Nude sketch of Mona Lisa may have been found in France

The Monna Vanna charcoal is likely to have
been drawn, at least in part, by Leonardo da Vinci

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The Monna Vanna portrait, situated at the Conde Museum in
Chantilly, northern France since 1862, was previously
attributed to da Vinci’s studio, rather than directly to the
artist. But scientists at the Louvre museum in Paris have
examined the sketch and believe the artist may have worked directly
on the piece.

Did da Vinci make this nude sketch of the
Mona Lisa before painting her? %uD83C%uDFA8https://t.co/FPcfcLIqXX pic.twitter.com/VP2m4SsXUk

— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) September 29, 2017

“The drawing has a quality in the way the face and hands are
rendered that is truly remarkable. It is not a pale copy,” curator
Mathieu Deldicque told AFP, adding: “We are looking at something which
was worked on in parallel with the Mona Lisa at the end of
Leonardo’s life. It is almost certainly a preparatory work for an
oil painting.”

Analyse de la Joconde nue au @c2rmf avec Bruno Mottin, conservateur du
@c2rmf et @mathieudeldicqu conservateur du @chantillydomain pic.twitter.com/alMMSu09nP

— Domaine de Chantilly (@chantillydomain) September 28, 2017

While it may have been created as a preparatory sketch for the
final version of the Mona Lisa, a few details show that the
piece was not authored entirely by da Vinci, experts say.

The BBC points out that while the hands and body are
almost identical, and the portraits are almost the same
size, hatching on the top of the drawing near Monna Vanna’s
head was sketched by a right-handed person while da Vinci was left
handed.