Scientific search for a lost da Vinci painting

[bixaorellana]

from the article: “The Battle of Anghiari,” [was] the largest painting Leonardo ever undertook (three times the width of “The Last Supper”). Although it was never completed — Leonardo abandoned it in 1506 — he left a central scene of clashing soldiers and horses that was hailed as an unprecedented study of anatomy and motion. For decades, artists like Raphael went to the Hall of 500 to see it and make their own copies.

Then it vanished. During the remodeling of the hall in 1563, the architect and painter Giorgio Vasari covered the walls with frescoes of military victories by the Medicis, who had returned to power. Leonardo’s painting was largely forgotten.

But in 1975, when Dr. Seracini studied one of Vasari’s battle scenes, he noticed a tiny flag with two words, “Cerca Trova”: essentially, seek and ye shall find. Was this Vasari’s signal that something was hidden underneath?

www.nytimes.com/2009/10/06/science/06tier.html

[Deleted]

To this day, frescoes of major interest are still covered up when things are being remodeled in France. However, if the artwork has been 'classified' it may not be destroyed or damaged. So even though some places have gone ahead in Paris with total changes of décor (mostly theatres and cafés), the artworks are protected under the new walls and may be rediscovered in 20 or 50 or 100 years.

[fumobici]

Here's a photo looking down on the battle site depicted in the missing DaVinci.

[bixaorellana]

What a great picture, Fumobici! One of my favorite things in Renaissance and early Renaissance painting are all the glimpses of landscape through windows and doors. This looks exactly like one of those.