Finding Leonardo - The case for recovering the Battle of Anghiari

For centuries the whereabouts of Leonardo da Vinci’s masterwork mural of the Battle of Anghiari has been one of the art world’s greatest mysteries. Leonardo worked on a painting in the Great Hall of Florence’s Palazzo Vecchio for less than a year before abandoning it to pursue other commissions.

The uncompleted fresco was reported to be deteriorating rapidly, and less than 50 years later, Giorgio Vasari was commissioned to cover Leonardo’s unfinished work with new, large-scale battle scenes.

Yet those who saw Leonardo’s mural during its brief existence applauded it as his greatest work and commended it as a ‘school for the world’.