Mona Lisa (Prado)

Prado Mona Lisa
ArtistWorkshop of Leonardo da Vinci
Yearc. 1503–1516
MediumOil on walnut panel
SubjectLisa Gherardini
Dimensions76.3 cm × 57 cm (30.0 in × 22 in)
LocationMuseo del Prado, Madrid

The Prado Mona Lisa is a painting by the workshop of Leonardo da Vinci and depicts the same subject and composition as Leonardo's better known Mona Lisa at the Louvre, Paris. The Prado Mona Lisa has been in the collection of the Museo del Prado in Madrid, Spain since 1819,[1] but was considered for decades a relatively unimportant copy.[2] Following its restoration in 2012, however, the Prado's Mona Lisa has come to be understood as the earliest known studio copy of Leonardo's masterpiece.[3]

The original Mona Lisa, by Leonardo da Vinci, Louvre

Although there are dozens of surviving copies of the Mona Lisa from the 16th and 17th centuries,[3] the Prado's Mona Lisa may have been painted simultaneously by a student of Leonardo in the same studio where he painted his own Mona Lisa,[4] so it is said to be the copy with the most historical value.[5] Among the pupils of Leonardo, Salaì or Francesco Melzi are the most plausible authors of the Prado's version, though other experts argue that the painting could have been executed by one of Leonardo's Spanish students.[6]

  1. ^ "Mona Lisa Prado museum version on display". 21 February 2012. Retrieved 1 March 2013.
  2. ^ "Earliest Mona Lisa claimed by Spanish museum". CBS news. 1 February 2012. Archived from the original on 2 February 2012. Retrieved 1 March 2013.
  3. ^ a b "Earliest copy of Mona Lisa found in the Prado". The Art Newspaper. 1 February 2012. Archived from the original on 5 February 2012. Retrieved 4 February 2012.
  4. ^ "The Mona Lisa, by Anonymous (Workshop of Leonardo da Vinci)". Museo Nacional del Prado. Retrieved 11 June 2016.
  5. ^ "Spain's Prado Museum claims to have Mona Lisa copy". Herald Sun. 3 February 2012. Retrieved 3 February 2013.
  6. ^ "The 'Prado Mona Lisa'". The Mona Lisa Foundation.