If you wish to see the Mona Lisa in actual life, your first thought might not be to go to the Prado. However according to a college of thought that has emerged in recent times, the Mona Lisa in Madrid has a higher declare to artistic religionfulness than the one in Paris. That’s as a result of researchers have discovered compelling evidence suggesting that what was lengthy considered simply another copy of probably the most well-known painting on this planet wasn’t made after Leonardo had completed the original, however concurleasely with the original, probably by one in all his students. Over half a millennium, on this view, the Prado’s Mona Lisa has retained the colors and particulars the Louvre’s has misplaced, outcomeing in its preservation of Leonardo’s intentions in the present day.
Infrared photography has even revealed, says the narrator of the brand new Inspiraggio video above, that each paintings “share the identical modifications within the original sketch. For years, it has been recognized that Leonardo made small corrections to the form of the Mona Lisa’s palms, alterments to the road of the eyes, and subtle modifications to the curve of the face,” the exact same corrections that have been discovered within the newly examinationined copy.
In contrast to other copies, the Prado’s version makes use of “incredibly expensive pigments” akin to lapis lazuli—imported from Afghanistan—for the sky. This solely turned evident during the 2012 restoration, when the againfloor, lengthy hidden below a thick layer of black, was lastly uncovered.

Thereafter, the Prado Mona Lisa was exhibited alongsidefacet the Mona Lisa on the Louvre in a temporary exhibition. This gave the public the possibility to see each how similar they give the impression of being, and the way different. Although undeniably La Gioconda, the copy doesn’t appear fairly “proper,” largely as a result of it hasn’t deteriorated within the manner or to the diploma of the original. Leonardo painted it on a poplar wooden panel that has given method to dependmuch less small cracks, and the layers of yellow varnish added over the centuries have darkishened to present the entire picture a sepia tone. The outcome, after all, is the texture and coloring we’ve come to associate with the Mona Lisa by stopmuch less expopositive to her in popular culture, even when we’ve never seen any version dangleing in any museum. If the Prado’s copy actually does replicate Leonardo’s original artistic choices, we are able to put not less than one scorchingly debated matter to relaxation: the woman actually did have eyebrows.
Related content:
What Makes Leonardo’s Mona Lisa a Nice Painting?: An Explanation in 15 Minutes
Did Leonardo da Vinci Paint a First Mona Lisa Earlier than the Mona Lisa?
How Did the Mona Lisa Turn out to be the World’s Most Well-known Painting?: It’s Not What You Assume
Original Portrait of the Mona Lisa Discovered Beneath the Paint Layers of da Vinci’s Masterpiece
An Immaculate Copy of Leonardo’s The Final Supper Digitized by Google: View It in Excessive Resolution On-line
A Chinese Painter Specializing in Copying Van Gogh Paintings Travels to Amsterdam & Sees Van Gogh’s Masteritems for the First Time
Primarily based in Seoul, Colin Marshall writes and broadcasts on cities, language, and culture. His initiatives embrace the Substack newsletter Books on Cities and the e book The Statemuch less Metropolis: a Stroll by means of Twenty first-Century Los Angeles. Follow him on the social webwork formerly referred to as Twitter at @colinmarshall.

