<p> A music professor in the US has identified what he believes to be a rare image of Italian polymath Leonardo da Vinci in a 500-year-old engraving.<br /><br /></p>.<p>The engraving carved by Italian artist Marcantonio Raimondi in 1505 shows da Vinci playing a lira da braccio - a European bowed string instrument of the Renaissance.<br /><br />If verified, the engraving could be one of only three known depictions of the artist created while he was alive.<br /><br />The engraving has belonged to the Cleveland Museum of Art since the 1930s, but the figure has long thought to be of Orpheus, a musician in Greek mythology, LiveScience reported.<br /><br />Ross Duffin, a music professor at Case Western Reserve University in US, identified the man in the engraving as da Vinci in an article published in Cleveland Art magazine.<br /><br />He said that while Orpheus is usually depicted as a clean-shaven youth, the musician in the drawing is in his "late middle age, with a beard and centrally parted hair with long curls".<br /><br />Duffin compares the engraving with a portrait of da Vinci drawn by Francesco Melzi, "who joined the 54-year-old Leonardo's household as an assistant in 1506 and eventually became his principal heir."<br /><br />"Melzi's portrait shows a man with a beard and long curls, and the very slight bump in his nose and the ridge above the brow are an excellent match for the long-haired, bearded [man] in the Marcantonio engraving," he said.<br /><br />According to Duffin, the biggest clue is in the lira da braccio that the person in the engraving is playing - an instrument known to have been played by da Vinci.<br /><br />Some experts seem to agree with Duffin's idea about the engraving being that of da Vinci.<br /><br />"This is serious and stands some chance of being right," said Martin Kemp, a professor emeritus of art history at Oxford University.<br /><br />However, when and how Marcantonio met da Vinci remains a mystery, Kemp said.<br />He said Marcantonio was working in Bologna at this early stage of his career, and there is no obvious way they would have met.<br /><br />There is some chance the two men might have met in Milan in 1506-1507 during a production of 'Orfeo' - an opera on the Orpheus myth.<br /><br />"At this stage, I would say that it is temptingly possible but unproven," Kemp added.</p>
<p> A music professor in the US has identified what he believes to be a rare image of Italian polymath Leonardo da Vinci in a 500-year-old engraving.<br /><br /></p>.<p>The engraving carved by Italian artist Marcantonio Raimondi in 1505 shows da Vinci playing a lira da braccio - a European bowed string instrument of the Renaissance.<br /><br />If verified, the engraving could be one of only three known depictions of the artist created while he was alive.<br /><br />The engraving has belonged to the Cleveland Museum of Art since the 1930s, but the figure has long thought to be of Orpheus, a musician in Greek mythology, LiveScience reported.<br /><br />Ross Duffin, a music professor at Case Western Reserve University in US, identified the man in the engraving as da Vinci in an article published in Cleveland Art magazine.<br /><br />He said that while Orpheus is usually depicted as a clean-shaven youth, the musician in the drawing is in his "late middle age, with a beard and centrally parted hair with long curls".<br /><br />Duffin compares the engraving with a portrait of da Vinci drawn by Francesco Melzi, "who joined the 54-year-old Leonardo's household as an assistant in 1506 and eventually became his principal heir."<br /><br />"Melzi's portrait shows a man with a beard and long curls, and the very slight bump in his nose and the ridge above the brow are an excellent match for the long-haired, bearded [man] in the Marcantonio engraving," he said.<br /><br />According to Duffin, the biggest clue is in the lira da braccio that the person in the engraving is playing - an instrument known to have been played by da Vinci.<br /><br />Some experts seem to agree with Duffin's idea about the engraving being that of da Vinci.<br /><br />"This is serious and stands some chance of being right," said Martin Kemp, a professor emeritus of art history at Oxford University.<br /><br />However, when and how Marcantonio met da Vinci remains a mystery, Kemp said.<br />He said Marcantonio was working in Bologna at this early stage of his career, and there is no obvious way they would have met.<br /><br />There is some chance the two men might have met in Milan in 1506-1507 during a production of 'Orfeo' - an opera on the Orpheus myth.<br /><br />"At this stage, I would say that it is temptingly possible but unproven," Kemp added.</p>