It has been “hiding” in a caveau in Switzerland for 40 years and was only recently revealed in a tour in three Japanese museums: the Isleworth Mona Lisa painting is thought to be the earlier version of Mona Lisa by Leonardo Da Vinci.

The painting that is property of an international group that acquired it in 2003 portrays a woman very similar to the Mona Lisa, displayed at the Louvre Museum.

Same posture, same face, same (or almost) smile, the supposedly younger Lisa del Giocondo looks younger and happier.

The owners decided to lend the painting to the Mona Lisa nonprofit Foundation based in Zurich to lead further studies on it, and the painting has just been presented in Geneva together with a book that the Foundation published in order to share the results of 35 years of research on the painting. The book supports the thesis that the painting would be the earlier version of the “official” Mona Lisa, a draft painted by Leonardo Da Vinci in 1503 and left unfinished. 

Mona Lisa's younger version might be by Leonardo Da Vinci: Italian art in Switzerland, the Foundation just released a new book about it.  

While the Foundation insists that the painting is not a copy of Mona Lisa by Leonardo Da Vinci, at the presentation Alessandro Vezzosi, director of the Museo Ideale Leonardo da Vinci, said the painting was intriguing but needed further studies.

Written by Elisa della Barba