The commission that Leonardo received in October 1503 to paint a sprawling battle scene for Florence’s Council Hall in the Palazzo della Signoria could have become one of the most important of his life. Had he completed the mural along the lines of the preparatory drawings he made, the result would have been a narrative masterpiece as captivating a

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Even as Leonardo was perfecting the Mona Lisa, his followers and some of his students were making copies, perhaps with an occasional helping hand from the master. Some are very good, including those known as the Vernon Mona Lisa and the Isleworth Mona Lisa, prompting claims that they may have been painted wholly or mostly by Leonardo, though most a

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