WERE THESE FACES REALLY WORTH MORE THAN THE MONA LISA?

These are the cherubs from Raphael's painting the Sistine Madonna (below)

In 1911, after the theft of the Mona Lisa, there was a lot of talk about how much the painting was worth and $5,000,000 was the typical amount mentioned.  But an article in the New York Times said: "That is a large sum of money, preposterously large for any painting, but the intrinsic value of Da Vinci's portrait is probably only less than that of the Sistine Madonna." (NYT, Aug 23, 1911)

Painted between 1513-1514, the Sistine Madonna is one of Raphael's best-loved masterpieces.  It was highly regarded in art circles as perhaps the best example of western art -- even better than the Mona Lisa.

The canvas was originally located in the convent of St. Sixtus in Piacenza, Italy. It now hangs in a museum in Dresden, Germany.