On examination of works of Leonardo da Vinci

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I am not convinced that they had found the right place for this article, but if anything, Admin it will bring in a more appropriate section. I myself have not seen this report - I have no TV, I just translated the text from this site (stupid is simple enough )

http://www.artcult.fr/_Lejournaldunf...mp;Chapitre=29


According to historians of art usually has more weight than the opinion of the scientist, even if the scientist himself a great lover of art.
French television program Arte (Arte) showed a report about Maurizio Serachini, scientist, lover of Leonardo da Vinci, who tried using the latest technologies to unravel the mystery of the masterpieces of this artist.

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For many years he worked with the works of Leonardo, but he still failed to convince art historians to be faithful to his theories, in particular, about the famous fresco "Battle of Anghiari," written at the beginning of the XVI century on the wall of one of the rooms of the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence. This mural was destroyed or covered with other paintings, when the Medici decided to update the decor of this room. Write new murals have been charged with the artist Giorgio Vasari, which he did. Vasari also the author of the famous book about the artists of the Renaissance, and it is based on this fact Serachini, arguing that Vasari too revered da Vinci, to dare to destroy the fresco. After many years of work with archives Serachini able to virtually restore the hall, on the wall which Leonardo wrote his fresco. He argues that it can be restored, but permission for a sensing he was denied.

Many art historians believe that it is very likely that when Vasari wrote of Leonardo fresco, it was already heavily damaged, as the da Vinci experimented with the technology of the frescoes. However Serachini unequivocally refuted this claim, finding the anonymous figure of the artist, dating from the year 155, and reproduces a fresco of the battle. As it can be seen that 50 years after its establishment, it was in excellent preservation. Serachini hypothesizes that Vasari, an ardent admirer of Leonardo, has done everything to save his work, and even left a coded message in his painting the walls, back-up wall with mural of Leonardo: «cerca, trova» (look for - and you will find). Serachini use sonar to probe the wall, which enabled him to determine what is really behind this wall is hiding the other.

Furthermore, when the Uffizi museum appealed to him to assess the risk of restoration of the famous "Adoration of the Magi" by Leonardo in 1481, Serachini said - and his statement caused a sensation - that this work belongs not by Leonardo, and that its author an unknown artist, who wrote her preparatory drawings of Leonardo.

Indeed, the production of a series of infra-red images with extremely accurate devices showed a sketch by Leonardo in all its glory - it depicted many characters, a self-portrait of the artist, who was then 29 years old, as well as the scene of a duel between two knights, which the artist used in 20 years at the time work on "Battle of Anghiari". "Adoration of the Magi" was commissioned by the Dominican Friars, but performing a sketch, Leonardo abandoned it. As demonstrated the technical and technological analysis, this preparatory drawing is likely many years was kept in the basement, where he suffered damage from dampness.

Serachini believes that the innovative nature of the work is not like the monks and they canceled my order. This theory is explained that the sketch was "painted" by another artist, who removed him from the undesirable elements.
In any case, Serachini proved that scientific analysis can provide meaningful assistance to art historians, although they prefer to build their opinions primarily on the basis of their knowledge and intuition. However, unlike intuition of scientific analysis that intuition is subjective, and scientific data can be assured. Thus, in the case of the "Adoration of the Magi" historians have been unable to understand that this work not written by Leonardo, and scientific analysis in a few days, presented compelling evidence.