A journalist on an Italian state TV science program on Friday claimed to have discovered a drawing by Leonardo da Vinci which could be a self-portrait of the artist as a young man. Piero Angela told a news conference in Rome to promote his program on a RAI channel that the drawing was hidden under writing in one of Leonardo's notebooks. In a promotional article on RAI's Web site, Angela wrote that only a nose was visible from under heavy scribbling on a notebook page. A technician in RAI's graphics lab worked months to isolate the image from a facsimile. What emerged is a drawing of a young man, with long hair, slight beard and looking like he's lost in thought. Angela said he consulted with two face surgeons in Rome so they could compare known portrait drawing of Leonardo as an old man with the drawing of the young man. The surgeons concluded there were similarities, as did Italian police who prepare drawings of suspects, the TV journalist said. The original drawing is contained in the so-called Codex on the flight of birds, which is kept in Turin's Royal Library.
