£12,000 portrait revealed to be £100m Leonardo - art detectives discover master's fingerprint

dailymail.co.uk ^ | Oct. 13, 2009 | Daily Mail Reporter

[Free ThinkerNY]

Art experts believe a new Leonardo da Vinci portrait may have been discovered - thanks to a fingerprint.

The painting, titled Young Girl in Profile in Renaissance Dress, recently sold for a mere £12,000 ($19,000). It was billed at a Christie's sale in 1998 as 'German, early 19th century'.

Now a growing number of leading art experts agree that it is almost certainly by Leonardo da Vinci and could be worth about £100 million.

A Paris laboratory has found that a fingerprint on the picture is 'highly comparable' to one on a da Vinci work in the Vatican, which was painted early in the artist's career when he was thought not to use assistants.

A forensic art expert found the print near the top left of the work, corresponding to the tip of the index or middle-finger, was 'highly comparable' to a fingerprint on da Vinci's St Jerome in the Vatican.

The magazine said that infrared analysis showed 'significant' stylistic parallels with those in da Vinci's Portrait of a Woman in Profile in Windsor Castle and shows that the drawing and hatching were made by a left-handed artist, as da Vinci is known to have been.

Drawn in ink and chalks, the beautiful young lady's costume and elaborate hairstyle reflect Milanese fashion of the late 15th century, while carbon analysis of the artwork is consistent with such a dating, the magazine reported.

£100m surprise: Experts believe the fingerprint found in the top left hand corner of the painting, previously billed as 'German, early 19thC', could be that of Leonardo da Vinci's

[SteveH]

ping

[freedumb2003]

Holey Moley!

Can you imagine?

[GeronL]

Can you imagine being the one who sold it?

[nkycincinnatikid]

I wonder what possibly could have convinced some blockhead to define it as German 19th century?

[WVNan]

It sure does look like Leonardo’s work.

[BlueStateBlues]

“The tip of the middle finger”

The most valuable giving of the finger in history.

[Phantom Lord]

So if they find my fingerprint on it, does that make it worth $3?

[SunkenCiv]

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