‘Leonardo painted nude Mona Lisa’

Second version embodied another concept of Venus, expert claims Ansa - Florence - Leonardo da Vinci painted a nude version of the Mona Lisa, an Italian art expert says. In a new book, Florentine art expert and Leonardo specialist Renzo Manetti said there was strong evidence for the never-discovered work because of alleged imitations.Manetti argues that, like other Renaissance artists inspired by so-called Neoplatonic philosophy, Leonardo had conceived a ‘heavenly’ and a ‘vulgar’ version of the same subject, which represents the two sides of the love goddess Venus. “Even though the (nude) painting has been lost, there are at least ten reproductions or comparable works, painted by pupils or disciples, which enable us to reconstruct the original”, Manetti argues in his book, The Mona Lisa’s Veil. Manetti points in particular to a work by Leonardo’s student Andrea Salai, Monna Vanna, but also says two well-known works by Raphael, The Veiled Woman and La Fornarina, express the same Neoplatonic concept. The undiscovered nude Mona Lisa is in the same pose as the one in the Louvre, but on a balcony with a breast showing, says Manetti. One of the other touted nude Mona Lisas, once actually attributed to Leonardo, was shown in June at the Museo Ideale in Leonardo’s hometown of Vinci. The exhibition was the largest ever on Leonardo’s masterpiece and all it has inspired. Endless theories. Unlike most Renaissance portraits, Leonardo’s original Mona Lisa (mona is the standard Italian contraction for madonna, or “my lady”) bears no date or signature, nor is the name of the sitter given. These omissions, coupled with the sitter’s mysterious close-lipped smile, have helped spawn endless theories about the woman’s identity. Various contemporary court beauties and noblewomen have been put forward, including Isabella d’Este and Isabella Gualanda, while some have concluded that she was Leonardo’s mother. Other academics argue that the sitter was one of his favourite young lovers disguised as a woman. Such theorists note that da Vinci never relinquished the painting, keeping it with him up until his death in Amboise, France in 1519. There is in fact no evidence that da Vinci was paid for the portrait or that it was ever delivered.The Mona Lisa’s strange smile has also led to endless speculation and theories, some of the most curious provided by medical experts-cum-art lovers. One group of medical researchers has maintained that the sitter’s mouth is so firmly shut because she was undergoing mercury treatment for syphilis which turned her teeth black. An American dentist has claimed that the tight-lipped expression was typical of people who have lost their front teeth, while a Danish doctor was convinced she suffered from congenital palsy which affected the left side of her face and this is why her hands are overly large. A French surgeon has also put forth his view that she was semi-paralysed, perhaps as the result of a stroke, and that this explained why one hand looks relaxed and the other tense. An Italian doctor has pointed to an alleged puffy cheek and swollen hand to claim she was suffering from a ‘fatty blood’ disorder.