John Tomasos Very Independent Research

The Search for the Lost Da Vinci Fresco: Serious Science or Irresponsible Hype?

Could a lost fresco by Leonardo da Vinci have remained hidden behind another wall painting in Florence for more than 450 years? It’s a tantalizing idea, and one that Maurizio Seracini has been pursuing since the 1970s. Last December, after receiving permission from Florentine authorities, Seracini and his team drilled six holes in the wall painting that may conceal da Vinci’s “Battle of Anghiari.” But critics are saying that there are even more holes in the theory and the science behind it.

The story begins in 1505, when Leonardo started work on “The Battle of Anghiari” in the Hall of the 500 in Florence’s Palazzo Vecchio . Giorgio Vasari , an admirer of da Vinci who is often considered the first art historian, wrote in his “Lives of the Artists” that Leonardo completed only one section of the fresco and abandoned it when his experimental technique of applying oil paint directly to the wall proved to be a failure. In 1563, Cosimo I de’ Medici had Vasari renovate the hall and paint six new frescos.

Seracini, an engineering professor at the University of California at San Diego , first suspected that Vasari may have preserved the lost Leonardo behind his own fresco when he noticed a flag in Vasari’s painting that reads “cerca trova” — “seek and you will find.” The Center of Interdisciplinary Science for Art, Architecture, and Archaeology at U.C. San Diego, the Kalpa Group , and the National Geographic Society funded his research, and it was determined that there was an air gap between the Vasari and a brick wall behind it.

However, Massimiliano Pieraccini , an engineer who conducted radar tests with Seracini and other scientists and was the lead author of a 2005 article on the testing, told ARTINFO France via email that in his opinion “there is not enough scientific evidence for carrying out destructive analysis.” According to Pieraccini, the gap occupies the entire eastern wall, and there is no suggestion that a protective niche was built to house the fresco. However, the 2005 article did conclude that it was possible that there could be a cavity able to preserve “some fragments of the lost fresco.

Redistricting likely to benefit west side ... - New Mexico Independent

In the legislative redistricting process, the Republican-leaning west side of Albuquerque will likely gain seats while eastern and north-central New Mexico will lose them, according to Brian Sanderoff of Albuquerque-based Research & Polling Inc., a longtime consultant to the legislature. He tells Barry Massey of the Associated Press:

“It would be impossible mathematically for new representation to not occur on the west side. The trick is this: If new seats are going to emerge on the west side other seats must be consolidated,” Sanderoff told senators on Wednesday as he outlined the population trends that will drive redistricting decisions.

The goal of redistricting is to equalize the populations of districts as much as possible. That was required under the legal doctrine of one person, one vote, to ensure that each resident’s vote is worth the same.

To deal with slow-growing areas, lawmakers have limited options. Existing seats can be retained by expanding their boundaries to add precincts and population. Eastern New Mexico districts, for example, could be expanded to the west. That approach was taken a decade ago in Senate redistricting to ensure no loss of representation.

Lawmakers also can consolidate two districts into one, and shift one of those seats to a fast-growing part of the state, such as Albuquerque’s west side. Doing that, however, usually means forcing two incumbents to run against each other in the next election — a prospect that no legislator relishes.

“What happens in eastern New Mexico will impact what happens on the west side of Albuquerque,” said Sanderoff.

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