About the Real Thing?"

1 comment:

Metal Wall Art said...

The woman in the painting is generally believed to represent Lisa Gherardini, the wife of the Florentine cloth merchant Francesco del Giocondo and is thought to have been painted between 1503 and 1506.