At the turn of the 16th Century, it was common practice for Leonardo, as well as other great artists of the Renaissance, to make multiple versions of their paintings. Da Vinci, for example, painted at least two versions of the ‘Virgin of the Rocks’, one that is today in the Louvre that was completed in 1485, and one in London completed 23 years later in 1508. Today, thanks to the advanced technology pioneered by Professor John Asmus of the University of California, artists can with great precision be identified by their brushstrokes. It is now possible to scientifically demonstrate that the face of the Virgin in both works was painted by the same hand. There were three, or possibly even four of the ‘Virgin And Child With St. Anne’. And the same goes for many of his other artworks.

Beyond the fact that it was common practice for Masters to execute multiple versions of their works, there are a number of reasons as to why Leonardo would paint multiple versions of his subjects. Among other things, it usually took Leonardo many years to develop new works and Leonardo most likely saw painting as a means to earn a living, rather than as his main occupation.

In view of this, it is not at all surprising that Leonardo would have painted two versions of the Mona Lisa. In fact, this practice of making multiple versions of his works, taken together with the extensive historical evidence that is about to be presented, make it extremely likely.

Recent scholarship on this issue has focused on Leonardo’s ‘Madonna of the Yarnwinder’, where significant evidence is being re-examined pointing to the fact that a number of variants on this subject originated directly from Leonardo and his studio. In a new contribution to this debate, the Director of the Department of Sculpture at the Louvre, Geneviève Bresc-Bautier writes at length on the possibility of there being a number of originals of this masterpiece.

In addition, she refers specifically to a request from the French king, Louis XII, for “ … additional small panels of the Virgin”; and that this is now taken as evidence that Leonardo executed multiple versions also of this composition.

Bresc-Bautier also refers to the particular pose of the Christ Child across the knee of the Virgin as having influenced Raphael’s ‘Bridgewater Madonna’ c.1507. In a sense, this should come as no surprise. Just as Raphael’s ‘Lady with a Unicorn’ would have been influenced by Leonardo’s ‘Earlier Mona Lisa’, it is clear that while Mona Lisa’s portrait was in progress, variants of the ‘Madonna of the Yarnwinder’ were also being worked on in the studio. Raphael came to Florence in 1504, bearing a letter of recommendation from the Duchess of Montefeltro to the ‘Gonfaloniere’ of the Signoria, Piero Soderini. When he first visited Leonardo’s studio, he was immediately impressed by new and innovative directions being taken, and readily demonstrated in the versions of both the Mona Lisa and the ‘Madonna of the Yarnwinder’ coming to completion.

Actually, as far back as 1951, art historian Marilyn Aronberg’s learned paper A New Facet of Leonardo’s Working Procedure identifies Leonardo’s tendency to use earlier material in evolving new compositions. “ … It is a well-known characteristic of Leonardo that he had a few specific themes which remained intriguing and provocative to him throughout his career.” His work on the Mona Lisa is a case in point. Aronberg’s research is also subsequently cited by David Alan Brown, who refers to “… Leonardo’s tendency to use earlier material in evolving new compositions.”

The important recognition that Leonardo created multiple versions of some of his paintings has also been treated in detail by Charles Nicholl in 2004 who, with reference to the ‘Virgin and Child with St. Anne’, writes: “This is complicated, as Leonardo tends to be, but the upshot is that this subject of the Madonna and her mother, St. Anne … was one that Leonardo returned to repeatedly over a period of about ten years. The lost cartoon of 1501, the London cartoon of c.1508, the Louvre painting of c.1510, the smaller sketches of various periods – these are variations on a compositional theme, recurrent wheelings around a central image. This becomes a norm with Leonardo now – these long, slow evolutions, these masterpieces dense with recurrence: the ‘Mona Lisa’, the ‘Leda’, the ‘Baptist’.”

These scholarly opinions constitute a refreshing approach to the way in which paintings by Leonardo da Vinci are now being viewed and authenticated. Such connoisseurship clearly contributes to the evidence that Leonardo painted more than one version of Mona Lisa.

The following is a list of works by Da Vinci, for which there are known to have been multiple versions:

MADONNA AND CHILD

One, the ‘Dreyfus Madonna’, is currently in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. and a second hangs in the Monastery of Camaldoli in Tuscany. There are several others believed to be collaborative works with other artists, including one in London (‘Madonna and Child with Angels’) and two others in Berlin.

THE VIRGIN OF THE ROCKS

One hangs in the Louvre Museum (c.1485) and the second is in the National Gallery in London (c.1508). There are claims of a possible third – in collaboration with his student, Boltraffio.

THE BATTLE OF ANGHIARI

The first was an initial experimental painting on panel and the second attempt was the famous mural in Florence, which was ultimately aborted.

VIRGIN AND CHILD WITH ST. ANNE

The most famous one is currently in the Louvre (c.1510) and another is in Strasbourg. There is also a cartoon (preparatory version), which hangs in the National Gallery in London (c.1507-1508). Some experts believe there may have been yet another version, which was regrettably lost.

MADONNA OF THE YARNWINDER

One version, known as the ‘Lansdowne’, is in a private collection in the United States. A second, known as the ‘Buccleuch’ is in the Scottish National Gallery in Edinburgh. There is also reputed to be at least one other lost original.

ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST

There are two versions, both in the Louvre, the second of which is commonly referred to as ‘Bacchus’.

LEDA AND THE SWAN

The original painting of this is lost, but was last recorded in the French Royal collection at Fontainebleau in 1625. Leonardo painted a different composition of the subject in 1508. There are also three known sketches of Leda Kneeling: ‘Leda and the Swan’, which is part of the Devonshire Collection, Chatsworth (c.1503-1507); study for ‘Kneeling Leda’ in the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam (c.1503-1507); and also the studies of ‘Leda and a Horse’, contained in the Royal Library, Windsor (c.1503-1507).

CESARE BORGIA

There is a ‘triple-portrait’ drawing located in the Royal Library in Turin (c.1502). There is also speculation that Leonardo may have painted a portrait of Borgia, though this is a subject of debate.

THE SFORZA MONUMENT

For this equestrian monument to Francesco Sforza, Leonardo did extensive preparatory work. It was never seen through to completion, as the clay model Da Vinci produced was destroyed when the French invaded Milan in 1499. There are, however, several drawings and sketches of the monument, two of which are in the Royal Library in Windsor (c.1485).

THE TRIVULZIO MONUMENT

Similar to the Sforza Monument, this one never came to be. There are, however, a series of sketches of the monument contained in the Royal Collection.

ISABELLA D’ESTE

Leonardo made two sketches of the portrait of Isabella d’Este, the Marquess of Mantua, executed on paper (c.1499-1500), one of which is currently in the Louvre Museum.

ADORATION OF THE MAGI

In the case of this commission by the San Donato a Scopeto Monastery, there are two versions, one of which was unfinished and hangs in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. Da Vinci also executed at least one cartoon.