Back behind the bank
of computers at Editech, Seracini reveals these drawings, the result of four years’ work. First
he explains how his investigation revealed that the 96 inch-square
altarpiece was cheaply constructed of ten planks held together
with iron bars and nails. “Probably the friars were not the
richest or perhaps it was not a good relationship between them
and Leonardo. Incidentally, we have records that he was paid initially
with wine,” he says with a smile, “so that doesn’t
sound like a good return.”
Using a portable X-ray fluorescence unit, he discovered that the
wood was overlaid with a mixture of fibers and glue, then a layer
of calcium sulfate (gesso, which is still a base for oil paintings)
ground together with colored fibers, and finally another layer of
finely ground gesso. So far so good, but examined under ultraviolet
light, (see illustration 5, page 32 ) Seracini saw that the final
layers of paint (what was previously thought to be painted by Da
Vinci) had penetrated the base layers of gesso.
“The layer of the priming, covered by the layer of the sky, had time
to age and dry and crack,” Seracini points to the image on
the screen. “After that time, paint was added on top and sank
into it. This is proof that the paint on top was not added right
away. In other words, these phases happened through time, a long
time. The paint dried and formed cracked layers and then was painted
over and that paint sank in.”
Seracini began to suspect that something very special might be
hidden under the monochrome surface. He recalls the excitement
of finding
himself alone in one of the studios at the Uffizi gallery. “So
here I am, in a very small room, with a big painting. I’ve
built myself this scanner, with an infrared camera mounted on it
hooked up to a computer. And I’m taking a total of 2,400 shots,
going up and down so as to create a mosaic.”
He stops as if once again absorbing the import of his discoveries.
Then he leans into the computer screen again as he brings up the
series of newly uncovered drawings. “This is Leonardo,” he
stresses.” “A work being created by Leonardo.”
Other Renaissance scholars are equally convinced. “There is
no case for thinking that the new aspects of the very first under
drawings are by anyone other than Leonardo,” says Oxford University’s
Professor Kemp. “They confirm that the innovatory dynamism
of his drawings on paper was carried over into his designing of the
surface of the panel. No earlier artist had used such a ‘brainstorming’ technique
to develop a composition.”
And Professor Hatfield of Syracuse concludes that, “Seracini’s
proposals about the “Adoration” are the most important
contribution we have had on that great painting for a long, long
time.”
So now Seracini has revealed the drawings hidden for 500 years.
But why were they covered and by whom? He believes the brown wash
was
applied 50 or so years after Da Vinci. Hatfield is not so certain. “Seracini’s
assertion that the dark brown paint seen in many places is the work
of a later hand remains to be verified,” he says. Seracini
hopes that further scientific work may yet uncover the answer, but
until then we are in the speculative world of Dan Brown’s Code.
Was Da Vinci’s work covered by someone else as an act of censure?
Or did he paint over symbols and signs that he wanted or needed to
keep secret?
So what next? What do you do for an encore if you’ve spent
your life lobbing hi-tech grenades into the sacred temple of Renaissance
scholarship? Seracini wants to teach others to do the same.
Loel Guinness sees a need that is not being met. “Maurizio
Seracini is still pretty much a lone voice in this field,” says
Loel Guinness. “Until art historians, curators and conservators
accept that science has a role to play in their field, these techniques
will not be developed as fast as they should. But maybe the increasingly
exciting results of Seracini’s research will convince the
profession to take this sort of work seriously.”
Seracini wants to fill that need and create an interdisciplinary
institute, bringing electrical and bioengineering, chemistry and
biochemistry together with art scholarship in the same classrooms.
“If this kind of scientific study can produce such an understanding
of Leonardo,” he says, “then it is obvious how much
we need a new breed of scientists to produce this kind of knowledge.”
Seracini sits back from the large computer screen and clicks
the mouse. The tantalizing image of the green pennant in Vasari’s
mural appears. “Cerca Trova.”
“He who seeks, finds.” It is very apt.
Raymond
Hardie is the editor of @UCSD magazine.
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