It is one of the most tantalising puzzles in art, stretching from the Louvre to the Loire via Norfolk. And our critic believes he has finally worked it out.
In 18th-century Britain, an engraving by publisher John Boydell offered libertine Georgians a nude version of the Mona Lisa, known as 'Joconda'. The print claimed it reproduced a painting by 'Lionardo da Vinci' that hung in the gallery at Houghton Hall, Norfolk. Horace Walpole, son of Prime Minister Sir Robert Walpole, catalogued the collection and believed the original was the actual Mona Lisa, describing her as a smith's wife who posed half naked with music for hours.
The nude Joconda is no longer at Houghton; the collection was sold to Catherine the Great in 1779 and now hangs at the Hermitage in St Petersburg, attributed to an unnamed 16th-century follower of Leonardo. Yet the question remains: was there a nude Mona Lisa by Leonardo himself?
A clue lies in the Loire, where Leonardo spent his final years. In October 1517, he showed visitors three paintings, including 'a certain Florentine woman portrayed from life at the request of the late Magnificent Giuliano de' Medici'. This is generally accepted as the Louvre Mona Lisa, but Leonardo's claim contradicts known facts: the painting was begun in 1503 for Lisa del Giocondo, not Medici. Why would Leonardo lie? Our critic suggests the answer may reveal a lost nude version.
