Creator of $150 Million da Vinci Discovered

An alleged Leonardo da Vinci drawing in a private collection, "La Bella Principessa," widely reputed to be worth $150 million and subject of worldwide publicity and a recent book, may actually be a work by the eminent 19th-century German artist Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld (1794-1872), one of the little-known Nazarene Brotherhood of German painters working in Rome who copied the styles and subjects of Italian Renaissance masters.

Most experts in Leonardo's drawings and many noted art historians have rejected the "Principessa" as a Leonardo but the real creator has been a mystery since first reported in The New York Times (NYSE: NYT) two years ago. No other artist has been suggested until now.