The battle for the Battle of Anghiari
December 6 2011
Picture: Alinari Archives
Some art historians have got their knickers in a frightful twist over Maurizio Seracini's search for Leonardo's lost mural, The Battle of Anghiari (of which the drawing above by Rubens shows a small detail). The mural was painted by Leonardo in Florence's Palazzo Vecchio, but, like The Last Supper, began to deteriorate so fast that it was covered over by another work by Giorgio Vasari.
Now Seracini believes Vasari, in an act of deference to Leonardo, didn't paint on top of the great man's work, but left a gap between it and his new mural. And by drilling a series of tiny holes through which to pass a microscopic camera, he hopes to see what is left of it. But, says The Guardian:
...150 art historians from museums including the New York Met and the National Gallery in London have signed a petition to stop the work, angry at the fact that holes are being drilled in the front wall bearing its own renown fresco, Giorgio Vasari's The Battle of Marciano in Val di Chiana, painted in 1563.
"We also believe that Da Vinci painted on the wall opposite, but Seracini just doesn't know his art history," said Tomaso Montanari, the art history professor who started the petition. Backing the experts, the heritage group Italia Nostra has complained to Florence magistrates, who have opened an investigation.
AHN says - chill out. Seracini's theory may be a bit Da Vinci Code. But his tiny holes are, well, tiny. And imagine how exciting it would be if he did find fragments of Leonardo's original...
