Paul George Konody (30 July 1872 – 30 November 1933) was a Hungarian-born, London-based art critic and historian,[1] who wrote for several London newspapers, as well as writing numerous books and articles on noted artists and collections, with a focus on the Renaissance.

A recognized expert on the art of the Renaissance, he was lauded for his evaluation of claims of authenticity for works from that period, correctly debunking Wilhelm von Bode's assertion that a bust of Flora was sculpted by Leonardo da Vinci.

[10] Konody's evaluation was proven correct, as it was later exposed that the sculpture was likely created by English sculptor Richard Cockle Lucas, centuries after the time of Leonardo.

[10][11][12] Konody's 1911 book, The Louvre, with Maurice W. Brockwell, was well-reviewed in The Guardian, which found it to be "a large and substantial volume" with "scholarly and well balanced" accounts of the painters.

[19] Towards the beginning of 1914, Konody examined the recently rediscovered Isleworth Mona Lisa, and concluded that, unlike Bode's bust of Flora, it was in fact by Leonardo da Vinci.

Konody wrote that the reception of the painting had been marred by "some press agent who sent out the news broadcast, with wrong statements, misquotations, and other blunders galore", but nonetheless found that "though not altogether from the hand of Leonardo da Vinci himself, it emanates most certainly from his studio and was very largely worked up by the master himself".

[21][22] Blaker's father in law, John R. Eyre, wrote in a monograph defending the authenticity of the Isleworth Mona Lisa, "when this opinion was endorsed by an art critic of Mr. P. G. Konody's standing, I felt convinced there was at least good ground for investigation".

[23] In 1915, Konody "was commissioned to make a critical inventory of all the works of art in the national repositories of Constantinople", but this project was cancelled due to the escalation of World War I.

[29] In 1919, the New York Herald described Konody, then visiting the United States while directing the Canadian War Memorial Exhibition, as "[o]ne of the men best qualified to speak" on the authenticity of several contested paintings then being disputed which were claimed to have been produced during the Renaissance.