A Switzerland-based foundation presented a painting they believe to be an earlier version of the Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci, the world-famous work that hangs in the Louvre Museum in Paris.

The Mona Lisa Foundation, which has been working with the anonymous owners of the "Isleworth Mona Lisa," says that after 35 years of research, experts believe it pre-dates the famed 16th-century masterpiece by about 12 years based on regression tests, mathematical comparisons and historical and archival records.

Allesandro Vezzosi, founder and director of the Leonardo da Vinci Museum in Italy, presented the piece in Geneva on Thursday. He said he was not categorically convinced the piece could be attributed yet, rather that academics were at a stage "of work in progress and hypothetical study."

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