'Lost Leonardo' Art Sought

Reuters reports that one of the art world's great mysteries may be about to be solved: Did Leonardo da Vinci paint an art masterpiece that was lost in time, and does it still survive today? Italy's Culture Minister has given his go-ahead to explore behind a wall in Florence's renaissance town hall to see if it is hiding the 500-year-old Battle of Anghiari, sometimes known as the "lost Leonardo". Florence's leaders commissioned Leonardo - the painter of the Mona Lisa and the most famous version of The Last Supper - in 1503 to create a fresco celebrating a military victory. While his preliminary sketches of fighters on horseback survive, there is no trace of the fresco itself. Some art historians believe it may never have been completed, others say it was destroyed. But one theory suggests it was covered up by subsequent art work at the Palazzo Vecchio, the town hall, which is next to the Uffizi Gallery, which contains some of Renaissance Italy's most treasured works of art. "We've decided to give the go-ahead to explore the Salone del Cinquecento to look for the Battle of Anghiari," Culture Minister Francesco Rutelli told reporters after a meeting with Florence's mayor. "We've taken this decision to find out, once and for all, if there is a wall cavity and if there are traces of the original fresco." Irish Art