Experts Claims a version of the da Vinci masterpiece, Mona Lisa is held in a private Russian collection

Art experts are examining a painting held in a private collection in St Petersburg they believe might be a second version of Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa.

And leading Mona Lisa scholars say the similarities in colours, which are being examined using infra-red technology, hold the key to determining if the Russian painting is in fact another da Vinci.
    ‘There are many indicators pointing to the Tuscan artistic genius,’ research coordinator Silvano Vinceti told ANSA.

    ‘But of course it’s only a hypothesis.’

There are numerous theories that da Vinci painted more than one version and there are conflicting dates about when the painting was commissioned and finished.

New art analysis software, developed by leading da Vinci scholar Carlo Pedretti, has shown that the same artist may have created both the Mona Lisa and the painting in Russia.

    ‘When comparing the preparatory study from the Louvre and the Russian painting, the overlap between the two was clear to see,’ Mr Pedretti said.

    ‘[It’s clear from] the columns, present in the Russian painting and in the preparatory study, but also in the perfect resemblance between the upper lip in the preparatory study, the Russian painting and the Mona Lisa in the Louvre.’

Expert restorer of da Vinci’s work Paulo De Serra told Italian press that there is a ‘possibility the painting could be the work of Leonardo or one of his pupils’.