On the 24 November, an exhibition titled ‘The First Mona Lisa’ opened in Turin’s Promotrice delle Belle Arti gallery. On display is a painting which, according to some, is an earlier version of Leonardo da Vinci’s famous ‘Mona Lisa’, one which – it is argued – he painted in around 1505.

The Louvre version was painted between around 1503 and 1517 and depicts the Florentine woman Lisa Gherardini, the wife of Francesco del Giocondo, a Florentine silk merchant. It has become one of, if not the, most famous Renaissance painting, and attracts visitors worldwide who flock to the Louvre in Paris to see the work. Some have attributed the painting’s iconic status to its theft in 1911, however it was hugely popular prior to this.

Several early copies of the painting exist, and, over the course of the last century, some have speculated that a painting known as the ‘Isleworth Mona Lisa’ is actually an earlier version by Leonardo da Vinci. The Isleworth version – which was once owned by an art dealer based in the London suburb – shows the same sitter but with a slimmer face, looking slightly younger. This iteration of the Mona Lisa was bought by an English aristocrat in 1778 and was then acquired by an art connoisseur – Hugh Blaker – in 1913. Blaker strongly believed the painting was by Leonardo, as did Henry Pulitzer, an American art gallery owner who purchased it in 1936. Since then, it has been bought by a consortium of investors. The Mona Lisa Foundation was set up in 2012 with the express aim “to investigate the evidence that Leonardo da Vinci painted two versions of the Mona Lisa portrait”. The foundation researches on behalf of the owners of the Isleworth Mona Lisa, and they have put together the most recent exhibition in Turin to show their findings. In a statement, the Mona Lisa Foundation strongly asserted their claim that the Isleworth Mona Lisa is authentic. “We have proven beyond reasonable doubt that Leonardo painted two Mona Lisas and this is the only candidate to be the second”, said the foundation’s general secretary, Joël Feldman.

However, many experts are not convinced by the attribution to Leonardo. Emeritus Art History Professor at the University of Oxford and Leonardo expert, Martin Kemp, has openly dismissed claims the painting is by the Renaissance master himself. Kemp argues that there is “no indication” that the work can be dated to earlier that the Louvre version and points out that the work is painted on canvas – a support Leonardo never used – as strong evidence that he did not paint the work himself. Kemp believes that the painting was executed by looking at a “finished picture”, suggesting it is a copy. He adds the Isleworth version does not have the softness of the Louvre original.

Jonathan Jones, writing for The Guardian, has been very critical of the claims that the Isleworth version is an original by the artist, or indeed that it holds any merit at all. Jones states that, “in my view, there isn’t a chance in hell that this is Leonardo. The claims being made for the Isleworth Mona Lisa seem implausible.”

Either way, the painting is probably worth a huge amount of money, given that the Salvator Mundi, which raised similar questions over authenticity, made $450.3 million in 2017 at auction, making it the highest price ever for a painting. The Isleworth Mona Lisa will be on view in Turin until 26 May 2024.