ROME — A journalist on an Italian state TV science program on Friday claimed to have discovered a drawing by Leonardo da Vinci which could be a self-portrait of the artist as a young man.
Piero Angela said in Rome the drawing was hidden under writing in one of Leonardo’s notebooks.
In an article on the RAI’s channel’s Web site, Angela wrote that only a nose was visible from under heavy scribbling on a notebook page. A technician in RAI’s graphics lab worked months to isolate the image from a facsimile.
What emerged is a drawing of a young man, with long hair, slight beard and looking like he’s lost in thought.
Angela said he consulted with two surgeons in Rome so they could compare known portrait drawing of Leonardo as an old man with the drawing of the young man. The surgeons concluded there were similarities, as did Italian police who prepare drawings of suspects, he said.
The original drawing is contained in the so-called Codex on the flight of birds, which is kept in Turin’s Royal Library.
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