SEARCH RESUMES FOR LEONARDO MASTERPIECE

The search for a lost Leonardo da Vinci fresco, regarded by his contemporaries as his masterpiece, is to resume, reports the New York Times‘ Lawrence Van Gelder. The Italian culture minister, Francesco Rutelli, and officials in Florence announced last week that they had approved renewed exploration in the Palazzo Vecchio, where some researchers believe a cavity in a wall may have preserved the masterwork, Leonardo’s unfinished mural of the Battle of Anghiari, for more than four centuries. “We are not talking about a search like any other,” said art researcher Maurizio Seracini. “We are searching for Leonardo’s greatest masterpiece, considered as such by his contemporaries.”