The art world has been shaken by a different version of the Mona Lisa which has previously been stored in a Swiss bank vault. In the painting La Giaconda appears ten years younger and is even more beautiful that in the other portrait of her.
During the second world war Nazis stole the painting from a wealthy Jewish family. It then was sold at auction by a wealthy German family who did not want to have it staring at them from the walls.
The painting was bought by a pair of wealthy Welsh sisters who built up an extensive art collection.
For years rumours have been circulating that there is an alternative portrait of the Mona Lisa as a beautiful, ravishing young woman. Snooty art critics have dismissed it as a 'forgery'. However, a reputable art expert has tested it and said that the brush strokes are authentic. "It is the 'real McCoy' and it is the genuine article he proclaimed.
The proclamation has shaken the art world and speculation is rife that the painting might one day be sold at auction. Art critics are astounded that the painting has remained hidden for so many years. The fact that the two, Welsh spinsters had the painting and had it in their family home for so many years has truly astonished the hoi polloi.
"Why those two old biddies didn't know that painting's value. She is too precious to have been kept in a damp, old manor house." The luvvies are up in arms that the painting has not been kept in a special air-conditioned conditions.
Now, that the painting has 're-surfaced' the other Mona Lisa of the more mature lady has been unfavourably compared to the beauty of the lady in her youth. In the Louvre the experts have dismissed the other version as a 'piece of tat' and have been apoplectic with Gallic rage.
Apparantly, Leonardo had a 'fling' with 'La Giaconda' and painted it, it for his own personal enjoyment. Indeed, some experts have speculated that it might even originally be a nude and when Da Vinci was penniless he painted a dress on the young Mona and sold it to a wealthy patron.
It is really stupendous that a second Mona Lisa painting has surfaced and amazing that in this picture 'La Giaconda' is lovelier and without a wrinkle. One American celebrity said, "It as if the chick had, had a face lift."
One art gallery has revealed that the painting will be auctioned and wealthy Japanese collectors are willing to pay billions for it. "It is astronomical the Japanese could literally pay trillions for it and it could be hidden away in some bank vault for the next hundred years," said one frustrated expert from the National Gallery.
