Adolfo Venturi

[1] In 1923, author John R. Eyre reported Venturi's opinion on the Isleworth Mona Lisa, which had become known to the public a decade earlier, and was proposed to be a work of Leonardo da Vinci.

[2]Pursuant to museum director Corrado Ricci's claim that La Scapigliata had been forged by its former owner, Gaetano Callani,[3][4] causing it to be re-attributed as "by the school of Leonardo",[4] Venturi asserted that the work was by Leonardo, and revealed evidence that sought to link the work with the House of Gonzaga.

[5] It was reported that Venturi, "while admitting that the execution is very fine and that the picture resembles the lost original, nevertheless declared that the painting is too precious, too classical, too elegant to be entirely a product from the master's brush".

[5] Venturi's reputation as an art expert was called upon in 1929 in the Hahn vs. Duveen court case, a sensational trial that centred on the authenticity of a version of Leonardo da Vinci's La Belle Ferronière.

[6][7] In 1901 he began publishing his magnum opus, "Storia dell'arte italiana", a multi-volume work on the history of Italian art that spanned from the Early Christian era to the 16th century.