Discovery of Leonardo's hidden laboratory

[indigobusiness]

Discovery of hidden laboratory sheds light on Leonardo's genius

By John Phillips in Rome

12 January 2005


Researchers have discovered the hidden laboratory used by Leonardo da Vinci for studies of flight and other pioneering scientific work in previously sealed rooms at a monastery next to the Basilica of the Santissima Annunziata, in the heart of Florence.

The workshop rooms, located between the Institute for Military Geography and the Basilica, contain frescos painted by Leonardo that have "impressive resemblances" to other examples of his experimental work. The frescos include a triptych of birds circling above a subsequently erased representation of the Virgin Mary that "constitutes a clear citation of the studies by the maestro on the flight of birds", the three researchers, Alessandro del Meglio, Roberto Manneschalchi and Maria Carchio, said yesterday.

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Leonardo's use of the rooms was referred to in letters written by Pietro di Novellara to Isabella D'Este and they were cited by Giorgio Vasari in his 16th-century biography, Lives of the Artists, they said.

"The finds are particularly interesting as they will help us to understand the context in which Leonardo was working in these rooms exactly 500 years ago," said Professor Alessandro Vezzosi, a Leonardo scholar.

The Tuscan-born scientist, painter, philosopher and poet was aged 51 when he returned to Florence in 1503 after many years in Milan, where he already had established his reputation, and a period of extended travel. (His first spell in Florence came when he was 17 and became a member of the painters' guild). The rooms he took in the 16th century were in a religious house run by monks from the order of the Servi di Maria - the Servants of Mary - in a part of the monastery set aside for renting to lay people as guestrooms.

http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/story.jsp?story=599962

[Maple]

1. Thank you!

There seems to be a lot of this sort of hidden stuff being discovered lately. Odd but nice!