The mystery of Leonardo Da Vinci's lost masterpiece

After 35 years of fruitless research, art experts have decided to take a fairly drastic new method to solve the long-standing mystery of a famous Leonardo Da Vinci painting.

>>>Little secret about Leonardo da vinci

That method simply drilled a few small holes into the wall that they believed was hiding a long-lost masterpiece called 'Battle of Anghiari'.

Copy of the painting 'Battle of Anghiari'.

'In the next 2-3 months, one of the greatest mysteries of art history will be clarified,' said Matteo Renzi, the mayor of Florence.

Maurizio Serancini, an Italian art expert, said that in the 15th century, a Renaissance painter, Giorgio Vasari, painted the "Battle Of Marciano" at the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence. It is worth mentioning that it covers the wall to hide the 'Battle Of Anghiari'. Vasari left the message that the flag carries the words 'Cerca Trova' - meaning 'find and you will see' - alluding to a drawing that lies behind the picture.

In 1503, Leonardo and another painter of the time, Michelangelo, were tasked with painting the walls of the Vecchio palace. Leonardo started drawing 'Battle of Anghiari' on 6/6/1505, when he was 53 years old. This is his biggest mural, celebrating Florentine's historic victory over Milan in 1440.

In the book 'Lives of the Artists' written in 1550, Vasari (1511-1574) shows that Leonardo has done sketches, depictions ' vividly the rage and mad anger of the whole. warriors and horses' . He also added that Leonardo gave up the project because of technical problems arising from mixing oil paint.

Ten years later, Vasari was asked to revise the palace rooms, including a room reserved for Medici ruling families. Also at this time, the mural disappeared.

In 2000, at a conference discussing Da Vinci, the leading scholar Carlo Pedretti made the statement that Vasari kept Leonardo's masterpiece.

Recently, conducting complex tests using laser scanners, X-ray equipment and radar systems, Professor Serancini has discovered the hidden secret.

The 'Battle Of Marciano ' picture by Giorgio Vasari
at the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence

First, he reconstructed the image of the room before remodeling, found the original windows and doors because they were now replaced by walls. He then directed his focus on Vasari's work.

There, on a small green flag, Vasari wrote 'Cerca, trova' (look and you'll see). This caught Serancini's attention.

A survey conducted in September last year showed the presence of a void between the brick wall of Vasari painting and the original stone wall.

Using a less sophisticated but more invasive technique, Serancini and his team drilled holes in Vasari's painting and put the small camera in to capture the image inside the wall. The first hole revealed that an empty space below 2.5cm actually existed.

'We feel very touched. We all told ourselves that there might be nothing behind the wall. However, this result made people hope ' , Mayor Renzi could not hide the joy.

However, although Renzi emphasized that boreholes were made in some damage on Vasari's frescoes and would recover after the end of the study; But a heated debate has emerged from this approach.

'This is a moral question. We are obliged to protect the art works, but here they intervene directly on the picture ' , Cecilia Frosinini, Director of Art Restoration Laboratory Opificio delle Pietre Dure, protested.

According to Tomaso Montanari, an art historian from the University of Federico II in Naples, he said researchers will face disappointing results.'I believe Leonardo's masterpiece is not behind that wall. Vasari will never cover the work of an artist he admires in the hope that someday people will find it, " Montanari warned.