The New Murrey and Blue blog

There is, apparently, a second, equally as genuine, version of the Mona Lisa. I know which one I prefer, and it’s not the one we always see, which makes me think it’s a rather dissolute  young man. (Yes, I do mean dissolute, because that is how ‘he’ strikes me.) But if da Vinci did indeed paint two versions of the same subject/pose, it makes me wonder if there might be another portrait of Richard III waiting to be found.

Oh, if only! A contemporary likeness of Richard! How happy we’d be, because we  know now, thanks to Philippa Langley, John Ashdown-Hill & Co., that it would bear little resemblance to the ‘doctored’ portraits we’ve had to endure. Uneven shoulders, yes, but not a hump or fingers like claws. Without the mean eyes, compressed lips or menacing air of murderous intent, he’d be a truly handsome, aristocratic young man. Just Richard as he really was.

Well, Richard’s remains have been found….which not long ago seemed an absolutely impossible quest….so why not a long-forgotten portrait, preferably by a master?

We can dream, of course, and in the meantime there is this relatively short article about the two Mona Lisa portraits. If it turns out to be a hoax, I apologise in advance! But it did stir my grey cells, and set the Ricardian in me hoping.

http://english.qstheory.cn/culture/201302/t20130217_211327.htm