FLORENCE, ITALY – The discovery of black paint similar to that used in the Mona Lisa has spurred fresh hope that Leonardo da Vinci’s fabled lost fresco The Battle of Anghiari may be hidden behind a wall in Florence’s Palazzo Vecchio.
The fresco is believed to have been hidden by painter and art historian Giorgio Vasari when he was commissioned to do another fresco in Florence’s municipal headquarters. Art sleuth Seracini’s team began the latest quest for this Holy Grail of world culture in December.
“We also found red and beige, other colours typical of Leonardo,” said team leader Maurizio Seracini. ”We’re definitely looking behind the right wall,” said Florence cultural heritage superintendent Cristina Acidini.
Evidence claiming the fabled fresco was behind a secret wall in Palazzo Vecchio was first presented seven years ago. But experts weren’t sure about it, and officials initially balked at the idea of knocking through the later wall painting by Vasari in the Salone dei Cinquecento.
Florence authorities gave the green light to the drillers, who punched a hole in the Vasari. Seracini has been yearning to get close to the rumoured Anghiari fresco for the last 36 years and has written several books on it.
“We’re poised to put an end to a great search, we’re hoping the Battle of Anghiari is there,” said Florence Mayor Matteo Renzi. “I’m sure we’ll get the definitive word on the greatest mystery in the history of art,” he said.
The project went ahead after a scale model of the two walls was built at San Diego University, a major funder of the one-million-euro project along with three private foundations. Bits of the original fresco were recreated on the inner wall of the model, so that experts could simulate going in without damaging the real thing.
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Wonderful. I hope to see it this summer. When my drawing class comes from the USA
Frances Rodman: “Courage is sometimes frail as hope is frail a fragile shoot between two stones that grows brave toward the sun though warmth and brightness fail, striving and faith the only strength it knows.”
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I savor, result in I discovered exactly what I was having a look for. You have ended my four day lengthy hunt! Have a nice day. Bye
Well, if four days is “lengthy”, what shall we say about Maurizio’s 36 **years**…?
It is also true that the rest of the statement isn’t really understandable. Ah, well, education isn’t what it used to be.
Will be there in August to check on progress!
Hmm… Looks like there’s not going to be much progress by August: I just read in this article from the French magazine “Le Point” (http://www.lepoint.fr/culture/le-mystere-insondable-de-la-bataille-d-anghiari-13-12-2011-1406817_3.php) that a hundred or so art critics and experts (quite a few of them probably jealous of Maurizio) have filed a judicial complaint, citing concerns for the overlying Vasari fresco, and pretending that the Leonardo masterpiece is “a dream”.
If such a complaint has indeed been filed, then the whole matter is now buried for years (if not decades) in the entrails of the renowned Italian judicial system…