GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS
(ABC NEWS)(OC): And finally tonight, could a priceless
painting actually be a copy? Mona Lisa, Da Vinci's mysterious masterpiece
is now being challenged
by a younger rival. Her owners, of course, have millions of
reasons to believe that their painting is the original. So, ABC's Jeffrey Kofman takes a close look
so you can decide for yourself.
JEFFREY KOFMAN (ABC
NEWS)(VO): Could it be the most famous painting in the world now has a twin?
ANNOUNCER (MALE): Mona
Lisa, Leonardo's earlier version.
JEFFREY KOFMAN (ABC
NEWS)(VO): That's what the owners of the so-called Isleworth Mona Lisa told the
world today. Hidden
in a Swiss bank vault for almost half a
century, it emerged
accompanied by a stack of "evidence" meant to prove that this was
Leonardo Da Vinci's first version of this, a younger Mona Lisa. Note the perkier smile. The original has always been surrounded by intrigue,
her eyes said to reveal a secret code or the artist's signature. But a second Mona Lisa?
JEFFREY KOFMAN (ABC
NEWS)(OC): There are a lot of reasons to be suspect of this wannabe Da
Vinci. One of them? It only surfaced in Isle worth here in
England in 1914. There is no record of
its existence before then.
JEFFREY KOFMAN (ABC
NEWS)(OC): And what does it add
up to?
MARTIN KEMP (LEONARDO DA
VINCI SCHOLAR AT OXFORD UNIV): Well, it adds up to being an interesting copy.
JEFFREY KOFMAN (ABC
NEWS)(OC): An interesting copy?
MARTIN KEMP (LEONARDO
DA VINCI SCHOLAR AT OXFORD UNIV): No more than that.
JEFFREY KOFMAN (ABC
NEWS)(VO): There are many reasons to believe this is a copy by a lesser
artist.
First, the younger painting is on canvas. Leonardo painted on wood. The background on the younger Mona Lisa, is,
well, muddy, not like the masterpiece.
But the real
give away? Translucence. In the original, layers
of light. They're just not there in the other one.
MARTIN KEMP (LEONARDO
DA VINCI SCHOLAR AT OXFORD UNIV): When you look, you just go, wow. You look at that Mona Lisa and you go - ah.
JEFFREY KOFMAN (ABC
NEWS)(VO): A new Leonardo would be worth at least $100 million. But imagine, with only about 20 of his works
in existence, how exciting it would be to discover one more. Jeffrey Kofman, ABC News, Oxford.