Joconde d'Isleworth

This is one of the most argued-over pictures in the world, because it looks like the Mona Lisa, only the woman is younger and the background is bare. It surfaced in England around 1913, when a connoisseur bought it, and ever since, people have asked the same question. Is it an early version by Leonardo himself, painted before the famous one in the Louvre, or a later copy by someone else. The case for Leonardo rests on the idea that he began a first Lisa around 1503 and left it unfinished. Against it, the Oxford scholar Martin Kemp points out that it lacks the layered, smoky handling Leonardo was known for, and that it is painted on canvas, while Leonardo's finished oils are on wood. It has been shown in Turin under the title The First Mona Lisa, a title that is itself the whole dispute.