Experts Confirm 'Nude Mona Lisa' Emerged From Da Vinci's Studio

After thorough research, art investigators have confirmed that the “Monna Vanna” or “Nude Mona Lisa” was a product of Leonardo da Vinci’s studio or the  artist himself.

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The striking resemblance between the “Mona Lisa” and the “Monna Vanna” has alluded art connoisseurs for decades, leading many to believe that the two were designed by Da Vinci, the Monna Vanna appearing as a draft for the final masterpiece.

Ahead of the 500th anniversary of the Renaissance artist’s death, investigators from the Center of Research and Restoration of the Museums of France (C2RMF) were employed to analyze the piece.

Da Vinci’s trademark “sfumato” technique, a process of blending color transitions, was also detected, affirming suspicions that the “Nude Mona Lisa” was an original work. Both the paper and the drawing's era are the same as those of the "Mona Lisa."

Curator of the Conde Museum Mathieu Deldicque said that not only did researchers discover a wealth of “new elements” from various scans and x rays from their studies, but also "left-handed charcoal marks pretty much everywhere."

In 2017, an expert in art conservation, Bruno Mottin, examined the piece and, noticing a patch of right-handed strokes near the head of the portrait, ruled out da Vinci- a left-handed artist- as the mastermind behind the sketch.

"There is a very strong possibility that Leonardo did most of the drawing. It is a work of very great quality done by a great artist," Deldicque said.

"It is almost certainly a preparatory work for an oil painting," the curator said.

However, experts warn that due to the “"the quality of the drawing, both under the naked eye and under imaging analysis," art lovers should “remain prudent” as it’s almost impossible for even the best conservationist to be “absolutely certain.”