The Gioconda Hermosa, the Spanish duplicate of da Vinci’s famous Mona Lisa , has been recently restored in the warehouse of the Prado. The successful restauration has brought to one of the most important artistic discoveries of the time – the painting seems to be very similar to the original, that’s why experts are forced to think that the portraits can be contemporary.
The two “Mona Lisas” are not so different in size and they have got also the same background elements. We are talking about the landscape of the Adda, dear to Leonardo and his apprentices, which is characteristic of the master copy and re emerged in the “twin” after the cleaning (this last used to have a dark background.). The author of the “Spanish Mona Lisa” is still uncertain, but probably it can be attributed to Andrea Salai, for the historians Leonardo’s lover, or Francesco Melzi. They were both Master’s apprentices and one of them might have reproduced the picture in the studio of Florence, while da Vinci was still painting the Mona Lisa of the Louvre.
The copy belongs to the royal Spanish collection from 1666 and now it will be possible to enjoy the work for the first time on 21st Frebruary. From 29th March to 25th June, instead, it will leave bound for Paris on the occasion of the exhibition dedicated to the great Leonardo da Vinci.