| This picture provided by Britain's National Gallery shows Leonardo Da Vinci's "The Virgin on the Rocks," with a tracing of an unused drawing found by infrared reflectography, overlaid by the gallery over the original painting |
Gallery officials say they found the new drawing under a copy of one of Da Vinci's most celebrated works, The Virgin of The Rocks.
Art experts, using infrared technology to study how Da Vinci copied his original, found the uncompleted drawing. It depicts a woman with outstretched arms kneeling before what was planned to be the infant Jesus Christ.
A Roman Catholic religious organization commissioned the original Virgin of the Rocks, which hangs at the Louvre in Paris.
The copy was made after Da Vinci, pleased with the original, asked for more money. He sold the painting after his request was denied.
Da Vinci later agreed to do another painting. The experts say he may have begun with the new sketch and changed his mind after being persuaded to copy the original.
Some information for this report provided by AP and Reuters.