Prado Mona Lisa

The Prado Mona Lisa is a painting by the workshop of Leonardo da Vinci and depicts the same subject and composition as Leonardo's better known Mona Lisa at the Louvre, Paris. The Prado Mona Lisa has been in the collection of the Museo del Prado in Madrid, Spain since 1819, but was considered for decades a relatively unimportant copy. Following its restoration in 2012, however, the Prado's Mona Lisa has come to be understood as the earliest known studio copy of Leonardo's masterpiece. It was discovered that it was painted at the same time as the Mona Lisa in the Louvre, likely by a direct pupil from Leonardo’s workshop working alongside him.

One of the most surprising findings was that beneath the dark background lay the same landscape as in the Louvre original, confirming that both works were created simultaneously.

Unlike the Louvre version, the Prado painting features brighter colors and a better state of preservation, allowing viewers to appreciate details of the face and clothing with greater clarity.