Page:Monograph on Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa (1915).pdf/63

 ; that the drawing, or study, made in 1505 by Raphael in Florence was not made from the one and only accredited Mona Lisa now in the Louvre; that the 'Florentine Lady' shown by Leonardo himself at Cloux can have been no other portrait than the Mona Lisa now in the Louvre; that according to his will, made a few days before his death, he left portraits and that there is no record, private or public, that he had any other portraits to leave beyond those of Madonna Lisa and Isabella d'Este, both now in the Louvre. That the Isleworth Mona Lisa is the genuine work of Leonardo da Vinci I leave the picture itself to prove on its own merits; while I suggest that in point of artistic excellence it is even greater than the Louvre masterpiece, which has generally been described as the greatest portrait in the world. Owing to the war, and thanks to the kindly courtesy of the Directors of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Isleworth masterpiece is now in their Gallery in Boston, U.S.A., out of harm's way and in safe keeping, beyond the reach of either cannon-belching culture, the false philosophy of force, or the cardinal virtue of aggression.