Experts at the Madrid Prado Museum have revealed a stunning find for the art world. According to officials researchers have discovered a painting in their vaults that was long thought to be a replica of Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa masterpiece but is in fact work completed by a copyist who worked alongside Leonardo da Vinci as he was painting the original masterpiece.

According to the Guardian the painting sat in the museums vault for years and wasn’t discovered under conservators removed black over-painting to reveal a background similar to the original.

While the original Mona Lisa is covered in layers of dirt and varnish it will probably never be cleaned because of it’s priceless value, however the copyist piece can be fully restored to reveal a more “complete” examination of what the Mona Lisa likely looked like when first conceived by the brush strokes of Leonardo da Vinci.

An expert who examined the copy told the Guardian:

“Now we’re seeing something that’s much closer to Leonardo’s original,” and “We’re looking at Lisa almost eye to eye, we can see her enticing eyes and enigmatic smile much more clearly. It makes her look much younger and more attractive than the rather more aged version of Lisa that we see in the Louvre.”

Whether the colors used in the background and other features closely resemble the state originally intended for Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa will never be fully known but either way it’s a unique chance to examine what is likely the world’s closest examination of the original paintings state.

Mona Lisa “Sister” Painting Discovered In Museum Vault is a post from: The Inquisitr

According to Piccirillo, if you turn the Leonardo da Vinci masterpiece sideways, you will see an outline of a lion, an ape, and a buffalo around the head of Mona Lisa. There is also a crocodile and snake coming out of her body.

The artist, who said he also discovered hidden images in paintings by Raphael and in the Sistine Chapel, associates the images of he discovered in Mona Lisa to jealousy being the theme of the art work.

In explaining his discovery, Piccirillo said:

“This is really about viewing perspective. Imagine standing in front of an oval line drawing. It is obviously an oval, but if you view it from the left or right, at a large enough angle, the oval turns into a circle. This is the key to understanding how Leonardo and many other Renaissance artists hid subjects in their artwork. If you know to look for them, they are there. I don’t know why this has been missed for so long and I can’t tell you what it means – that’s one for the art historians. Da Vinci could have been using horses heads as some kind of religious code, but as to why they are hidden I have no idea. It’s not every day you spot something that has gone unnoticed for 500 years.”

Last year Italy’s National Committee for Cultural Heritage said that magnification of high-resolution images of the Mona Lisa’s eyes has revealed letters and numbers.

We can only wonder what artists will discover next in Mona Lisa. We might end up having a whole set of zoo animals surround this famous painting of a seated woman whose facial expression has been frequently described as enigmatic.

Lion, Ape, Buffalo, Crocodile, Snake Found in Mona Lisa Painting is a post from: The Inquisitr

As a kid growing up I played with Lego blocks but the idea of creating anything beyond a block house and a wall was … well .. beyond even my active imagination. So when I see works like this I am amazed at the ability to take something as simple as a Lego block and literally create works of art.

Awesome stuff.

Top image – portion of a larger work by Henry Lim that uses a total of 20,000 Lego pieces.

Stegosaurus

Another incredible Lego masterpiece from Henry Kim that uses over 100,000 Lego pieces

Nintendo DSi

Using 51,324 Lego pieces NYC based Lego artist Sean Kenney created this 78″x78″x18″ sculpture of the Nintendo DSi

Mona Lego

Getting all classical on us is Eric Harshbarger next to his 45-pound 6′x8′ creation that was inspired by the famous Leonardo da Vinci painting. It contains 30,000 Lego pieces.

Escher’s Balcony

The team of Andrew Lipson and Daniel Shiu used around 5,000 Lego pieces to recreate the famous Escher print.

Batman

Built by Lego Master Builders this 6-foot tall rendering of the iconic superhero uses 65,000 Lego pieces.

Times Square

Saving for the last is what I consider to be the best of all and that is Sean Kenney’s Lego-based rendition of the most famous landmark in the world – Times Square. It took two months and 20,000 Lego pieces to complete.

all via Woman’s Day where you can find even more great Lego sculptures

6 Awesome “I bet you didn’t think you could do that with Lego” is a post from: The Inquisitr

Mona Lego Lisa. Spot the difference, one has a plastic smile, the other is Lego.

Image Credit

Mona Lego Lisa is a post from: The Inquisitr