Da Vinci’s lost masterpiece might have been found!

Zeenews Bureau

New Delhi: For five centuries, a masterpiece by Leonardo Da Vinci – ‘The Battle of Anghiari’ – was believed to have been lost. But that belief is probably to be proved wrong very soon. According to claims made by researchers in Florence, Italy, Da Vinci’s lost masterpiece might have stayed concealed for five hundred years on a wall in a cavity in the town hall in Florence. Towards the end of 2011, researchers had drilled tiny holes in a fresco on the wall in the Palazzo Vecchio. According to them, the concealed cavity is supposed to be situated there. A 4mm wide probe was inserted to film the interiors of the cavity, and samples of paint were retrieved. The retrieved paint samples turned out to be similar to the kind that Da Vinci had used for painting the Mona Lisa. In 1504, while working in the Hall of Five Hundred in the Palazzo Vecchio, Leonardo Da Vinci had been able to complete only the centrepiece of his work. The room had been renovated in 1555, and ‘The Battle of Anghiari’ was believed to have been lost forever, somewhere in the debris of the old room. The paint samples that have been retrieved from the cavity are the same as that in the Mona Lisa. The pigment used is probably the kind that only Leonardo Da Vinci used. Also, Da Vinci was working on his ‘Mona Lisa’ during that time. The mystery behind the lost masterpiece might finally be unravelled, and the Master’s half-finished work might now be available for people to gape at. After a good five centuries of hibernation, ‘The Battle of Anghiari’ might finally be recovered!