German website DW-World.de announced that an old world German piece of art of a side-profiled monotonous woman is actually an original Leonardo Da Vinci painting. Not surprisingly, the value of the art work has skyrocketed since the discovery.


Here is an excerpt from the article:

"An announcement in the art market weekly publication Antiques Trade Gazette has caused a major stir in the art world. Martin Kemp, an Emeritus Professor of Art at Oxford University, claims that a small chalk, pen and ink drawing on vellum is the work of the Italian genius Leonardo da Vinci.

And so far, most of the art world seems to agree with him.

After being missing for centuries, the portrait turned up at an auction at Christie's in New York on January 30, 1998. Listed as lot 402 in a sale of Old Master Drawings, the art work was described as "a Young Girl in Profile in Renaissance Dress." It was catalogued as “German, early 19th century.” Initial estimates put its value between $12,000 and $16,000.

Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Once the piece was attributed to da Vinci, its value jumped to $160 million. When the hammer finally came down, it had been sold to a New York art dealer named Kate Ganz for $19,000. She later sold it for about the same price to a collector named Peter Silverman in 2007.

According to the article in Antiques Trade Gazette, it was Ganz who suggested that "the portrait may have been made by a German artist studying in Italy ... based on paintings by Leonardo da Vinci."

The painting has now been re-valued at 100 million pounds ($160 million)."


The article goes on to describe the authenticity of the painting along with a brief history. Ganz is probably wishing she didn't resell the artwork right about now.