Anghiari is a small picturesque town in Tuscany, which is nestled on the side of a steep hill. In the distance you can see the city of Sansepolcro - the birthplace of the great genius Pietro della Francesca. Between the two settlements there is a wide plain, the valley of the young Tiber, and the path of the famous river begins nearby. It was in this valley between the two cities that the Battle of Anghiari took place on June 29, 1440. It became part of the Lombard Wars between the Italian League and Milan.
Modern view of Anghiari
During the first half of the 15th century, wars did not stop in northern Italy. Milan increased its power; it tried to conquer small independent cities in Lombardy and Tuscany. He was opposed by the powerful Venice and Florence. To wage war, cities hired condottieri - military leaders with their armies. They were paid huge salaries.
In the 15th century, wars almost never stopped in northern Italy.
In 1440, after a series of conflicts, Milan found itself in an extremely unpleasant situation: the troops of Duke Visconti suffered several sensitive defeats. The famous condottiere Niccolo Piccini, who fought on the side of Milan, was ordered to leave Tuscany to the north - to Lombardy. At this moment, the glorious warrior learns that the League army is located very nearby - near Anghiari. Niccolo had numerical superiority and the factor of surprise; he decided to try his luck and attack. Moreover, in Borgo Sansepolcro another 2 thousand townspeople joined him in the hope of reaping the fruits of a future victory.
Niccolo Piccini
The League soldiers were completely unprepared for battle. They expected the enemy to retreat and hoped to win the war for Tuscany without so much as a swing of the sword. The army was commanded by another condottiere, Micheletto Attendolo. Under his command were 300 Venetian horsemen, 4,000 Florentine infantry and the same number of papal soldiers. By some miracle, Micheletto noticed clouds of dust in the distance, realized that it was the enemy, and very quickly managed to line up his fighters.
Micheletto Attendolo was very lucky - he noticed the approach of the enemy
As a result, the soldiers clashed right on the bridge over the Tiber. Detailed description the battle left Machiavelli, although he did it several decades later: “Micheletto valiantly withstood the onslaught of the first enemy troops and even pushed them back, but Piccini, approaching with selected troops, attacked Micheletto so fiercely that he captured the bridge, and threw him back to the very rise to the city of Anghiari." After this, the Florentines and papal soldiers “hardly” hit Piccini’s troops from both flanks and pushed him behind the bridge. “This fight lasted two hours, and the bridge was constantly changing hands,” writes Machiavelli.
Micheletto Attendolo's decisive attack at the Battle of San Romano, part of the triptych Battle of San Romano by Paolo Uccello. Louvre, Paris
But the equal battle was only for the bridge. In all other places the Milanese failed. The fact is that as soon as they crossed over to the enemy’s side, they were met by a large army, which, thanks to its favorable location on the plain, constantly put fresh fighters forward. It was very convenient to change positions. When the Florentines crossed the bridge, Niccolo could not promptly send help due to large quantity ditches and potholes on the road. The enemy left them in advance.
As a result of the battle, only one rider died, who accidentally fell from his horse
“And so it happened that every time Niccolo’s soldiers crossed the bridge, they were immediately driven back by fresh enemy forces. Finally, the Florentines firmly captured the bridge, and their troops were able to cross onto the wide road. The speed of their onslaught and the inconvenience of the terrain did not give Niccolo time to support his own with fresh reinforcements, so those who were in front got mixed up with those coming behind, confusion arose, and the entire army was forced to flee, and everyone was no longer thinking about anything but salvation. without thinking, he rushed towards Borgo...”, Machiavelli describes the situation.
Florentine soldiers took thousands of people prisoner, seized carts, banners, horses and weapons. In Machiavelli's description, the battle seems grandiose; fantasy depicts dozens of horsemen who died on the bridge for several hours. But the outcome of the battle was somewhat different. There was only one victim - the knight unsuccessfully fell from his horse and broke his spine. No one else died. This can be explained by the fact that warriors at that time wore very powerful armor and it was extremely difficult to wound each other.
Hall of Five Hundred. Palazzo Vecchio, Florence
At the same time, for Milan this defeat was not significant. Losses in weapons and horses could be easily restored, and prisoners could be ransomed. Meanwhile, if Florence had lost, it would likely have lost its control of Tuscany. Victoria's joy was such that 60 years later, the Florentine gonfaloniere Soderini ordered a fresco from Leonardo da Vinci on the theme of the Battle of Anghiari. The master painted one of the walls in the Hall of the Five Hundred in the Palazzo Vecchio. Another genius worked opposite him - Michelangelo.
Peter Paul Rubens. Copy of "The Battle of Anghiari" by Leonardo da Vinci
Fresco for a long time was considered lost. Allegedly, Vasari left his painting instead. On the other hand, scientists drew attention to the small inscription on Vasari’s canvas “let the seeker find.” A cavity was discovered behind his fresco. Some scientists suggest that it was there that Leonardo's masterpiece was preserved. But no full-fledged studies have been carried out yet.
painting by Leonardo da Vinci - The Battle of Anghiari
History of creation"Battle of Anghiari" (Italian: Battaglia di Anghiari, also sometimes translated as "Battle of Anghiari") is a lost fresco by Leonardo da Vinci. The artist worked on it in 1503 - 1506. The fresco was intended to decorate one of the walls of the Great Council Hall (Salon of the Five Hundred) of the Palace of the Lord in Florence. Copies of the cardboard for this fresco have survived. One of best drawings- by Rubens - is in the collection of the Louvre.
The fresco was commissioned by Leonardo da Vinci by Gonfaloniere Soderini to celebrate the restoration of the Florentine Republic after the expulsion of Piero de' Medici.
At the same time as Leonardo, Soderini commissioned Michelangelo to paint the opposite wall of the hall.
For the battle scene, da Vinci chose the battle that took place on June 29, 1440, between the Florentines and Milanese troops under the command of the condottiere Niccolò Piccinino. Despite their numerical superiority, the Milanese were defeated by a small Florentine detachment.
According to the artist’s plan, the fresco was to become his largest work. In size (6.6 by 17.4 meters) it was three times larger than “ last supper" Leonardo carefully prepared to create the painting, studied the description of the battle and outlined his plan in a note presented to the Senoria. To work on the cardboard, which took place in the Papal Hall at the Church of Santa Maria Novella, Leonardo designed special scaffolding that folded and unfolded, raising and lowering the artist to the required height. The central part of the fresco was occupied by one of the key moments of the battle - the battle of a group of horsemen for the banner.
According to Vasari preparatory drawing was recognized as a thing:
outstanding and executed with great skill because of the most amazing observations applied by him in the depiction of this dump, for in this depiction the people show the same rage, hatred and vindictiveness as the horses, two of which are intertwined with their front legs and fight with their teeth with no less ferocity than their horsemen fighting for the banner...
Leonardo continued the experiments he began when creating The Last Supper with paint compositions and primers. There are various assumptions about the reasons for the destruction of the fresco, which began already during the work process. According to Vasari, Leonardo wrote on the wall oil paints, and the painting began to become damp during the work process. Da Vinci's anonymous biographer says that he used Pliny's mixture recipe (encaustic wax painting) but misinterpreted it. The same anonymous author claims that the wall was dried unevenly: at the top it was damp, while at the bottom it was dry under the influence of coal braziers. Leonardo turned to wax paints, but some of the pigments soon simply evaporated. Leonardo, trying to correct the situation, continued working with oil paints. Paolo Giovio says that the plaster did not accept the nut oil-based composition. Due to technical difficulties, work on the fresco itself progressed slowly. Problems of a material nature arose: the Council demanded that either finished work or return the money paid. Da Vinci's work was interrupted by his invitation to Milan in 1506 by the French governor Charles d'Amboise. The fresco remained unfinished.
In 1555 - 1572, the Medici family decided to reconstruct the hall. Vasari and his assistants carried out the restructuring. As a result, Leonardo's work was lost - its place was taken by Vasari's fresco "The Battle of Marciano".
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In Italy, scientists have uncovered a secret that had been hidden in plain sight for almost 500 years. The fresco by Leonardo da Vinci was considered destroyed, but all these centuries it was in the center of Florence, in one of the most famous palaces.
For art historians, the results of a study by a group of scientists led by expert Maurizio Seracini became a real sensation. Until now, it was believed that Leonardo da Vinci's fresco "The Battle of Anghiari" was lost forever.
It was created at the very beginning of the 16th century and adorned the wall of one of the most famous buildings in Florence - Palazzo Vecchio for only about 60 years. According to historical documents, in 1563, during the reconstruction of the palace, she was buried under a fresco by another master - Giorgio Vasari - “The Battle of Marciano”.
Maurizio Seracini, who devoted himself to studying the work of his great compatriot, was almost the only one who did not believe in the sad fate of Leonardo’s creation. The scientist suggested that Giorgio Vasari, who admired the da Vinci fresco in his diaries, could not destroy it with my own hand. To preserve the original, he first covered it with a kind of false wall, on which his own battle scene.
Recent acoustic studies have confirmed that there is a gap of no more than 3 millimeters between the Vasari fresco and the main wall. Experts led by Maurizio Seracini, using a special probe, entered the discovered cavity and took samples of materials. The results of the examination confirmed the wildest hopes.
"In the samples we found chemical substances, including black pigment, which was used only in the works of Leonardo da Vinci. And this cannot be a mere coincidence,” says art historian Maurizio Seracini.
There is another curious circumstance that experts paid attention to in their research. On Vasari’s fresco you can read a barely discernible phrase, translated: “Seek and you will find,” or in a modern way, “He who seeks will always find.” It is possible that in this way the artist wanted to hint to his descendants what was hidden under his work.
In the near future, scientists and art historians must decide what to do with the newly acquired masterpiece of the brilliant da Vinci.
“We plan to first carefully remove parts of the Battle of Marciano Vasari fresco, those that have already been restored several times. This will allow us to check the condition of Leonardo’s Battle of Anghiari fresco. We are now sure that this is it,” says the mayor of Florence Matteo Renzi.
By the way, the wall opposite the one where da Vinci’s fresco was originally supposed to be painted by another genius of the Renaissance - Michelangelo. However, he never realized his plan.
Some experts suspect that a Leonardo masterpiece may be hidden behind Vasari's fresco
A scandal is erupting in the art world in connection with the search for an unfinished fresco by Leonardo da Vinci, allegedly hiding behind one of the walls of the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, on the design of which another later worked outstanding master– Giorgio Vasari.
Palazzo Vecchio
More than five centuries ago, in the Palazzo Vecchio (city government building), in honor of the restoration of the Florentine Republic, it was decided to decorate the Great Council Hall with frescoes.
The fresco was commissioned by Leonardo da Vinci from Gonfalonier Soderini after the overthrow of the Medici dynasty and the expulsion of Piero de' Medici. The Medici are an oligarchic family, whose representatives repeatedly became the rulers of Florence from the 13th to the 18th centuries. Among the representatives of the Medici family are four popes - Leo X, Pius IV, Clement VII, Leo XI, and two queens of France - Catherine de' Medici and Marie de' Medici.
Grand Council Hall of Palazzo Vecchio
The great Leonardo worked on the fresco in 1503 - 1506. In the fall of 1503, the brilliant fifty-year-old artist, scientist and thinker began work. Between 1503 and 1505 the master made cardboard, and in 1505 he began the painting itself, which he left unfinished by the time of his second departure (May 30, 1506) to Milan.
One wall was commissioned to be decorated by Leonardo, already a world-famous artist, and the other by Michelangelo. He is still young, but has already become famous thanks to the sculpture of David. Two artists, two rivals.
Leonardo chooses as the subject the battle of Anghiari, which took place on June 29, 1440 between the Florentine detachment and the Milanese troops under the command of the condottiere Niccolo Piccinino. Despite their numerical superiority, the Milanese were defeated by a small detachment of Florentines. Although in the battle of 1440 between the Florentines and Milanese about small town Anghiari killed only one person, this did not change Leonardo da Vinci’s attitude towards wars, which he called “the most brutal madness.”
According to the artist’s plan, the fresco was to become his largest work. In size (6.6 m x 17.4 m) it was three times larger than the Last Supper. Leonardo carefully prepared to create the painting, studied the description of the battle and outlined his plan in a note presented to the Senoria. For work on cardboard (cardboard in painting is a drawing with charcoal or pencil (or two pencils - white and black), made on paper or on a primed canvas, from which the picture is already painted with paints), which took place in the Papal Hall at the Church of Santa Maria - Novella, Leonardo designed special scaffolding that folded and unfolded, raising and lowering the artist to the required height. The central part of the fresco was occupied by one of the key moments of the battle - the battle of a group of horsemen for the banner.
Copies of the cardboard for this fresco have survived. One of the best drawings is recognized as a drawing by Rubens, in which you can see one of the scenes of the fresco - the battle for the banner.
Drawing by Rubens
Human and horse bodies clung together in a single snake ball, the horses were furious, and there was bestial rage on the faces of the people. Where are the Milanese, where are the Florentines, where are our own, where are strangers - it is not clear. There are no people in the picture, there are only horses and animals. No, this is not a glorification of military valor, this is the embodied horror of war, which the artist himself hated.
In the center of Leonardo's composition (known from his sketches and copies of the central part, which was obviously completed by that time), there was an episode with the battle for the banner, where horsemen fiercely fight with swords, and fallen warriors lie under the feet of their horses. Judging by other sketches, the composition was supposed to consist of three parts, with the battle for the banner in the center. Since there is no clear evidence, surviving paintings by Leonardo and fragments of his notes suggest that the battle was depicted against the backdrop of a flat landscape with a mountain range on the horizon.
Copy of a cardboard by Michelangelo Buonarroti (1503-1506) of Aristotle da Sangallo. Holkham Hall, Norfolk, UK.
It was the only time that two great masters of that time worked on decorating the same hall. Everyone tried to shine strong point your talent. Leonardo entered into competition with the young Michelangelo, who was executing an order for the fresco “The Battle of Cascina” for another wall of the same hall. This fresco was supposed to show the Florentine soldiers at the moment when, while bathing, they were suddenly attacked by the enemy.
Pierre Soderini, who held the position of gonfaloniere at that time, seeing great talent Michelangelo ordered him to paint another part of the same hall, which became the reason for his competition with Leonardo, which he entered into by taking on the painting of another wall on the theme of the Pisan War. To do this, Michelangelo received a room in the hospital of dyers at Sant'Onofrio and there he began to work on a huge cardboard, demanding, however, that no one should see it. He filled it with naked bodies bathing on a hot day in the Arno River, but at that moment a combat alarm was heard in the camp, announcing an enemy attack; and while the soldiers climbed out of the water to dress, the divine hand of Michelangelo showed how some armed themselves to help their comrades, others fastened their armor, many grabbed their weapons, and countless others, having mounted their horses, were already entering the battle. Among the other figures there was one old man who wore an ivy wreath on his head; he sat down to pull on his trousers, but they wouldn’t fit, since his legs were wet after swimming, and, hearing the noise of the battle and the shouts and the crash of drums, he hastily and with difficulty pulled on one trouser leg; and besides the fact that all the muscles and veins of his figure were visible, he twisted his mouth so that it was clear how he was suffering and how tense he was all the way to the tips of his toes. There were depictions of both drummers and people tangled in their clothes and running naked into battle; and one could see the most extraordinary positions there: some were standing, some fell to their knees or bent over, or were falling and seemed to be hanging in the air from the most difficult angle. There were also many figures, united in groups and sketched in different manners: one outlined in charcoal, another drawn with strokes, and another shaded and highlighted with white - he so wanted to show everything that he knew how to do in this art. That is why the artists were amazed and amazed, seeing what limit the art that Michelangelo showed them on this sheet had reached. And so, having looked at such divine figures, some who have seen them say that of all that he and others have done, they have never seen anything like this and that no other talent will ever be able to rise to such divinity in art.
When there was no supervision over the cardboard, it was torn into separate pieces.
Both cardboards were presented to the public for several months. Later, Benvenuto Cellini, who saw the cardboards when they were still intact, called the works of Leonardo and Michelangelo “a school for the whole world.”
Despite the fact that the work to decorate the Palazzo Vecchio was never carried out (Michelangelo did not even begin painting), two geniuses made a revolution in the development Western European painting, which led to the development of new styles - classicism and baroque. One of the first copies (ink sketch) from the original da Vinci cardboard belongs to Raphael and is kept in Oxford, in the University Gallery. There is an unfinished copy in the Uffizi, possibly belonging to an amateur artist. According to Milanesi, it could have been used by Lorenzo Zacchia da Luca when creating an engraving in 1558 with the inscription: “ex tabella propria Leonard! Vincii manu picta opus sumptum a Laurentio Zaccia Lucensi ob eodemque nunc excussum, 1558.” It is assumed that it was from Zaccia's engraving that Rubens made his drawing around 1605.
Leonardo continued the experiments he began when creating The Last Supper with paint compositions and primers. There are various assumptions about the reasons for the destruction of the fresco, which began already during the work process. According to Vasari, Leonardo painted on the wall with oil paints, and the painting began to become damp during the process of work. Da Vinci's anonymous biographer says that he used Pliny's mixture recipe (encaustic wax painting) but misinterpreted it. The same anonymous author claims that the wall was dried unevenly: at the top it was damp, while at the bottom it was dry under the influence of coal braziers. Leonardo turned to wax paints, but some of the pigments soon simply evaporated. Leonardo, trying to correct the situation, continued working with oil paints. Paolo Giovio says that the plaster did not accept the nut oil-based composition. Due to technical difficulties, work on the fresco itself progressed slowly. Problems of a material nature arose: the Council demanded either that the finished work be provided or that the money paid be returned. Da Vinci's work was interrupted by his invitation to Milan in 1506 by the French governor Charles d'Amboise. The fresco remained unfinished.
Sketch for the "Battle of Anghiari"
However, neither the frescoes nor the cardboards that received universal recognition contemporaries have not survived to this day.
In 1555 - 1572, the Medici family decided to reconstruct the hall. Vasari and his assistants carried out the restructuring. As a result, Leonardo's work was lost - its place was taken by Vasari's fresco "The Battle of Marciano" (Battaglia di Marciano).
Allegorical paintings on the ceiling and walls of the magnificent Salon of the Five Hundred, intended to hold meetings of the Great People's Council after the second expulsion of the Medici from Florence in 1494, tell the story of the deeds of the Tuscan Duke Cosimo I.
Hall of Five Hundred
Fresco by Vasari
Fresco by Vasari
The work on decorating the hall was led by Vasari and his students. In 1563, Vasari received an order to work in the famous Hall of Five Hundred (Salone dei Cinquecento). They destroyed every reminder of the years of republican rule, including the masterpieces “The Battle of Anghiari” by Leonardo da Vinci and “The Battle of Cascina” created at that time by Michelangelo. Vasari's works were intended to demonstrate the power and glory of the Duke and his state.
Experts have differing opinions regarding the fate of Leonardo's creation.
“Cerca, trova” - “.........Try and you will find.” These words on the fresco in the Great Council Hall of the Palazzo Signoria in Florence may be the key to unraveling the fate of one of Leonardo da Vinci’s best creations, “The Battle of Anghiari,” which last time seen five centuries ago.
In 1975, Italian art critic Maurizio Seracini suggested that Leonardo's fresco was not in such poor condition as previously thought. He saw proof in an engraving, made, according to his assumption, not from cardboard, but from the fresco itself, and dated 1553. All the details of the painting are clearly visible in the engraving, therefore the “Battle of Anghiari” was in excellent condition fifty years after its creation. Seracini was sure that Vasari, who admired the “Battle of Anghiari,” would never have destroyed Leonardo’s work, but hid it under his fresco.
Vasari, himself great artist, who wrote a book about the history of painting, a biographer of many artists, who treated Leonardo’s work with the greatest trepidation, could not help but try to preserve it.
The professor believes that Vasari's fresco contains a clue. The "message" is in the inscription on the depicted war flag. The inscription reads "Cerca Trova", which means "Seek and you will find." "Not in any historical sources there is no mention that the painting was destroyed, damaged or moved to another location,” the professor claims. The researcher discovered the inscription 30 years ago, but only now modern technologies will allow you to look under the layers of paint of Vasari's frescoes. Scientists are using a neutron emitter to find the linseed oil paint Da Vinci used.
Acoustic studies have shown the presence of a narrow (1 - 3 cm) air gap behind the wall with the “Battle of Marciano”, large enough to accommodate Leonardo’s fresco. Seracini suggested that Vasari did not create his fez on top of da Vinci's fresco, but simply built it in front of it new wall, thereby hiding the “Battle of Anghiari”. Carrying out the reconstruction of the Great Council Hall in the mid-16th century, the artist and architect Vasari, as it was still believed, painted over da Vinci's fresco with his own. At the same time, he raised the roof of the hall by 7 meters and designed top row walls However, research has shown that in one place between the walls there was a niche left, quite large enough to accommodate Da Vinci’s creation measuring 6 x 4 meters.
In 2002, the Florentine authorities banned Seracini from searching, fearing that Vasari's fresco would be damaged. However, in August 2006, research was allowed to continue. A special fund has been created to finance the Anghiari project. For testing purposes, it was decided to build a scaled-down model of two walls located at a short distance from each other. To create a copy, specialists from Italy's main reconstruction institute, Opificio delle Pietre Dure, had to use materials used in the construction of the eastern wall of the Salon of the Five Hundred, behind which, as Seracini assumed, Leonardo's fresco was hidden. The walls were supposed to be painted with paints that were used by Leonardo and Vasari. However, there is no data on new discoveries to date.
Now a team of scientists led by Seracini are trying to drill small holes in several parts of the wall in order to use microcameras to find out what exactly is hidden behind it.
Despite the words of the mayor of Florence that the holes were made in places that had been damaged earlier, many art critics are outraged by such indelicate methods of handling Vasari’s work.
In their opinion, the likelihood that the artist left something significant behind the outer wall is extremely small, and Leonardo’s fresco, according to a number of documents, was located on the opposite wall.
One of the restoration experts, Cecilia Frocinone, left the project due to ethical concerns.
About 150 art historians from around the world have signed a petition calling for an end to drilling into the wall, which currently features Vasari's fresco "The Battle of Marciano."
By drilling a hole in the outer covering, researchers hope to reach a hidden inner wall that allegedly depicts Da Vinci's unfinished Battle of Anghiari fresco.
The Battle of Anghiari is supposedly three times the size of the Last Supper. According to the professor, Da Vinci's work marks greatest achievement in the art world of the era early renaissance. If the painting is discovered, the Florentine authorities will be faced with the question of replacing Vasari's work with a work by a brilliant artist.
Materials used
The art critic who used his name in Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code spent 35 years trying unsuccessfully to outstanding discovery. We may soon see Leonardo da Vinci's missing masterpiece. It's about O famous fresco"The Battle of Anghiari", which closes the work of Vasari.
Sketch of a fresco from Rubens' album
For thirty-five years, art historians have been unsuccessfully trying to get to Leonardo da Vinci’s fresco “The Battle of Anghiari” (Battaglia di Anghiari), so as not to in any way damage the work covering it by Giorgio Vasari “The Battle of Marciano” (Battaglia di Marciano).
In the Old Palace of Florence, known throughout the world for its Italian name Palazzo Vecchio - Palazzo Vecchio, in the so-called Hall of Five Hundred (Salone dei Cinquecento) there is a fresco “The Battle of Marciano”, or “The Battle of Scannagallo” (Battaglia di Scannagallo), painted by Giorgio Vasari and his students. With his creation, did the master destroy the masterpieces created by his brilliant predecessors: “The Battle of Anghiari” by Leonardo da Vinci and the episode of “The Battle of Cascina” (Battaglia di Cascina) by Michelangelo?
In 1568, while working on orders from the Florentine Duke Cosimo I de' Medici, Vasari allegedly did not spare Masaccio's "Trinity", painted around 1427 and located in the Gothic church of Santa Maria Novella. In 1861, the preserved “Trinity” (La Trinità) was discovered behind it, and “ Holy Virgin Mary of the Rosary" (Madonna del Rosario) by Vasari turned out to be painted on a false wall, which only hid, but did not destroy the work of his predecessor.
In 2000, speaking at a conference dedicated to da Vinci, Italian researcher Carlo Pedretti suggested that Vasari did the same with the fresco by Leonardo, whom he deeply revered. This idea was seized upon by Maurizio Seracini from the University of California at San Diego, who since 1975, with the help of the most modern means, including photography in infrared rays, X-ray and laser, searching for traces of the missing masterpiece.
Seracini is the only one real character, mentioned by Dan Brown in the bestseller "The Da Vinci Code" under his real name. This devotee of science acts in full accordance with the motto Cerca, trova- “seek and ye shall find,” inscribed on a piece of green banner carried in Vasari’s fresco “The Battle of Marciano,” and which he did not keep silent about Dan Brown. At the same time, Seracini himself is critical of American writer, although he knows how to do excellent PR and self-promotion.
In 2002, the Florentine authorities banned research into Vasari's fresco, but after a five-year break and a change of leadership in the Italian Ministry of Culture, permission seemed to be given. However, they were again afraid to spoil an already existing masterpiece in search of a dubious find. The skeptics' point of view won again, but, as it turned out, only for a while.
An empty space was discovered behind the 13-centimeter wall. They managed to get in there by drilling seven holes in different places frescoes, which should not suffer from intervention, since they are already damaged in some places and need restoration. Microcameras were inserted into the holes, capable of capturing gamma radiation from the paint pigment. A one-inch hollow space was found behind the first hole.
The idea of discovering Leonardo’s masterpiece behind Vasari’s fresco has not only supporters, but also opponents. Art historian from the University of Frederick II in Naples Tomaso Montanari in an interview La Repubblica Not without malice, he noted: “I believe that there is no work by Leonardo behind the wall; Vasari would never have hidden the work of an artist whom he admired so much, in the hope that one day someone would start looking for it. A similar hypothesis could be expected from Dan Brown , but not from art historians."
In the book “Lives of the Most Famous Painters, Sculptors and Architects” (1550), Giorgio Vasari writes that “it was decreed by public decree that Leonardo should be commissioned to paint some beautiful thing; in accordance with this, Piero Soderini, who was then Gonfaloniere justice, gave him the said hall.To carry out this commission, Leonardo began in the papal hall, in Santa Maria Novella, a cardboard with the history of Niccolò Piccinino, military commander of the Duke of Milan Philippe, where he depicted a group of horsemen fighting for a banner - a thing recognized as the most excellent and in high degree workshop because of the most amazing ideas that he used in depicting this confusion.
For it expresses rage, hatred and vindictiveness in people as strongly as in horses; in particular, two horses, intertwined with their front legs, fight with their teeth in the same way as the riders sitting on them fight because of the banner; at the same time, one of the soldiers, clasping the banner with his hands and leaning his shoulders, urges the horse to gallop and, turning his face back, presses the pole of the banner to himself in order to forcefully snatch it from the hands of the other four; and of those, two defend it, grabbing it with one hand, and with the other, raising the sword and trying to cut the shaft, and one old soldier, in a red beret, screaming, grabbed the shaft with one hand, and with the other, swinging a curved saber, struck hard, to cut off the hands of both of them, who, gnashing their teeth, are trying to defend their banner with a proud movement.
And on the ground, between the legs of the horses, two figures taken from a perspective are fighting each other, with one lying flat, and the other soldier, above him, raising his Hand as high as possible, raising his hand greatest power there is a dagger over his throat, while the one lying down, fighting with his feet and hands, does everything possible to avoid death. It is impossible to convey how varied Leonardo painted the soldiers’ clothes, as well as their helmets and other decorations, not to mention the incredible skill that he discovered in the forms of the horses, the strength of whose muscles and the beauty of their appearance Leonardo was able to convey better than anyone.
They say that to make this cardboard, he built an artificial structure, which, contracting, raised it, and expanding, lowered it. Having decided to paint on the wall with oil paints, he prepared a mixture of such a rough composition to prepare the wall that when he began painting in the mentioned room, it began to become damp, and he soon stopped working, seeing that it was deteriorating.”
The theme of Leonardo's composition, unnamed by Vasari, is believed by art historians to be the Battle of Anghiari, which took place in June 1440 between Florentine troops and the Milanese under the command of Niccolò Piccinino, a condottiere in the service of the Duke of Milan, Philippe Maria Visconti. Vasari's description apparently refers to the central scene of the composition - dramatic episode fight for the banner.
The period of Leonardo's work on cardboard and fresco is determined from 1503 to 1505. Neither the cardboard nor the fresco have survived, and an idea of them is supposedly given by the famous Louvre drawing by Rubens, reproduced in an engraving by Edelink and conveying Leonard's original in a somewhat, perhaps, reworked form. For Leonardo, “The Fight for the Banner” was a competition with Michelangelo, who was making a fresco with an episode of the Battle of Cascina for the same hall of the Palace of the Signoria.
