The Battle of Marciano in the Chiana Valley
In a report worthy of a Dan Brown novel, an Italian art expert claims he is on the verge of discovering a long-lost Leonardo da Vinci masterpiece – hidden in a secret cavity behind a palace wall. University professor Maurizio Serancini believes a clue in a huge painting in Florence’s Palazzo Vecchio appears to suggest that da Vinci’s The Battle of Anghiari is concealed behind it. The unfinished painting, from 1503, is believed to be an immense battle scene three times the size of da Vinci’s Last Supper. Professor Serancini has already used radar and X-ray to detect a cavity behind the wall of around an inch.
The current fresco features The Battle of Marciano in the Chiana Valley, by Giorgio Vasari, another Renaissance artist. Professor Serancini, who also appeared in Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code as an ‘Italian art diagnostician’, developed his theory after noticing a banner on Vasari’s painting which bears the words ‘Cerca Trova’ – which means seek and you will find.
Marco Agnoletti, a spokesman for Florence’s mayor Matteo Renzi, said: ‘For now, we just want to find out whether the Leonardo painting is there or not.
Da Vinci painted The Battle of Anghiari to mark Florence’s proclamation as a republic, following the toppling of the Medici family, but he didn’t finish it and when the Medicis returned to power in the 1560s, it is thought Vasari was commissioned to produce a new work in the same place.
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Written by JGD
Topics: Observations