David Feldman (R) , vice president of the Mona Lisa Foundation, shows similarities on a painting attributed to Leonardo da Vinci and depicting Mona Lisa to his brother Stanley, an art historian, during a preview presentation in a vault in Geneva in this September 26, 2012 file photo.

GENEVA | Wed Feb 13, 2013 10:42am EST

GENEVA (Reuters) - New tests on a painting billed as the original version of the Mona Lisa, Leonardo da Vinci's 15th century portrait, have produced fresh proof that it is the work of the Italian master, a Swiss-based art foundation said on Wednesday.

The tests, one by a specialist in "sacred geometry" and the other by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, were carried out in the wake of the Geneva unveiling of the painting, the "Isleworth Mona Lisa", last September.

"When we add these new findings to the wealth of scientific and physical studies we already had, I believe anyone will find the evidence of a Leonardo attribution overwhelming," said David Feldman vice-president of the foundation said.

The "Mona Lisa" in the Paris Louvre for over three centuries has long been regarded as the only one painted by Leonardo - although there have been copies - and claims for the Swiss-held one were dismissed by some experts last year.

But it also won support in the art world, encouraging the Zurich-based Mona Lisa Foundation - an international group which says it has no financial interest in the work - to pursue efforts to demonstrate its authenticity.

Feldman, an Irish-born international art and stamp dealer, said he was contacted after the public unveiling of the portrait - which shows a much younger woman than in the Louvre - by Italian geometrist Alfonso Rubino.

LEONARDO'S GEOMETRY

"He has made extended studies of the geometry of Leonardo's Vitruvian Man" - a sketch of a youth with arms and legs extended - "and offered to look at our painting to see if it conformed," Feldman told Reuters.

The conclusion by the Padua-based Rubino was that the "Isleworth" portrait - named for a London suburb where it was kept by British art connoisseur Hugh Blaker 80-90 years ago - matched Leonardo's geometry and must be his.

The Zurich institute, the Foundation said, carried out a carbon-dating test on the canvas of its painting and found that it was almost certainly manufactured between 1410 and 1455 - refuting claims that it was a late 16th century copy.

Earlier brush-stroke studies presented last September by U.S. physicist and art lover John Asmus concluded that both the "original" version and the Louvre crowd-puller were painted by the same artist.

The authenticity of the foundation's painting, discovered by Blaker in an English country house in 1913, has been fiercely challenged by British Leonardo authority Martin Kemp, who argued last year that "so much is wrong with it."

Feldman and foundation colleagues retort that Kemp has never followed up on invitations to come to see it.

Documents show that a painting of his wife Lisa was commissioned around the turn of the 16th century by Florentine nobleman Francesco del Giacondo. In French, the Louvre version is known as "La Giaconde" and "La Giaconda" in Italian.

Supporters of the "younger" version say it was almost certainly delivered unfinished to del Giacondo before Leonardo left Italy in 1506 and took up residence in France, where he died in 1519 in a small Loire chateau.

From the Giacondo house, it probably eventually found its way to England after being bought by a travelling English aristocrat, this account runs, while the Paris version was probably painted by Leonardo around 1516 in France.

(Reported by Robert Evans, editing by Paul Casciato)

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Professor Alessandro Vezzosi, Director of the Museo Ideale Leonardo da Vinci, points to details on a painting attributed to Leonardo da Vinci and representing Mona Lisa during a presentation in Geneva September 27, 2012.

GENEVA | Thu Sep 27, 2012 3:17pm EDT

GENEVA (Reuters) - A Swiss-based art foundation on Thursday unveiled what it argues is Leonardo da Vinci's original "Mona Lisa", backing its claim with evidence from a U.S. research physicist, a forensic imaging specialist and a top Italian expert on the artist.

Members of the group told a packed Geneva news conference that the portrait of a woman who appears to be some 10 years younger than the sitter in the famous painting in the Paris Louvre could only be the work of the Renaissance genius.

"The facts are overwhelming and clearly prove the authenticity of the masterpiece," said Swiss lawyer Markus Frey, president of the private Mona Lisa Foundation which insists it has no financial stake in the painting.

And Stanley Feldman, an art historian and member of the group, said that critics who have rejected any suggestion the "younger" version could be by Leonardo had never seen it. "We invite them to Geneva to study it themselves," he added.

"It is absolutely clear that neither this nor the Louvre version are copies," he said, in a clear response to British Leonardo authority Martin Kemp, who told a London newspaper last week "so much is wrong" with the foundation's painting, including that it is painted on canvas and not on wood, the artist's preferred medium.

In a luxurious 300-page publication devoted to research over 30 years on what has long been known as the "Isleworth Mona Lisa," the foundation argues that it was painted between 1503 and 1505 in Florence and never finished.

Alessandro Vezzosi, director of the Leonardo museum in the Renaissance giant's home town of Vinci in central Italy and a world-renowned expert on the artist, said he had long believed in the existence of two Mona Lisas.

The foundation's version -- which has been owned since 2008 by a private consortium -- seemed likely to be the one that was recorded in a recently discovered document from 1503 and which he had long been seeking, said Vezzosi.

SAME ENIGMATIC SMILE

Slightly larger than the Paris portrait, which is widely dubbed "the world's most famous painting," it shows a woman in an identical pose, the same enigmatic smile and with the same geometric proportions.

John Asmus, a former space scientist from the University of California who has developed digitization techniques to study art works and applied them to the Louvre Mona Lisa, said his studies indicated Leonardo also painted the "Isleworth" version.

And Joe Mullins, an FBI-trained forensic imaging specialist, showed how he had made a computerized version of the woman in the Paris portrait as she would have been 10 years earlier and found it almost identical to the newly unveiled version.

Neither Vezzosi, Asmus or Mullins are members of the foundation.

Documents prove the painting, known in French as "La Joconde" and in Italian "La Giaconda", was commissioned from Leonardo by Florentine nobleman Francesco del Giacondo as a portrait of his wife, Lisa Gherardini.

Leonardo -- also an architect, sculptor and engineer -- left Florence in 1506, apparently delivering the unfinished work to Giacondo before leaving, as documents record it was seen there some 30 years later.

According to backers of the "Younger" Mona Lisa, the Paris version was probably painted around 1516 when the painter left for France. Before he died in 1519 in a small chateau on the Loire he is known to have shown visitors a Mona Lisa.

After his death, it found its way into the collection of French King Francois 1, and from there to the Louvre.

The "younger" version first surfaced in 1913 when British art connaisseur and painter Hugh Blaker found it in a manor house in western England, recording that it had been hanging there for about 150 years.

For the next 20 years, it hung in his home in the London suburb of Isleworth, so gaining its name.

But efforts by Blaker, who died in 1936, and subsequent owners to convince the art world at large of its authenticity failed. "What we want now if for people to come and look at this with an open mind," Feldman told the news conference.

(Reporting by Robert Evans, editing by Paul Casciato)

View the original article here

Professor Alessandro Vezzosi, Director of the Museo Ideale Leonardo da Vinci, points to details on a painting attributed to Leonardo da Vinci and representing Mona Lisa during a presentation in Geneva September 27, 2012.

GENEVA | Thu Sep 27, 2012 3:17pm EDT

GENEVA (Reuters) - A Swiss-based art foundation on Thursday unveiled what it argues is Leonardo da Vinci's original "Mona Lisa", backing its claim with evidence from a U.S. research physicist, a forensic imaging specialist and a top Italian expert on the artist.

Members of the group told a packed Geneva news conference that the portrait of a woman who appears to be some 10 years younger than the sitter in the famous painting in the Paris Louvre could only be the work of the Renaissance genius.

"The facts are overwhelming and clearly prove the authenticity of the masterpiece," said Swiss lawyer Markus Frey, president of the private Mona Lisa Foundation which insists it has no financial stake in the painting.

And Stanley Feldman, an art historian and member of the group, said that critics who have rejected any suggestion the "younger" version could be by Leonardo had never seen it. "We invite them to Geneva to study it themselves," he added.

"It is absolutely clear that neither this nor the Louvre version are copies," he said, in a clear response to British Leonardo authority Martin Kemp, who told a London newspaper last week "so much is wrong" with the foundation's painting, including that it is painted on canvas and not on wood, the artist's preferred medium.

In a luxurious 300-page publication devoted to research over 30 years on what has long been known as the "Isleworth Mona Lisa," the foundation argues that it was painted between 1503 and 1505 in Florence and never finished.

Alessandro Vezzosi, director of the Leonardo museum in the Renaissance giant's home town of Vinci in central Italy and a world-renowned expert on the artist, said he had long believed in the existence of two Mona Lisas.

The foundation's version -- which has been owned since 2008 by a private consortium -- seemed likely to be the one that was recorded in a recently discovered document from 1503 and which he had long been seeking, said Vezzosi.

SAME ENIGMATIC SMILE

Slightly larger than the Paris portrait, which is widely dubbed "the world's most famous painting," it shows a woman in an identical pose, the same enigmatic smile and with the same geometric proportions.

John Asmus, a former space scientist from the University of California who has developed digitization techniques to study art works and applied them to the Louvre Mona Lisa, said his studies indicated Leonardo also painted the "Isleworth" version.

And Joe Mullins, an FBI-trained forensic imaging specialist, showed how he had made a computerized version of the woman in the Paris portrait as she would have been 10 years earlier and found it almost identical to the newly unveiled version.

Neither Vezzosi, Asmus or Mullins are members of the foundation.

Documents prove the painting, known in French as "La Joconde" and in Italian "La Giaconda", was commissioned from Leonardo by Florentine nobleman Francesco del Giacondo as a portrait of his wife, Lisa Gherardini.

Leonardo -- also an architect, sculptor and engineer -- left Florence in 1506, apparently delivering the unfinished work to Giacondo before leaving, as documents record it was seen there some 30 years later.

According to backers of the "Younger" Mona Lisa, the Paris version was probably painted around 1516 when the painter left for France. Before he died in 1519 in a small chateau on the Loire he is known to have shown visitors a Mona Lisa.

After his death, it found its way into the collection of French King Francois 1, and from there to the Louvre.

The "younger" version first surfaced in 1913 when British art connaisseur and painter Hugh Blaker found it in a manor house in western England, recording that it had been hanging there for about 150 years.

For the next 20 years, it hung in his home in the London suburb of Isleworth, so gaining its name.

But efforts by Blaker, who died in 1936, and subsequent owners to convince the art world at large of its authenticity failed. "What we want now if for people to come and look at this with an open mind," Feldman told the news conference.

(Reporting by Robert Evans, editing by Paul Casciato)

View the original article here