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Did Leonardo da Vinci paint two Mona Lisas? Where are they?

10.06.2025 02:49

Did Leonardo da Vinci paint two Mona Lisas? Where are they?

Evidently there was a market for erotic paintings. The American art historian David Brown, curator of Italian Renaissance paintings at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, has suggested that da Vinci painted a saucy parody of the Mona Lisa for his patron Giuliano de Medici, and that the Salai version is a copy.

Obviously, the original Mona Lisa also inspired some cheeky versions of her.

Then there are the ‘meza nuda’ paintings from his workshop, often referred to as Monna Vannas.

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La Joconde nue:

Source: Louvre, Paris, France.

There is only one Mona Lisa, at the Louvre, fully credited to Leonardo. However, there are several Mona Lisa look-alikes from his studio, some of them quite saucy. The one most similar to the Louvre one is the Prado Mona Lisa, a copy made simultaneously in Leonardo's workshop while he painted the Mona Lisa, probably made by an apprentice(s):

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Another version of the above exists, attributed to Salaj:

While overall similar, there are differences in the shape of the face, the background and other details.

Source: Chantilly, Musée Condé, France.

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Source: St Petersburg. Hermitage, Russia.

For the one below, art experts suggest that it contains touches indicating that Leonardo contributed to it.

Donna Nuda:

My wife has a bunch of really attractive friends, and she expects me to never say anything to her about how beautiful they are. Does this seem fair? I love my wife, and just commenting shouldn’t hurt anything, right?