Hidden portrait of Da Vinci is uncovered in manuscript

AN Italian science journalist has discovered what is believed to be a self portrait of Leonardo Da Vinci hidden in one of his most famous manuscripts.

Piero Angela stumbled across the faint image as he thumbed through the Renaissance master's Codex on the Flight of Birds.

Close examination of the manuscript, written between 1490 and 1505, revealed the outline of a face hidden underneath the ink handwriting.

A nose, eyes, lips and beard can clearly be seen on the Codex, which is kept in the Royal Library in Turin. Experts believe it is a self-portrait of Da Vinci as a young man.

Mr Angela said: "I noticed there was a drawing by Leonardo hidden between the words on the tenth page of his Codex. After extrapolating the red-chalk portrait with the help of a graphic artist, a portrait of a Renaissance man emerged. Given the similarity, I thought this could well be Leonardo himself."

Mr Angela said he compared the drawing with other portraits of Leonardo, principally his famous self-portrait dated around 1512-15, asking for help from the police scientific investigation unit in Rome.

He added: "The graphic artist applied digital techniques used to age people or make them look younger, and astonishingly we found an amazing similarity — it was as if the two were brothers.

"We also asked for the opinion of a maxillofacial surgeon, who said the two faces could well belong to the same man at different times in his life."

Mr Angela said: "Thanks to other drawings present in the eight central pages of this Codex, we think Leonardo worked on these pages between 1482 and 1489, when he was in Milan at the court of Ludovico Sforza. Then these pages were recycled' by the painter to write his Codex."

Professor Carlo Pedretti, based at the University of California in Los Angeles, and one of the world's leading Da Vinci experts, said: "I am truly grateful for the results of this investigation.

"It is one of the most important acquisitions in the study of Leonardo, his image, and thought."

Luigi Ripani, of the police scientific unit in Rome, said: "The similarities between the image on the manuscript and that of Da Vinci after we applied our techniques was very striking. I would go so far as to say without doubt the face is that of Da Vinci."