A self-portrait of young Leonardo

TL;DR

This paper uses image processing to analyze and compare Leonardo da Vinci's known self-portrait with a sketch believed to be of his younger self, revealing insights into his artistic development.

Contribution

It introduces a novel image processing approach to uncover and compare hidden sketches in Leonardo's notebooks, providing new perspectives on his self-portraits.

Findings

Successful removal of handwritten notes from the sketch

Enhanced image clarity enabling comparison of portraits

Evidence supporting the identification of the younger self-portrait

Abstract

One of the most famous drawings by Leonardo da Vinci is a self-portrait in red chalk, where he looks quite old. In fact, there is a sketch in one of his notebooks, partially covered by written notes, that can be a self-portrait of the artist when he was young. The use of image processing, to remove the handwritten text and improve the image, allows a comparison of the two portraits.