ROME — Experts unveiled Thursday a previously unknown portrait of Leonardo da Vinci, showing the artist and inventor as a middle-aged man with piercing eyes and long, flowing hair.
The painting, displayed at a news conference in Rome, was discovered in December in the collection of a family from Italy's southern Basilicata region. Who made the painting and when it was done were still being investigated, but experts have ruled out it being a self-portrait.
Medieval historian Nicola Barbatelli, who found the painting, said carbon-14 analysis of the wood supporting the canvas dated the material to the late 15th or early 16th century, when Leonardo (1452-1519) was alive.
However, experts cautioned that the age of the wood didn't necessarily mean the portrait was painted at that time, and said more tests must be conducted.
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The portrait, partially damaged by scratches and measuring some 24-by-18 inches, shows Leonardo wearing dark robes and a black feathered hat.
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