(Brussels) A copy of the famous Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci, painted around the year 1600 on an oak panel and of a quality deemed “exceptional”, will be auctioned in Paris on November 9 by Artcurial, after having been exhibited in Vienna and Brussels.
Same delicacy of features, same ambiguous smile, same velvety outlines thanks to the fade (the famous “sfumato”) popularized by Leonardo da Vinci: in the replica exhibited at the end of October in Brussels before being sent to Paris, the anonymous artist has perfectly mimicked the face of the original Mona Lisa.
“It is not uncommon to see a copy of the Mona Lisa, but this one is in a wonderful state of preservation and above all it was painted on oak panel ”, while the other copies are mainly on canvas, auctioneer Matthieu Fournier told AFP.
Above all, a century after the creation of the original masterpiece (1503-1506), the artist “has completely imbued himself with the master’s style, which is extremely touching”, unlike other paintings. where copyists “put their foot down and betray the time of execution,” he continues.
If we do not know its author, the copy is attributed to “the School of Fontainebleau”, a group of painters active in the 16e century around the Château de Fontainebleau, near Paris, where the work of Leonardo da Vinci was exhibited between the reign of François 1er and that of Louis XIV.
“This painting is so faithful that it was necessarily made in front of the original […] He shows us what the Mona Lisa at the time when the copy was made ”, with“ very clear colors ”, observes Mr. Fournier.
However, the panel exhibited today at the Louvre “is extremely yellow with a misty caramel varnish”, and very difficult to restore due to the technique used of multiple layers of glaze: the copy sold by Artcurial therefore offers ” a moving testimony on the state of the Mona Lisa in the 16th centurye century, unfortunately altered since ”.
This copy, rediscovered six months ago during a family inventory in the vicinity of Paris, is estimated between 150,000 and 200,000 euros ($ 215,000 and $ 286,000), but the craze for the star icon of the Louvre could raise the stakes.
Some details nevertheless betray the imitation: a background decoration drawn with ample strokes, much less worked and detailed than that of Leonardo da Vinci, large ostensible columns framing the Mona Lisa while they are fine and almost invisible in the original, or a different touch in the fabrics of the dress.
The painting will be visible from Friday 5 to Monday 8 November in the premises of Artcurial in Paris, at the Rond-Point des Champs-Élysées, before it is auctioned.