'Three da Vinci sketches' discovered in Louvre

Three sketches very likely to be drawn by Leonardo da Vinci have been discovered on the back of one of the Florentine master's major works, the Louvre museum has announced.

The drawings, barely visible to the naked eye, were found on the flip side of Virgin And Child With St Anne (1519) during routine examination of the oil painting in the Louvre laboratory.

"When taking down the work, an oil on wood, a curator from the paintings department noticed two barely visible sketches on the back, representing a horse's head and half a skull," the Louvre said.

Deeper examination revealed a third sketch, a Baby Jesus and Lamb.

"This is an exceptional discovery as sketches on backs of works are very rare and there is no known example of one from Leonardo to this day," it added.