News Archive Item
IGERT-TEECH: Data Support Theory on Location of Lost Leonardo da Vinci Painting
Description:
Evidence uncovered during research conducted in Florence’s Palazzo Vecchio late last year appears to support the theory that a lost Leonardo da Vinci painting existed on the east wall of the Hall of the 500, behind Giorgio Vasari’s mural “The Battle of Marciano.” The data supporting the theoretical location of the da Vinci painting “The Battle of Anghiari” was obtained through the use of an endoscopic probe that was inserted through the wall on which the Vasari fresco was painted. The probe was fitted with a camera and allowed a team of researchers, led by scientist Maurizio Seracini, to see what was behind the Vasari and gather samples for further testing.
This comprehensive research effort was led by the National Geographic Society and University of California, San Diego’s (UCSD) Center of Interdisciplinary Science for Art, Architecture and Archaeology (CISA3), in partnership with the City of Florence. CISA3 is based at the UCSD division of the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2). Work conducted in Palazzo Vecchio’s Hall of the 500 was completed in collaboration with the Florentine Superintendency for Cultural Heritage and the Opificio delle Pietre Dure, the Italian state art restoration center based in Florence.
Using endoscopic technology provided by Olympus and Wolff, researchers were able to view the wall behind the Vasari mural and obtain samples for analysis. The data from chemical analysis, while not conclusive, suggest the possibility that the da Vinci painting, long assumed to have been destroyed in the mid-16th century when the Hall of the 500 was completely remodeled, might exist behind the Vasari.
“These data are very encouraging,” said National Geographic Fellow Maurizio Seracini, founding director of UCSD CISA3. “Although we are still in the preliminary stages of the research and there is still a lot of work to be done to solve this mystery, the evidence does suggest that we are searching in the right place.”
http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/pressreleases/data_sup...
The research of “The Battle of Anghiari” will be the subject of the documentary “Finding the Lost Da Vinci,” which will begin premiering globally on the National Geographic Channel Sunday, March 18, including a broadcast in the United States that night, and in Italy on Tuesday, March 20, at 9 p.m. on National Geographic Channel HD (Sky platform, channel 403). The Channel can be seen in over 435 million homes, in 173 countries and in 37 languages.
The Italian edition of National Geographic magazine published a story on the “The Battle of Anghiari” project in its February 2012 issue.
