ve vice president of Mission Programs. “We’re excited and intrigued by the promising results of this phase of the research.”
In 1503, da Vinci was commissioned by Gonfaloniere Piero Soderini to paint the “The Battle of Anghiari” in the Hall of the 500 of the Palazzo Vecchio, the seat of government in Florence. The painting commemorated the 1440 victory of the battle on the plain of Anghiari between Milan and the Italian League led by the Republic of Florence. The Florentines emerged from the conflict as the most important power in central Italy, re-establishing Papal powers and dominating Italian politics for years to come.
Da Vinci used the commission as an opportunity to experiment with new mural techniques, which did not meet with the results he had hoped for, but nonetheless, this masterpiece was later called “the school of the world.” In the mid-16th century Giorgio Vasari, himself an admirer of da Vinci’s work, enlarged and completely remodeled the Hall and painted six new murals over the east and west walls, possibly hiding the Leonardo masterpiece. Original documents confirm eyewitness accounts of viewing “The Fight for the Standard,” the portion of “The Battle of Anghiari” that was completed by Leonardo.
More information on the project is available at www.nationalgeographic.com/anghiari and at http://cisa3.calit2.net/research/anghiari.php.
The research of “The Battle of Anghiari” will be the subject of the documentary "Finding the Lost Da Vinci," which will begin premiering globally on the National Geographic Channel Sunday, March 18, including a broadcast in the United States that night, and in Italy on Tuesday, March 20, at 9 p.m. on National Geographic Channel HD (Sky platform, channel 403). The Channel can be seen in over 435 million homes, in 173 countries and in 37 languages.
The Italian edition of National Geographic magazine published a story on the “The Battle of Anghiari” project in its February 2012 issue.
Tiffany Fox, (858) 246-0353, email@example.com