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From Tour Experiences

 PradoMuseuminforms the world of art about a new discovery of Da Vinci’s famous master piece Mona Lisa copy, thought to be the earliest.

The work offers art-lovers a tantalizing hint of what the model for the world’s most famous painting really looked like.

 Conservators found the portrait hidden beneath layers of black overpainting during restoration work on a picture initially thought to have been a later replica of the “Mona Lisa.”

 The restored version shows the same woman that Leonardo depicted, against a landscape similar to that shown in the background of the original, which now hangs in the Louvre inParis.

 And while the features of Leonardo’s subject have been dulled by centuries of dirt and layers of cracked varnish — which are unlikely ever to be removed — in the recently-rediscovered copy, she appears fresher faced and younger than her better-known “twin.”

 News of the find was revealed at a symposium atLondon’s National Gallery, linked to its blockbuster “Leonardo da Vinci: Painter at the Court of Milan” exhibition, and reported in the Art Newspaper.

 “This sensational find will transform our understanding of the world’s most famous picture,” the Art Newspaper reported, adding that the underdrawing found on theMadridversion “suggests that the original and the copy were begun at the same time and painted next to each other, as the work evolved.”

 Miguel Falomir, curator of Italian painting at the Prado, told a press conference at the museum expert analysis suggested a strong link between Leonardo and the artist who painted the copy.

“The painting was done in the painter’s own workshop,” he was quoted by AFP as saying.

 “It is absolutely consistent with Leonardo’s work,” he said, but he added: “It is a work in which Leonardo himself did not intervene.”

 The painting is expected to be unveiled to the public at thePradoMuseumlater this month.  It will then go on display at the Louvre in March, as part of the “Leonardo’s Final Masterpiece” exhibition, which focuses on his work, “The Virgin and Child with St. Anne.”

Saudi Arabia leaders will allow women to watch football matches in new stadiums to be designed exclusively for them.

Officials in the kingdom said women will be able to watch matches at the Jeddah stadium after specially constructed private cabins and balconies are completed in 2014, local media reported. 

“Sources close the stadium said more than 15 percent of the facility will be allocated for families when the facility is fully completed in 2014,” the Arabic daily Al Sharq said, quoting unnamed sources. 

“Besides families, female journalists and photographers will also be admitted into the stadium and will be allocated exclusive places away from male journalists so they can cover local and international events,” it added.

Saudi Arabia, home to Islam’s two holiest sites inMeccaandMedina, applies the austere WahhabischoolofSunni Islam. Liberal activists have long called for greater rights for women who cannot travel or work without the written permission of a male relative. The oil rich Gulf state also bans women from driving. 

While the ruling Al Saud family has always maintained a close relationship with the ultra conservative Wahhabi clerics, the government is pushing for reforms that give women more rights. 

King Abdullah in September announced a “cautious reform” in which he gave women the right to vote and stand for election in future local elections and to join the advisory Shura council.  

“Because we refuse to marginalise women in society in all roles that comply with sharia, we have decided, after deliberation with our senior ulama [clerics] and others … to involve women in the Shura council as members, starting from the next term,” he said in a speech.  

Saudi clerics were reportedly upset they were not consulted about the move prior to the announcement. “I wish the king did not say that he consulted senior clerics… When I heard the speech and what was said about consultation, without a doubt I had no knowledge of it before hearing the king’s speech,” Sheikh Saleh Al Lohaidan, one of the kingdom’s most senior clerics said in October.