The Battle of Anghiari (painting) - Possible Rediscovery

Possible Rediscovery

Maurizio Seracini, an Italian expert in high-technology art analysis, believes that behind one of the murals painted by Vasari, the "Battle of Marciano in Val di Chiana" (1563), Leonardo's Anghiari painting is hidden. In the upper part of Vasari's fresco, 12 meters above the ground, a Florentine soldier waves a green flag with the words "Cerca trova" ("He who seeks, finds"). These enigmatic words are suggested to be a hint from Vasari, who had praised The Battle of Anghiari highly in his writings, incomplete and damaged as it was.

Seracini believes it is unlikely that Vasari would have willingly destroyed da Vinci's work. Vasari's concealment and preservation of another painting, Masaccio's Holy Trinity, during a subsequent renovation project also assigned to him by Cosimo I is cited as precendent.

Using non-invasive techniques, such as a high-frequency, surface-penetrating radar and thermographic camera, Seracini made a survey of the hall. Among other results, he found out that Vasari had built another wall in front of the original east wall, where the original fresco of Leonardo da Vinci is believed to have been located. The sensors found a gap of 1 to 3 centimeters between the two walls, large enough for the older fresco to be preserved.

Since early 2007, the city council of Florence and the Italian Minister of Culture have given the green light for further investigation. In December 2011 Seracini and his associates drilled small holes through areas of the Vasari fresco believed to have been previously damaged and restored, hence no longer comprising "original paint" from Vasari's work. An endoscopic probe with a camera was extended into the cavity behind the curtain wall, and the team discovered fragments of pigment and indications of fresco surfacing on the plaster of the inner wall; samples were taken at the time, with the results being announced publicly on 12 March 2012. Seracini believes that this is conclusive evidence for the continued existence of da Vinci's fresco. Seracini's research is highly controversial with strong criticism being levelled against him for drilling the holes. In March 2012 researchers said "the material found behind the Vasari wall shows a chemical composition similar to black pigment found in brown glazes on Leonardo's Mona Lisa and St. John the Baptist, identified in a recently published scientific paper by the Louvre, which analyzed all the da Vinci paintings in its collection."

In September 2012, it was reported that research efforts to investigate the cavity behind Vasari's fresco have been discontinued, due to the conflicting views of interested parties, as to whether and how to proceed.

• Study of battles on Horseback and foot by Da Vinci
• Study of battles on Horseback and foot by Da Vinci {apparent sketch for Battle of The Standard at top right}
• Group of riders in the Battle of Anghiari by Da Vinci