The Times
Mary portrait named as Leonardo's
A RENAISSANCE painting withheld from public view for more than half a century may be an unknown portrait of Mary Magdalene by Leonardo da Vinci. Carlo Pedretti, director of the Armand Hammer Centre for Leonardo Studies at UCLA, said he was convinced that the work was by the master and not one of his pupils, as was previously thought. “It is not I who says the painting is by Leonardo; the painting itself forces me to say it,” said Professor Pedretti. The painting, which measures 58cm x 45cm (23in x 18in), dates from 1515. Its attribution to Leonardo will add to the debate raised by Dan Brown’s novel, The Da Vinci Code, which suggests that Mary Magdalene married Jesus and had children by him. The novel says that Leonardo left clues to this in his paintings.
