Chalk sketch found inside book thought to be Leonardo da Vinci's 'first drawing'

London, April 22 (ANI): Tests are being carried out to discover whether an intricate red-chalk sketch of a man with a wispy beard found tucked inside a book is one of Leonardo da Vinci's first ever drawings.

At first it was believed the drawing, created around 1473, may be the work of an apprentice of the Renaissance artist but since da Vinci was an apprentice himself until the late 1470s, that makes that theory highly unlikely. He had become an apprentice at the age of 14 to an artist in Florence, reports the daily Mail.

Art historian Peter Hohenstaff said he is "highly convinced" that the find is "one of the first drawings" by the great Italian painter, born in Vinci, Florence, in 1452.

The composition of the paper used for the sketch and the chemical used to whiten the paper are both similar to those used by the artist in other known drawings.

Even more pointedly, a blank space in the Codex Atlanticus, a twelve-volume, bound set of drawings and writings by the artist, matches almost perfectly the 5.5in by 3.5in piece of paper which was drawn on.

After studying test results, the Biblioteca Ambrosiana library in Milan - which holds the Codex Atlanticus - will decide the authenticity of the sketch, reports CNN.

The drawing remained hidden for more than a century, between the cover and first page of a book that had belonged to the one-time Cardinal of Genoa.

The book ended up in the possession of the Ponzellini family when the Cardinal's house in the town of Moncalvo was sold, and it was a member of this family who came across the hidden sketch in 1940. (ANI)