An unknown drawing by Leonardo da Vinci has been discovered in Italy. The portrait of a male head in profile comes from the Codex Atlanticus, the most numerous collection of Leonardo da Vinci's folios.
The most striking aspect of this extraordinary discovery is the precise correspondence, in shape and size, between the traces of glue still present on the back of the discovered drawing and the remnants of glue visible on the reverse of folio 1033 of the Codex Atlanticus.
This and other evidence have emerged after years of study and research during which historical-scientific appraisals were drawn up by experts such as Professor Peter Hohenstatt and Professor Luigi Capasso.
These appraisals are based on a detailed examination of the typical characteristics of Leonardo's figure drawing and the particular chemical compositions of the microelements of the drawing paper, already found in other works attributed to the Maestro and preserved at the Uffizi in Florence.
According to a reconstruction of the discovery, the da Vinci drawing remained concealed for more than a century between the cover and the first page of an ancient volume belonging to Cardinal Placido Maria Tadini, an eminent prelate who became Cardinal of Genoa in 1835.
The Cardinal's house was subsequently purchased by the Ponzellini family and, in 1940, the last descendent of the family found the sheet which he preserved in his studio until his death in the early fifties. At the start of the new millennium, research was carried out to establish its paternity; however, the owners subsequently decided to sell it.
The new purchaser continued the research but, after two years, sold the portrait to its current owners who, after years of intense, in-depth study, have established not only the historical period of the sheet but also its proven paternity.
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