The sketches were found in a routine examination in the Louvre laboratory of the Italian master’s 1500 oil painting on wood, Virgin and Child with St. Further examination with an infrared camera revealed a third sketch, a baby Jesus playing with a lamb, which may be a draft for the child in The Virgin and Child with St. A French art exhibit comparing the work of Pablo Picasso against that of great masters such as El Greco, Rembrandt and Van Gogh has proved so popular that it will stay open all day as the show winds down. Citing division among its membership, the Screen Actors Guild delayed a vote Monday that would authorize the union to call a strike and bring the entertainment business to a halt. A former actor on the hit show The Sopranos has been cleared of second-degree murder in the shooting death of an off-duty policeman during a drunken search for drugs. The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission has issued a scathing report on the use of air strikes and nighttime raids by international forces in the country.

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The works were discovered accidentally when the work “The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne” was unhooked to be studied and restored as part of a program that also includes the “Mona Lisa”. The Louvre museum stated, “When the work, which is painted on wood, was unhooked, a curator noticed two barely visible drawings on the back of the painting, showing a horse’s head and half a skull. The museum further stated, “This is an exceptional discovery because drawings on the back of paintings are very rare and no example by Leonardo was previously known. The style of the drawings recalls the style of Leonardo, but research is ongoing to clarify their authorship.

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Described by the museum as an “exceptional discovery,” two drawings — of a horse’s head and half a skull — were found when the painting was sent to a laboratory for a routine re-examination. Bruno Mottin , the curator who conducted the analysis, told the newspaper Libération. Though the style of the drawings resembles Leonardo’s, the museum said further research was needed. A version of this article appeared in print on December 19, 2008, on page C2 of the New York edition.

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Leonardo da Vinci that look like they might be by the Italian master himself, the Louvre said on Thursday. It was such an astonishing discovery that other Louvre staff present at the time could not believe it and initially said the marks on the wood must be stains. After the initial find, the museum conducted detailed tests on the back of the painting. It said the drawings recalled some of Leonardo's known works and suggested that the child and lamb could have been sketches for the painting on the other side of the piece of wood. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon.

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