La Scapigliata (Italian for 'The Lady with Dishevelled Hair') is an unfinished painting generally attributed to the Italian High Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci, and dated c. 1506–8. Painted in oil, umber and white lead pigments on a small poplar wood panel, its attribution remains controversial, with several experts attributing the work to a student of Leonardo. The painting has been admired for its captivating beauty, mysterious demeanor, and mastery of sfumato.
There is no real consensus on the painting's subject, date, history or purpose. It shows an unknown woman gazing downward while her hair fills the frame behind her. Many theories regarding the subject have been proposed, such as the painting being a sketch for an uncompleted painting of Saint Anne; a study for the London version of The Virgin of the Rocks or Leda and the Swan painting, now a lost work; or—for its aesthetic value—a purposefully unfinished painting.
The painting was recorded in a 1826 sale of Gaetano Callani's collection to the Galleria Nazionale di Parma, the museum the currently houses it, but proof of its existence may date back to 1531. Most scholars attribute it as a work by Leonardo da Vinci—though many are silent on the issue—and it has been listed as such in various major Leonardo exhibitions.
(wikipedia)