No One Can Solve This da Vinci Painting for 500 Years

The Portrait of a Musician is one of Leonardo da Vinci's most enigmatic works, and its main mystery is that, to this day, no one knows exactly who is depicted in the painting. It was painted in Milan, approximately in the late 1480s. For nearly four centuries, it was believed to be Ludovico Sforza, the Duke of Milan and Leonardo's patron. Everything changed in 1904, when restorers began cleaning the painting. Beneath a later layer of paint, they discovered something no one had seen before—the hand of a young man holding a sheet of paper with musical notes. This small discovery completely changed the way the work was understood. The researchers were no longer looking at a portrait of a powerful duke, but at a mysterious young man connected with music. Moreover, on the surviving sheet, researchers noticed not only musical notes, but also letters that could contain a clue to the sitter's identity. It seemed that the discovered musical score would finally help establish who was depicted. But the opposite happened. Instead of providing an answer, it raised even more questions. Today, the Portrait of a Musician is housed in the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana in Milan. It is small in size, measuring just 45 by 32 centimeters, and it is the only surviving male portrait by Leonardo. We see a young man with shoulder-length curly hair and a red cap. He is looking somewhere beyond the picture, as if his attention has been drawn to something invisible to the viewer. His gaze is especially striking because of the light falling on his face and emphasizing his large, bright eyes, which should have been affected equally by the light. Yet in the painting, the right pupil is noticeably more dilated than the left. For a real human eye, such a difference is practically impossible, and this raises a question. Was this an accidental mistake by the artist, or did Leonardo deliberately leave this peculiarity in the painting? The identity of the sitter was long associated with Ludovico Sforza, the powerful Duke of Milan and one of Leonardo da Vinci's principal patrons. The theory seemed quite logical. Leonardo was working at his court and receiving commissions from him, so he could certainly have painted a portrait of his patron. However, the young man in the painting looks nothing like the person we would expect to see in an official portrait of a ruler. There are no luxurious clothes, symbols of power, or deliberate signs of grandeur. Instead, he is depicted quite simply, with a focused and even slightly detached expression. It was the restoration that became a turning point in the history of this portrait. It ultimately weakened the hypothesis that the sitter was Ludovico Sforza, and forced researchers to look for the answer in other details of the painting. Let us take a closer look at the folded sheet of paper in the young man's hands. It contains surviving musical notes and several mysterious letters, usually read as CANT and UNG. Because of damage to the lower part of the painting, most of the inscription is now almost impossible to make out. For the Renaissance, details like these were rarely accidental. They could tell us much more about a person than their clothing or facial expression. Therefore, the musical sheet in the man's hands may not have been simply an indication of his profession. Perhaps Leonardo left a clue here that was meant to help identify him. Today, there are several theories. The most likely candidate is Atalante Migliorotti. He was a Tuscan musician and a friend of Leonardo. While still in Florence, he became part of Leonardo's circle, and around 1482, he traveled with the artist to Milan. The very fact that he was close to Leonardo makes this theory particularly interesting. In one document connected with Leonardo's preparations for his move to Milan, there is a surviving list of the belongings and works the artist intended to take with him. Among them is a mention of a portrait of a person named Atalante. This detail became one of the main reasons researchers began connecting the young man depicted in the painting with the musician Atalante Migliorotti. This is particularly important because the document dates from the same period in which the portrait of a musician was created. However, there is another theory. Among the people surrounding Leonardo in Milan was Franchino Gaffurio, a well-known musician, composer, and music theorist closely associated with the court of Ludovico Sforza. Let us return to the letters on the sheet. Some researchers suggest that they may be an abbreviation of the Latin expression cantum angelicum, angelic singing. Franchino Gaffurio wrote a musical treatise that can be translated as Angelic and Divine Work. This has led to the theory that the mysterious letters on the sheet refer specifically to Gaffurio and his musical works. However, this theory faces a serious problem. Gaffurio was born in 1451, so by the time the portrait of a musician was created, usually dated to the mid-1480s, he was already more than 35 years old. That seems too old for the young man depicted in the painting. In addition, the connection between the inscription and his name remains highly uncertain. Another possible candidate was Josquin Desprez, one of the greatest composers of the Renaissance. His music was known far beyond Italy, and his name had already become almost legendary during his lifetime. It is entirely possible to imagine Leonardo painting such a man, but here again, there is no evidence. There are no reliable documents directly connecting him with the portrait. Most specialists rule out this candidate because his age also does not correspond to the young man depicted in the painting. So, the identity of the man and the content of the sheet of music he holds in his hands are among the painting's greatest mysteries. But there is something else that makes the story even more complicated. Look at how unevenly the entire painting is executed. The young man's face is rendered with extraordinary precision, the soft transitions between light and shadow, the characteristic three-quarter turn of the head, the attentive gaze, and the delicate modeling of his features are all techniques that became hallmarks of Leonardo's portraits. Even the dark background, which almost merges with the figure, enhances the sense of volume and draws attention to the sitter's face. But look away from the face, and the picture changes completely. The clothing, hair, and some other details are far less carefully rendered and, in places, appear unfinished. This makes it especially difficult to determine which parts of the portrait were actually painted by Leonardo himself, and which may have been completed by assistants or students. This is one of the reasons the painting was attributed to other artists for a long time. Its uneven quality and varying degrees of completion made Leonardo's authorship seem uncertain. And the sheet of music only makes the situation more complicated. It is unclear who actually painted it, and at what stage of the work it was added. Perhaps the sheet was painted by Leonardo himself, or perhaps it was added by someone in his workshop at a later date. What we may be looking at is not simply an unfinished portrait, but a work that could have passed through different hands at different stages of its creation. And the more closely researchers examine its surface, the harder it becomes to answer the central question. What did Leonardo originally intend this portrait to look like? Perhaps that is precisely why The Portrait of a Musician remains one of the master's most mysterious works. Research has revealed what was hidden for centuries, but instead of providing definitive answers, the painting has raised even more questions. Today, we know far more about the painting than its viewers did several centuries ago. Yet we still cannot answer the most important question. What was the name of the man who posed for Leonardo? We can still see his face before us, yet we still don't know who he was. And what do you think? Who is depicted in this mysterious portrait? Share your opinion in the comments.