Maike Vogt-Lüerssen, author of the recent book "Who is Mona Lisa? In search of her identity", has very generously shared an article here. In the course of her 17-years' research for the abovementioned book, Maike had poured over countless books of plates of 15th- and 16th-century Italian coats of arms, symbols, emblems and portraits. As a result, she came to know Leonardo extremely well - in word, deed and likeness. She believes a portrait in the U.S. National Gallery of Art, wrongly attributed, is, in fact, that of Leonardo. More than that, it may be a self-portrait, done around 1470, while he was a student of Andrea del Verrocchio.

The drawing pictured here, unquestionably by Leonardo, is widely held to be a self-portrait. Not so, says Maike. It may be of his father, or uncle, but Leonardo didn't live to the age of the man depicted. Well, you'll have to read the article; it's definitely of interest to those of us who appreciate Leonardo. Oh, and the "new" portrait? Very handsome and, in my opinion, it's pleasant to have a new mental image of Leo minus those bushy eyebrows.