Mystery deepens around Montecitorio's 'Gioconda' copy possibly touched by Leonardo

A painting held in the storerooms of Montecitorio, seat of the Italian Chamber of Deputies, and now displayed in the Sala Aldo Moro, bears an uncanny resemblance to Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa at the Louvre. The oil-on-panel (later transferred to canvas) is inventoried as 'Ritratto femminile, detta La Gioconda' and measures 70 x 50.5 cm. It entered the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica in 1892 from the Torlonia Collection, documented since 1814 and initially attributed to Bernardino Luini. A French note on the frame mentions the transfer from panel to canvas, likely done in France in the second half of the 18th century. A 2019 infrared radiography and cleaning revealed pentimenti inconsistent with a simple copy. Restorers Antonio and Maria Forcellino argue that the colors match Leonardo's palette, the pentimenti suggest original work, and the sfumato technique is so refined that Leonardo himself may have worked on the chiaroscuro of the face. Chamber quaestor Francesco D'Uva stated it is a copy from Leonardo's workshop, possibly with his collaboration. However, experts like Rossella Vodret (former superintendent of Rome) deemed it 'not very high quality,' and Pietro Marani (Politecnico di Milano) considers it a 17th-century version, possibly related to a copy commissioned by Cassiano del Pozzo. The painting was recently restored by Cinzia Pasquali after 2020.