*** Update, 14th August – all work ti be stopped – see here.
The last time we wrote about the search (in Florence, March 2012) for the great missing Leonardo da Vinci masterpiece, the Battle of Anghiari, it was with a sense of imminent discovery.
Well, hold that observation. Although the man in charge of the delicate operation came across as being hot on the trail, he is now saying that things have pretty much been at a standstill since January. Consistency, pah.
On the 19th of June, a couple of weeks from now, the Italian Minister of Culture is due on site. He’ll meet with the project head, Maurizio Seracini as well as the Mayor of Florence, Matteo Renzi and the local heads of all things cultural. If the meeting does not result in a green light for the project then things will almost certainly peter out in a very anti-climactic fashion, it seeming likely that the main project funders, National Geographic, will understandably walk away from all the infighting that has dogged the whole undertaking.
Watch this space.