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00:00Ever since the earliest programs flickered onto our screens, filmmakers, presenters and experts
00:12have all turned to television to bring art out of museums and galleries and into our living rooms.
00:20Now all this may seem rather vulgar. Quite right. It is.
00:23As the great masters became available to millions instead of hundreds,
00:27program makers found new ways for us to appreciate them.
00:32From the utterly daft...
00:34To the downright astonishing...
00:41Now, with more than six decades of archive,
00:46I want to explore how television has influenced our understanding of one of the true giants of the art world.
00:53..he created a certain painting that you might just have heard of.
01:01Probably the best-known portrait in the world.
01:05His scientific mind sought to understand the world around him.
01:10Curiosity was a driving force of his investigation.
01:15And he filled his notebooks with hundreds of inventions and discoveries,
01:21many of them centuries ahead of their time.
01:25For some, he is quite simply the greatest genius who ever lived.
01:31He will stand out forever in the history of human thought.
01:35I've selected some of my favourite moments from the archives
01:39to create a television history of Leonardo da Vinci.
01:43Among its many treasures, Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire boasts a magnificent ceiling.
01:59It was painted by James Thornhill in 1716,
02:03just as the Renaissance in Europe was drawing to a close.
02:06Spanning four centuries, this was a period of intense discovery and exploration,
02:15of new ways of thinking and doing,
02:19the very qualities which have come to define one of its greatest figures,
02:24Leonardo da Vinci.
02:25In these surroundings, it's easy to see why he has been the subject of more television programmes
02:35than just about any other artist.
02:37The BBC archives are such an incredible resource on Leonardo,
02:42so I'm excited at the opportunity to see how, over the years,
02:47programme makers have explored and explained his life and work.
02:51But it is a daunting task.
02:54He achieved such an incredible array of things in his 67 years of life,
03:00that it's difficult to know quite where to start.
03:03He started life as an artist, of course,
03:06but of course we know he was much more than just an artist.
03:10We know that Leonardo was strikingly handsome,
03:12possessed of great physical strength.
03:13It was said that he could straighten a horseshoe in his bare hands.
03:18He was an artist, musician, botanist, anatomist.
03:22And for me, above all, he was an engineer par excellence.
03:25And I say, yes, he's the greatest genius of all time.
03:28Perhaps the most important word there is...
03:31Genius.
03:32Genius.
03:33Genius.
03:33Genius.
03:34Genius.
03:34Genius.
03:36What are we going to do with him, Dan?
03:38What indeed?
03:40Well, I don't think you can even begin to appreciate
03:43the vast body of Leonardo's work
03:46without first understanding the one quality
03:49that drove him to master so many different things,
03:53his insatiable curiosity.
03:59One of the first programmes I turned to
04:01was Kenneth Clarke's epic 1969 series
04:05exploring the history of Western civilisation.
04:09Clarke focuses less on Leonardo's paintings
04:12and more on how his endless curiosity
04:14made him so much more than just a typical Renaissance artist.
04:19In fact, he belongs to no epoch.
04:22He fits into no category.
04:25And the more you know about him,
04:26the more utterly mysterious he becomes.
04:30He was the most relentlessly curious man in history.
04:33Everything he saw made him ask why and how,
04:36particularly how.
04:37He's never satisfied with a single answer.
04:40He goes on asking the same question again and again,
04:44worrying it, restating it,
04:45countering imaginary antagonists
04:47to the reader.
04:49It's absolutely worn out.
04:51Fortunately, he also left answers
04:54in the form of drawings,
04:56which are, or appear to be,
04:58easier to take in.
05:03From the mid-1480s and for the rest of his life,
05:07Leonardo recorded his every thought
05:09in the form of sketches.
05:11Thousands of them
05:12were returned to these notebooks again and again.
05:16While some were preliminary drawings
05:18for his paintings,
05:19the vast majority were so much more than that.
05:23For Clarke,
05:24these yellowing pages
05:25contain the answers to a lifetime of questions.
05:28How does one stream of water deflect another?
05:33What is the cause of whirlpools?
05:36Why do the leaves of a star of Bethlehem
05:38resemble the movement of water?
05:40What is the structure of a bird's wing?
05:43How does a bird fly?
05:46Curiosity was a driving force
05:49of his investigations,
05:51of his inquiries.
05:52But essentially,
05:53he was curious about one thing.
05:55The causes of phenomena.
06:02Leonardo was,
06:03I suppose,
06:03in the best possible way,
06:04a little bit like a kind of child
06:05in a sweet shop.
06:06Oh, I like that one.
06:07Oh, I like that one.
06:08You know,
06:09and following that line of inquiry
06:10and then suddenly diverting
06:12to something else.
06:14For programme makers,
06:16conveying the scope
06:17of an imagination
06:18as vast as Leonardo's
06:20is no easy task.
06:21One solution
06:23is to simply hand the job
06:25over to another brilliant artist.
06:28This Serena special
06:30from 1978
06:31sought the opinion
06:32of sculptor Henry Moore,
06:34who compared
06:35this same curiosity
06:36to that of an infant child,
06:39a trait which,
06:39uniquely,
06:40Moore believes,
06:41da Vinci never lost.
06:43Human beings,
06:44orderly,
06:45we give up learning,
06:47we make of our minds
06:48about something
06:49and accept it.
06:50But Leonardo
06:51kept that childish
06:52or childlike curiosity
06:54and wished to understand things.
06:57This is what makes him
06:58such a unique
06:59and marvellous person.
07:02The artist
07:03is often more
07:04a person
07:04who wants to express
07:06emotions
07:07that he feels
07:08about life
07:09so that other people
07:10can share them.
07:11Leonardo
07:12had that same
07:13human desire
07:14and understanding
07:15of our situation
07:17in the world,
07:18of our make-up,
07:19of our emotional sentiments,
07:21all this,
07:22which is really
07:23what life is based on.
07:25If curiosity
07:27was the engine
07:28that drove
07:29this incredibly powerful mind,
07:31where then
07:31did this curiosity
07:32stem from?
07:34In recent decades,
07:35programme makers
07:36have looked for answers
07:37in the circumstances
07:38of Leonardo's childhood.
07:41Leonardo was born
07:47illegitimate.
07:48His father,
07:49Ser Piero,
07:50had a liaison
07:51with Caterina,
07:52a local peasant girl.
07:54She was then
07:55married off
07:55to a man
07:56in the next village.
07:58Ser Piero
07:59married a woman
08:00of his own class
08:01and kept
08:02the child,
08:02Leonardo.
08:04His illegitimacy
08:05would shape
08:06his future.
08:07He wasn't given
08:08a formal education
08:09in the classical languages,
08:11Latin and Greek.
08:12And all his life
08:13he would be stung
08:14by criticism
08:15of his lack
08:16of book learning.
08:19His schooling
08:19stopped with
08:20the abacus school,
08:21that is,
08:22as in adding
08:22and subtracting
08:23with an abacus.
08:24And in a funny way,
08:26this turned out
08:26to his great advantage
08:27because he was
08:28not bound
08:29by book learning.
08:31Knowing very little
08:32Latin and having
08:32to study it late
08:33in life
08:33because he felt
08:34this to be a lack,
08:35he didn't know
08:36what he was supposed
08:37to think.
08:37And he was therefore
08:38able to look
08:40for himself.
08:42All knowledge
08:42is vain
08:43and full of error
08:44when it is not
08:45born of experience,
08:46and so experience
08:48will be my mistress.
08:49Leonardo believed
08:51that visual knowledge
08:54is superior
08:56to anything
08:58you could get
08:59from a book.
09:00He thought
09:01that the eye
09:02is the most powerful
09:03of the senses,
09:04that seeing
09:04is the most powerful
09:05of the senses,
09:06that it has
09:06the most direct
09:07inlet to the brain.
09:10So his art
09:11absolutely
09:13is a way
09:14of knowing the world.
09:16It's a way
09:16of observation
09:18is a way
09:20of discovering
09:20the world.
09:24It's quite possible
09:25that Leonardo
09:26turned to pictures
09:27rather than words
09:28to satisfy his curiosity,
09:30partly because
09:31he found writing
09:31more problematic.
09:35Leonardo was
09:36ambidextrous.
09:38It was said
09:38he could write
09:39with one hand
09:40while at the same time
09:41drawing with the other.
09:44He had a curious
09:45habit of writing
09:46backwards
09:46with his left hand
09:47in mirror script,
09:49probably to avoid
09:50smudging the wet ink
09:51as he wrote.
09:55Through his drawings,
09:57though,
09:58Leonardo developed
09:59a purely visual means
10:00of deciphering
10:02and decoding
10:02the world around him,
10:04one that others
10:05could readily understand.
10:08In 1973,
10:10this uniquely visual
10:11curiosity
10:12was explored
10:13by someone
10:14not usually associated
10:15with this branch
10:16of the arts,
10:17Sir John Gielgud.
10:19Leonardo's early
10:20preoccupation
10:20was with the natural world.
10:23It was an interest
10:23that never left him.
10:25The complexity
10:25of the simple things
10:26of nature
10:27fascinated him.
10:29Leonardo approached
10:30natural phenomena
10:30by observing carefully
10:32and then by making
10:33an accurate drawing
10:34of what he saw.
10:36To be able to draw
10:37something accurately
10:38was not only a means
10:39of understanding it,
10:40but also of making it
10:41clearer to other people.
10:42drawing is the main
10:44tool of analysis
10:46for Leonardo.
10:48He repeatedly
10:49writes in his notes
10:52that drawing
10:52takes precedence
10:55over words.
10:58Drawing is almost
10:59an instrument
11:00for understanding
11:02reality, nature
11:03and the working
11:04of things.
11:05This continuous
11:09stream of questions
11:10and his search
11:12for answers
11:13through his drawings
11:14are the key
11:15to Leonardo's
11:16prolific range
11:18of accomplishments.
11:21But,
11:22as more recent
11:23programmes have shown,
11:24this also meant
11:25he often possessed
11:26an alarmingly
11:27short span
11:28of attention.
11:30It's almost
11:31a surgical mind.
11:32The thing is right
11:33in front of you.
11:33You're totally
11:34focused.
11:35That's the most
11:35important thing
11:36in the world.
11:38The moment it's
11:38over, it's over.
11:39And the next thing
11:40becomes the most
11:41important thing
11:42in the world.
11:43That's Leonardo's
11:43mind.
11:44It's a free
11:45associating mind.
11:48Here is work
11:48that fascinates me.
11:50I will work with it
11:51till it stops
11:52fascinating me.
11:53I'll stop
11:53and I'll go to
11:54another thing
11:55that fascinates me.
11:57And, of course,
11:58over short periods
11:59of time,
11:59you don't get much
12:00done.
12:00But over a long
12:01period of time,
12:02you get a great
12:02deal done.
12:03Of the many
12:09things which
12:10Leonardo did
12:11achieve,
12:12undoubtedly the
12:12most celebrated
12:13are his paintings.
12:15They can be
12:16appreciated on
12:17many levels,
12:18of course,
12:18but for me,
12:20it's their sheer
12:20technical innovation
12:22that sets them
12:23apart.
12:25Renaissance art
12:26is renowned
12:27for its use
12:28of light and
12:29shade to capture
12:30its subjects
12:31in the most
12:32breathtakingly
12:33lifelike ways.
12:35Many of the
12:35techniques used
12:36to achieve this
12:37were pioneered by
12:38Leonardo from the
12:39very beginning
12:40of his career.
12:44Leonardo's father
12:45apprenticed him
12:45to Andrea
12:46Virrocchio,
12:47whose workshop
12:47was the most
12:48important in
12:48Florence.
12:49Here on Via
12:50del Acqua,
12:51Water Street,
12:52Leonardo's career
12:53as an artist
12:54was to begin.
12:54In 1973,
12:56Sir John Gielgud
12:57brought us to
12:58Florence to
12:59introduce us to
13:00one of the
13:00earliest examples
13:01of Leonardo's
13:02brushwork.
13:04His master,
13:05Virrocchio,
13:05was a famous
13:06craftsman,
13:06a painter,
13:07a sculptor,
13:08a goldsmith.
13:10At the Uffizi,
13:11the great museum
13:11in Florence,
13:12is Virrocchio's
13:13painting,
13:13The Baptism of
13:14Christ,
13:15more famous now
13:16for Leonardo's
13:17contribution to it
13:18than Virrocchio's.
13:20The angel on the
13:21left is the work
13:22of Leonardo,
13:23another worldly
13:23creature that
13:24Virrocchio never
13:25painted and
13:26never could have
13:27painted.
13:28However,
13:29the quality of
13:29this vintage film
13:30does make it a
13:32little difficult to
13:33appreciate what
13:34all the fuss is
13:34about.
13:35Clearly, the
13:36development of art
13:37on TV was
13:38revolutionised with
13:39colour.
13:40Before colour,
13:40I think, art on
13:41television was a
13:42sort of rather
13:42distant, slightly
13:46stiff kind of
13:46thing, you know.
13:47A painting,
13:48a painting of
13:49the adoration of
13:51the Magi.
13:52It's unfinished,
13:53and that's why
13:55it looks so dark
13:56and scrubby.
13:58Fast forward
13:59more than 50
14:00years, and the
14:01clarity of high
14:02definition TV
14:03means that Fiona
14:04Bruce doesn't have
14:05to rely entirely on
14:07her powers of
14:08description to bring
14:09Leonardo's earliest
14:10work alive.
14:11The fact that the
14:12angel is three-quarter
14:15turned away from us,
14:16gazing raptly,
14:18adoringly, at Christ,
14:19eyes, that pose was
14:20groundbreaking at the
14:22time.
14:24Then look at the
14:25curls, fine detail,
14:28like ripples of
14:30water.
14:31You'll see that more
14:32and more, and then
14:33the subtlety of the
14:35blue and the shading
14:36of the drapes of the
14:37material.
14:38Apparently, when
14:39Verrocchio saw that,
14:40the story goes, he
14:41decided that he should
14:42put down his brush and
14:43stop painting altogether,
14:44because he had been
14:45surpassed by his
14:46apprentice.
14:48I think that's not
14:50true.
14:51Verrocchio was a
14:52highly successful and
14:53multi-talented artist,
14:56leader of one of the
14:57largest workshops in
14:59Florence.
15:00Leonardo himself, on
15:01the other hand, writes
15:02about it, and he
15:04writes that it is a
15:07poor pupil, the one
15:10who doesn't overcome
15:11his master.
15:12Determined that his
15:13work was going to be
15:14noticed, da Vinci
15:15began pushing the
15:17boundaries, not just
15:18in terms of poses, but
15:19also in technique and
15:21materials.
15:22As he starts on his
15:24angel figure, the young
15:25Leonardo makes a
15:26momentous decision.
15:28The painting has so
15:29far been done the
15:30traditional way, with
15:31egg tempera, but he's
15:33going to paint his
15:34figure in oils.
15:37It was an astonishing
15:38gamble for the young
15:39Leonardo to take, but
15:41it paid off.
15:42And again, television
15:43found a way to
15:44clearly demonstrate
15:45what a difference this
15:46made.
15:48The tempera version is
15:49on the right, and on
15:50the left is the oil
15:51version.
15:52And you took about the
15:53same time, a week or so,
15:54to do each of them, but
15:55they are strikingly
15:56different.
15:57Oh, yes, yes.
15:57I mean, the whole effect
15:59of the paint is totally
16:00different.
16:01Much, much richer colours
16:02in the oil version, much
16:03duller in the tempera.
16:04And a much more depth of
16:06field, you feel there.
16:07You can sort of sense that
16:08there is something going on
16:10under it as well.
16:11Yes, right, yes.
16:12And there's a subtlety you
16:12can build into the lights
16:14and the darks and the oils.
16:16You just can't do in the
16:17tempera, basically.
16:18It was a defining moment
16:19for both the young
16:21apprentice and the art
16:22world in general.
16:24In southern Europe,
16:25painting in oils would
16:26eventually replace
16:27tempera as the medium of
16:29choice.
16:30Innovations like this
16:31became the hallmark of
16:33Leonardo's work, and
16:34throughout the decades,
16:36programme makers have
16:37explored the huge impact
16:38he would have on art in
16:40the Western world through
16:41his mastery of light and
16:43shade.
16:44Light is the chaser away of
16:46darkness.
16:48Shade is the obstruction of
16:49light.
16:50Everything in nature is
16:52shaped by them.
16:56His understanding of
16:57shadow and light would
16:59transform European painting
17:01forever.
17:04His rendering of the
17:05delicate shadows he saw,
17:06his concern with light and
17:07shade, influenced many of
17:09the artists of his own time
17:10and of times to come.
17:13Giorgione, Titian, Caravaggio,
17:19and through Caravaggio,
17:21Rembrandt.
17:22He was really obsessed by
17:28understanding how light hits
17:32the bodies and how light is
17:36reflected and rebounds.
17:38He conceived the figures not
17:40as defined by outlines and
17:43colours, but as defined by
17:46light and shade.
17:47Leonardo developed techniques such
17:55as fumato, meaning smoky,
17:57named for the misty, soft
17:59transitions of light and shade,
18:02rather than hard borders, which
18:04he applied to faces like those in
18:06The Virgin of the Rocks.
18:07And he pioneered a revolutionary
18:10process called Chiaroscuro,
18:13using light and dark tones to
18:15enhance contrast and form in his
18:17paintings.
18:18And for me, the archives have been
18:21instrumental in conveying how
18:23Leonardo's scientific understanding of
18:25light revolutionized painting
18:28technique.
18:28Since the Middle Ages, the painter was
18:33instructed to lay down and ground
18:35and then build up the highlights
18:36on top of it, which is an
18:38additive kind of process.
18:41Philosophically, Leonardo turned it
18:43around.
18:43He assumed the object is there.
18:45His problem was to depict it.
18:47And the way he attacked this
18:48problem was to show where the light
18:51wasn't, where the shadows were.
18:53In his notebooks, we have diagrams
18:55showing how light defines forms by
19:01not being there at all.
19:03It looks abstract enough, but in
19:06fact, it was the theoretical study
19:08of light falling on a sphere that
19:11enabled Leonardo to achieve the
19:15incredibly precise, scientifically
19:18precise, continuous modeling of the
19:21head of the Mona Lisa.
19:23The good painter has to bring out two
19:27things, the physical appearance of
19:29the subject he's painting, but also
19:32what is in the mind, the intentions of
19:35the soul.
19:37Achieving the first is easy, the second
19:39very hard.
19:41Ah, yes, the Mona Lisa, surely the
19:51ultimate expression of Leonardo's
19:54scientific mastery of light and
19:56shadow.
19:58She's become a global icon, and
20:00television has certainly played a part
20:02in that.
20:03But, like the artist himself, the
20:05question really is, where do you
20:07begin?
20:07To show just how groundbreaking the
20:11Mona Lisa was, Andrew Graham Dixon
20:13started where Leonardo himself had in
20:16his notebooks.
20:20If you want some sense of just how much
20:23work there was behind the surface of the
20:26picture, then this is a great place to
20:28start.
20:29It's a sheet of drawings by Leonardo's
20:32own hand.
20:32It's a series of studies of the human
20:36mouth, the motions of the mouth, how the
20:38mouth puckers, how the mouth bares its
20:43teeth.
20:44You have a very strong sense that for
20:46Leonardo, every picture is a kind of
20:49encyclopedia entry.
20:51And what does it contain in faint outline?
20:55Look here.
20:55It's a bit like the Cheshire Cat.
20:59It's the Mona Lisa's smile without the
21:02Mona Lisa attached.
21:04The result of this encyclopedic knowledge
21:07was, of course, that famously enigmatic
21:10smile, as demonstrated by Alan Yentob in a
21:14time before smoking was banished from our
21:16screens.
21:17You know, one of the reasons that the
21:19smile so endlessly fascinates people is
21:21because they can't quite make it out.
21:23And I think that something of this is to
21:25do with the fact that it's lopsided, the
21:28smile.
21:28Now, look at this.
21:29If I cover this side of the picture, now
21:32that looks quite severe.
21:34Now, if I turn it round and cover this
21:37side of the face, now she looks like she's
21:42smiling.
21:45And you see that the smile is also
21:48mirrored in a way by the landscape because
21:49the landscape seems lopsided, too.
21:52On the left-hand side here, you see the water
21:55lower in the frame.
21:56And on the right-hand side, it seems to be
21:59higher in the frame, protruding from the
22:02right-hand side of the picture.
22:04And, of course, Leonardo did nothing by
22:06accident.
22:07He was fascinated by optical effects.
22:09So I think this must have been intentional.
22:11And it gives you a real sense of unease about
22:14the picture.
22:14He was very happy to bamboozle people with his
22:18skill.
22:19And the Mona Lisa is still bamboozling us today.
22:22You know, when he first showed that to people, that
22:25was a kind of...
22:27It was just gobsmacking because nobody had seen a
22:30portrait that was so lifelike before.
22:32He really has created, um...
22:34He's created life in this painting.
22:37And it's a bit weird.
22:39She's a mysterious creature, this woman, who gazes at us
22:42with such withdrawn intensity.
22:45Might she not break her frozen silence and even speak
22:48and move?
22:51Oh, Jesus!
22:55For those who don't know me, I'm calling Mona Lisa.
22:58This is uncanny.
23:00It lives in a very extraordinary way.
23:03Now, the way that Leonardo did that is not by some kind
23:06of mystery, he did it by technique.
23:10A lot of these techniques were really Leonardo's
23:13invention, whether it be sfumato or the stronger
23:17caroscuro.
23:20The idea that you can bring glazes, for instance, so you
23:23can subtly model a face, an expression, the area around
23:27the eyes, just using something that's almost a kind of
23:30clear liquid with just a little bit of pigment in it.
23:36The Mona Lisa is a painting that Leonardo painted over a
23:39long period of time, and therefore in it he explored
23:44basically all these innovations.
23:47We can find in the Mona Lisa all the defining aspects of
23:53Leonardo's technique.
23:58Some of the archive I've chosen may lead you to assume that the
24:03Mona Lisa is universally loved and adored.
24:06But I've also found that, despite her celebrity status, or perhaps because
24:12of it, some have questioned her worth, while others have even dared to suggest that she
24:19could be a fake.
24:19In 1981, Arena found one critic who was less than impressed with the Mona Lisa's level of fame.
24:32It demonstrates quite conclusively, and more conclusively almost than any other art object in the history of art, the way in which generation after generation of millions of people can be conned and hyped and bludgeoned and convinced into aghast admiration of something which, in the present day situation, they can barely see, even if they go to the Louvre to look at it.
24:55Also, I mean, it's even suggested that the one that they do finally get a look at in the Louvre may even be a copy.
25:01But in 1972, Australian art critic Robert Hughes argued that, real or fake, the point was moot.
25:19It wouldn't matter.
25:21There are millions of Mona Lisa's, printed on everything from postcards to tea towels, from soap to sweatshirts.
25:27In Italy, she advertises processed cheese.
25:31In Spain, she wraps oranges.
25:34And she's good for drinks, too.
25:35Several liquor firms have claimed that her smile was the result of sipping their own brands of aperitif.
25:40But no other painting has been so completely replaced by its phantoms as this one has.
25:45The Mona Lisa has become the supreme example of the masterpiece with no context.
25:50It passes the final test of celebrity.
25:53It is famous for being famous.
25:55The Mona Lisa looks great on postcards.
26:09It looks great in photographs.
26:11I suppose that's why Marcel Duchamp ended up doing a moustache on a postcard in the Mona Lisa,
26:15because it kind of, it's almost as if it was designed to be reproduced.
26:18Leonardo da Vinci almost anticipated the age of television and anticipated the age of pop art.
26:25If you think about Michelangelo, Rembrandt, Titian, you know, the fantastic, the giants of art,
26:37you have to, you have to stand in front of a Rembrandt portrait to understand what the fuss is about.
26:42Leonardo, funnily enough, you know, who was older than all those artists,
26:45Leonardo worked in such a way that his art reproduces fantastically well.
26:56Five centuries after his death, Leonardo da Vinci is still often seen as the very embodiment of Renaissance man,
27:04as much renowned for his scientific endeavours as for his artistic masterpieces.
27:09His notebooks contain a bewildering array of designs for inventions, engineering projects,
27:17and despite being a sworn pacifist, war machines.
27:23A human-powered tank, 23 feet high.
27:29A multi-barrelled cannon, permitting one line of barrels to be loaded while another was being fired.
27:34These ideas have been an endless source of fascination for programme makers,
27:40not least because many of them feel like they came straight out of the 19th century rather than the 15th.
27:47We find designs for the building of sluices and canals,
27:51and a movable bridge.
27:57Paddle wheels for water transportation.
27:59This is an escapement mechanism.
28:05It transforms rotary motion into linear motion.
28:09It is, even today, the basis of the way most clocks work,
28:12and it was one of the results of Leonardo's increasing fascination with mechanics.
28:22The ingenuity of this little device, which Leonardo designed for a clock mechanism,
28:26is a typical illustration of his ability to provide simple solutions to complicated problems.
28:33There are 40 of Leonardo's notebooks mentioned in literary sources,
28:3631 of them have survived.
28:38And here are some typical pages from them.
28:44Many of these sketches are sketches for genuine inventions.
28:49Here, for instance, are sketches for a special kind of chain,
28:54which is the prototype of today's bicycle train.
28:59Here is a length of the chain,
29:01as it is still manufactured in Manchester for driving heavy machinery with.
29:07Then, of course, there were his famous flying machines,
29:11and here we've got a small model of one.
29:14He does this very detailed study of how birds fly.
29:20And, of course, he's not just curious about that in a kind of academic way.
29:25He wants to imitate it.
29:26He wants to make a flying machine based on the wings of birds.
29:31He understood that Eddie cracked the mystery of how birds fly.
29:38His claim to fame would have been phenomenal.
29:42We don't know how far his classical education went,
29:46probably not very far.
29:47He might not have heard of Icarus.
29:49Therefore, he probably didn't have the warning tale of men who try to fly.
29:54So perhaps that's another advantage of his lack of classical education.
29:58Who can tell?
29:59But we do know that he certainly planned to launch it, you know, amazingly.
30:04The wings would flap, and the theory of the whole thing was that at that point
30:11it would take off and fly into the air.
30:15Well, of course, it didn't.
30:18It wasn't that practical.
30:23Well, we've used a little television technology,
30:26and we've managed to make it fly.
30:29While some TV shows relied on computer graphics
30:37to realise Leonardo's dreams of flight,
30:40Alan Yentob opted for the altogether more daredevil approach
30:44that only television can offer.
30:49We found two brave experts willing to build and try out the design.
30:54Is there still risk, Robbie, in man-powered flight?
30:57Oh, there is phenomenal risk.
31:00Medieval flying machines.
31:01It's got to be dangerous.
31:03OK, well, good luck.
31:04Thank you very much.
31:08Even Leonardo was well aware that his inventions could be lethal.
31:13But the mood is buoyant as I join the team.
31:16So the teeth are chattering, are they?
31:18Um, no, I'm not really nervous.
31:20I'm hopeful rather than nervous.
31:22You know, I'd like it to fly,
31:24and I'd like to be able to, well, at least live my dream,
31:28which is to fly a machine that was designed 500 years ago.
31:31One, two, three.
31:41Oh, yeah, fuck off.
31:43I crashed it again.
31:46The glider was definitely unstable,
31:49so we went back to Leonardo's notes for inspiration.
31:52Look at how birds fly.
31:57How they use both their wings and their tail to stop them falling.
32:05If Leonardo had got as far as testing this and found that it was unstable,
32:09the natural move for him to do would be to say,
32:12yes, let's have a tail on it, so that's fine.
32:18Would the tail make the crucial difference?
32:20It was now all or bust.
32:22Robbie's raised the stakes.
32:24He's going to fly off a much steeper hill.
32:26It'll give him more chance of getting airborne.
32:29But if he crashes this time,
32:31the consequences will be grave.
32:32It's the first time ever
33:01a Leonardo flying machine successfully taken to the air.
33:05A triumph.
33:06Well done, though.
33:07That was amazing.
33:09He would have loved the idea
33:10that people were reconstructing his machines on TV.
33:12That really accessible side of Leonardo
33:14comes across very well on TV,
33:16and I think it gets to the joy of him, actually.
33:25Leonardo never quite got round to testing
33:28or even building many of his designs.
33:31He was far too busy with other preoccupations,
33:34so they remained pure ideas,
33:37just sketches in his notebook.
33:39But in one area of his scientific research,
33:42he acquired knowledge
33:43through years of practical investigations.
33:52Leonardo's anatomical studies
33:54began as a means of painting
33:56more natural and lifelike figures.
33:58But typically, this soon became another obsession,
34:04offering programme makers
34:05the chance to explore his blend of art and science
34:08in ever more creative ways.
34:15Leonardo's anatomical explorations
34:17really are comparable to those of Columbus,
34:21in the sense that Leonardo explored the microcosm,
34:25that is, the small world of the body,
34:27at the very same time
34:29as Columbus was exploring the greater world.
34:31And he described the human body
34:33as a marvellous creation.
34:35As a matter of fact,
34:36he called it a temple of beauty.
34:38And the beauty for him
34:39consisted of its mechanics
34:41and the way it worked.
34:43He studied skeletons
34:45to understand the body's structure.
34:48He dissected corpses
34:49to see how the organs worked.
34:52It was still a crude and rather sinister business,
34:54with a candle to see by
34:55stuck in the corpse's chest.
34:58Alan Yentob's 2003 series
35:01found a more visceral means
35:03of demonstrating Leonardo's passion for anatomy,
35:06faithfully recreating
35:07the full horror of this macabre world
35:10as only television could.
35:13Come here.
35:15And what was the atmosphere like
35:17in the dissecting room?
35:18Always dreadful in the dissecting room.
35:20There was no way of preserving bodies at the time.
35:26Within 48 hours,
35:28there was a tremendous stench.
35:32Pieces of the body were decaying.
35:37The most important instrument that one had
35:39was one's bare hands
35:41with long fingernails
35:43that were used to do
35:44a lot of the sharp dissecting.
35:48But he soon became intrigued
35:50by what went on deeper
35:52than the layers of the muscle
35:54and, in fact,
35:54became the very first person
35:56to dissect the organs of the body.
36:01A decade later,
36:02the culture show
36:03made full use of television's
36:05unrivaled ability
36:07to bring us to places
36:08we'd never experience otherwise.
36:11How else could we compare
36:12da Vinci's anatomical drawings
36:13to the real thing
36:15during an actual autopsy?
36:18We're going to try and imitate
36:20one of the famous lower limb drawings
36:22that Leonardo did
36:23and give you an idea
36:24of how complex the tissue is
36:27and how good a job he actually did.
36:30So we're just moving on
36:31to the dorsum of the foot
36:33where we'll see the tendons
36:34starting to become more prominent.
36:36So these are the things
36:37that were really standing out
36:38in Leonardo's drawings.
36:40They're a collection of strings
36:41or ropes that are connected
36:42to the muscle at one end
36:43and to a bone at the other.
36:46Quite remarkably,
36:47Leonardo not only captured them
36:48wonderfully well
36:49in terms of his drawings,
36:50but quite clearly understood
36:52the mechanical purpose of them.
36:54We can see through the filming
36:57of a real dissection
36:58the level of abstraction
37:01in Leonardo's depiction
37:04of what he could see
37:06in real bodies
37:07because he highlights
37:10so prominently
37:11what he's interested in
37:13that it becomes
37:14a very clear view
37:16whereas the body is messy.
37:21It's so clear to me now
37:23that Leonardo did something
37:24really quite remarkable
37:25in the drawings
37:26by creating a system
37:27to articulate that
37:28in a clever, simple, plain fashion.
37:33His anatomical drawings
37:34are for me actually
37:35greater than his paintings.
37:37They are the greatest works,
37:40almost the greatest works
37:40that I ever created
37:41because the genuine scientific work,
37:44you know,
37:45he didn't really fly, obviously,
37:46but he did really discover things
37:48about the structure of the ear,
37:50for example,
37:50and the muscles of the face,
37:52the actual muscles
37:53that express emotion.
37:54He made some very accurate observations.
37:57So his anatomical research
38:00was completely revolutionary.
38:04Leonardo's combined skills
38:06as a dissector and draftsman
38:08meant that he would glean insights
38:10that would not be observed again
38:12for hundreds of years.
38:15It was a point illustrated beautifully
38:17to Alastair Souk
38:18by eminent heart surgeon
38:20Dr Francis Wells.
38:21I did bring along
38:24a reproduction of a drawing
38:25that Leonardo made
38:26in which he observes
38:28these so-called vortices.
38:30This is a beautiful example
38:32of synopsis in thought.
38:35In it, he's got
38:36the hypothesis for the flow,
38:39a description of the vortices,
38:41and at the top,
38:42little diagrams
38:42showing how this argument
38:44has to be the right one
38:46for the mechanism
38:47of closure of the valve
38:48and not simple reflux
38:50of the blood
38:50and how it would fail.
38:51Now, this wasn't known about
38:52or understood
38:53until the last century,
38:55and it was shown
38:55most beautifully
38:56and reported in Nature
38:57in 1968
38:59by two engineers
39:00in Oxford,
39:01Bellhouse and Bellhouse.
39:02And there's one reference,
39:03and that is to Leonardo da Vinci.
39:05The reference is 500 years old.
39:082011's
39:09The Secret of Drawing
39:10also showed
39:11how Dr Wells
39:12was able to apply
39:13da Vinci's
39:14ancient discoveries
39:15to help save lives today.
39:17Leonardo's insight
39:19has led Francis Wells
39:20actually to change
39:21the way he operates
39:22on the mitral valve.
39:24And I know for a fact
39:25that the procedure,
39:27call it the da Vinci cut,
39:29has been turning people
39:30who could barely walk
39:31into people
39:32who can run up the stairs
39:33two at a time.
39:34Do you think
39:36that these drawings
39:38contain within them
39:39other things
39:40that people haven't
39:41still quite twigged yet,
39:42if one, you know...
39:43Oh, I'm sure there are.
39:44I mean, one has to be careful
39:45in not romancing it too much
39:46and saying
39:47the solution to all our problems
39:48are here.
39:48They're not.
39:49But I think the essence
39:50of what we're seeing
39:51is someone
39:52who is
39:53absolutely,
39:55conspicuously honest.
39:57They're searching
39:57for the truth.
39:58That is why I say
39:59even now,
40:00even in a thousand years' time,
40:02you can have a dialogue
40:03with these drawings.
40:05But for me,
40:07the most shocking aspect
40:08of this astonishing wealth
40:10of research and discovery,
40:12half a millennium
40:13ahead of its time,
40:15is that ultimately
40:15it all counted for nothing.
40:19Tragically,
40:20even his anatomy
40:20would be another
40:21heroic failure,
40:23lying undiscovered
40:24for centuries
40:25while the rest of the world
40:26caught up
40:27with Leonardo da Vinci.
40:29His contribution
40:30has no significance
40:31because it was lost,
40:33because it affected
40:34nobody and nothing.
40:37And when it was rediscovered,
40:39his contribution
40:40in anatomy,
40:41all of these things
40:42had been identified anyway.
40:44So can we really say
40:46that Leonardo
40:46was as much a scientist
40:48as he was an artist?
40:50As a scientist,
40:52Leonardo developed
40:53a line of empirical inquiry
40:56that certainly led eventually
40:59to what we understand
41:03as a scientific method.
41:06Yet he did not move on
41:08to a stage
41:09of experimental science.
41:12He did not reproduce
41:13the phenomena
41:14he observed in nature
41:16in the lab.
41:17There was a flaw
41:18in his character.
41:20He didn't have
41:21the moral stamina
41:22to carry any single idea
41:24right through to an end.
41:26He lacked
41:26that rather dreary
41:28quality
41:29of perseverance.
41:31He didn't invent
41:32modern science,
41:33but he knew
41:34that modern science
41:35needed to be invented,
41:36if you see what I mean.
41:37So you can't say really
41:40that Leonardo
41:40is a scientist
41:41in our sense
41:43of the word.
41:44What he amounts to
41:45in this department
41:46of his life
41:47is an ideas man
41:49of inspired genius.
41:53He saw that technology
41:55would completely transform
41:58human life,
42:00and nobody else
42:01at the time
42:01had that idea.
42:03And all his ideas,
42:04you see,
42:05are not so much scientific,
42:07but based upon
42:08the acute observation
42:09of the artist.
42:11In the Renaissance,
42:12it was,
42:13science was knowledge,
42:15and so art,
42:16in that sense,
42:16is part of knowledge.
42:21Quite apart
42:22from their obvious brilliance,
42:24Leonardo's masterpieces
42:25command such immense interest
42:27and colossal prices,
42:29in part because
42:30they are relatively rare.
42:35Leonardo was
42:36a prolific figure.
42:37He abhorred sleep,
42:40seeing it as a waste
42:42of eight hours
42:43of his precious day.
42:45And yet,
42:45astonishingly,
42:47there may be no more
42:48than 15 of his finished
42:50paintings in existence.
42:54As many of the archives show,
42:56one of the reasons for this
42:58lay in the downside
42:59of Leonardo's
43:00constant experimentations
43:02with materials
43:03with materials
43:03and techniques.
43:05The most important commission
43:07Leonardo received
43:08during the astonishingly
43:09productive four years
43:10which he spent in Florence
43:11was from the city fathers,
43:13who asked him
43:14to decorate
43:14one of the walls
43:15of a big hall
43:16in the Palazzo Vecchio,
43:18the city hall.
43:20The subject was to be
43:21the victory of the Florentines
43:22over the Milanese
43:23at the Battle of Anghiari.
43:24But things began
43:28to go very wrong.
43:32On Friday
43:33at the 13th hour,
43:34I had just picked up
43:35my brush
43:36when the great storm began.
43:39The church bells
43:40rang the alarm.
43:42The day was transformed
43:43into night
43:44as the rain poured down.
43:46There was water everywhere.
43:48The cartoon began
43:50to come apart
43:51piece by piece.
43:54He was using techniques
43:57which were not
43:59necessarily established
44:00and were not
44:02always successful.
44:05He wanted to essentially
44:07create an oil painting
44:08on a wall,
44:10and so he made
44:11a concoction
44:12of paints and glues
44:13to try and do that,
44:14and it didn't work.
44:18The painting he'd begun
44:19soon started to run
44:21and seemed to be
44:22melting off the wall.
44:24In desperation,
44:25they lit fires here
44:26under the fresco
44:27in an attempt
44:28to set the paint
44:29and save the painting.
44:32But it was too late.
44:35The picture that's here today
44:37is by Leonardo's biographer,
44:39Vasari,
44:40a far better writer
44:41than he was a painter.
44:42But he leaves us
44:43an intriguing clue.
44:45In one corner
44:46of the picture,
44:47he's written
44:47Cercatrova,
44:49Seek and ye shall find.
44:52Some people believe
44:53that somewhere today
44:54there are fragments
44:55in this room
44:56of Leonardo's
44:57long-lost masterpiece.
45:00Eight years later,
45:02Fiona Bruce discovered
45:03that this wasn't
45:04the only time
45:05Leonardo's experiments
45:06with oil frescoes
45:07had ended
45:08in disaster.
45:10It's such
45:11a famous image.
45:13But the painting
45:15we see today
45:16is the ghost
45:18of what it was
45:19because only 20%
45:21of the original remains.
45:23So what happened?
45:26The established technique
45:28for large-scale
45:30wall paintings
45:32was fresco.
45:34Fresco is
45:35pigments
45:36applied
45:37to the wet plaster.
45:39So fresco
45:40requires
45:41working
45:41fast.
45:43You can't
45:44wait.
45:45If it dries,
45:46you have to start
45:47all over again.
45:50But Leonardo
45:51knew he was
45:52anything
45:52but a fast worker.
45:54He chose
45:55to work in oil paint
45:56on plaster
45:57that had already
45:58dried.
45:59In ideal conditions,
46:01the Last Supper
46:02might have survived
46:03intact.
46:04But behind its wall
46:06was the monastery's
46:07kitchen,
46:08pumping out
46:08moist heat.
46:10And beneath it
46:10was the city
46:11of Milan's
46:12high water table.
46:14Damp entered the wall
46:16and pushed
46:17upwards and outwards.
46:19A fresco
46:19would have allowed
46:20the moisture out.
46:22But the Last Supper's
46:23surface could not breathe.
46:25And the paint
46:26started to flake
46:27and detach.
46:31The detail
46:32of Leonardo's
46:33painting
46:34can never
46:34be recovered.
46:35But a key
46:36to what it looked
46:37like can be found
46:38surprisingly close
46:39to home.
46:41Fiona took us
46:42to the chapel
46:42of Magdalene College
46:44in Oxford
46:44to show us
46:45Britain's
46:46little-known
46:47version
46:47of the Last Supper.
46:50It was painted
46:51in Leonardo's day,
46:53thought to be
46:53by a pupil
46:54of Leonardo,
46:55copied from
46:56the original,
46:57possibly approved
46:58by the master
46:58himself.
47:02details which
47:06have disappeared
47:07forever
47:08from Leonardo's
47:08picture
47:09can be seen
47:10clearly
47:10in this one.
47:14The food
47:15on the table,
47:17the sandaled feet
47:22of the disciples,
47:23and most dramatically
47:28the face
47:29of Simon,
47:30stubborn
47:31and disbelieving.
47:35Another reason
47:37that finished
47:37da Vinci paintings
47:38are so rare
47:39is that he often
47:40simply abandoned
47:41them halfway through.
47:43The final task
47:44needed in a painting
47:45of this kind
47:45is to lay in
47:46the colours,
47:47but this
47:48he did not seem
47:49to wish to do,
47:50fearing perhaps
47:51that his technical
47:51skill would fail
47:52to match the ideas
47:53his intellect
47:54had conceived.
47:55This would seem
47:56to have been
47:56one of his
47:57recurring doubts.
47:59Not many
48:00of the patrons
48:01of Leonardo
48:02received the
48:03paintings they
48:04paid for.
48:05He was notoriously
48:07slow and left
48:08behind lots
48:09of paintings
48:10unfinished.
48:13But very often,
48:14of course,
48:14an unfinished
48:15painting can tell
48:16us more about
48:17an artist
48:17than a finished
48:18one,
48:19like an empty,
48:20untidy room.
48:22Not finishing
48:23his work
48:24is a kind
48:25of a brilliant
48:26strategy
48:26because by not
48:28finishing things,
48:29he becomes
48:30famous not
48:32for his works,
48:33he becomes
48:33famous for being
48:34him.
48:36No matter
48:37how many new
48:38Leonardos
48:39we find,
48:41there will be
48:41always an eagerness
48:43to see more.
48:46Television loves
48:47a good detective
48:48story,
48:49so the idea
48:50of tracking down
48:51a newly
48:51discovered
48:52Da Vinci
48:53masterpiece
48:53has always
48:55been a ripe
48:56subject for
48:56programme makers.
48:58When Andrew
48:59Graham Dixon
49:00took up the
49:01case in 2017,
49:02he posed a
49:03particularly
49:04attention-grabbing
49:05question.
49:06Is it possible
49:07that there might
49:08be more than
49:09one Mona Lisa?
49:12Setting off
49:13on a round-the-world
49:14treasure hunt,
49:15Andrew turns
49:16art detective,
49:17gathering the
49:18evidence,
49:19deducing that
49:20Da Vinci did
49:20paint an earlier
49:21version of the
49:22Mona Lisa,
49:23and then,
49:24one by one,
49:25dismissing a
49:26series of
49:26possible contenders.
49:28So this Mona
49:29Lisa isn't a
49:30Leonardo,
49:31but a mid-17th
49:33century French
49:33copy.
49:35Finally,
49:35in Paris,
49:36he meets Pascal
49:37Cotte,
49:38inventor of a
49:39groundbreaking new
49:40technology that
49:41can penetrate
49:42through layers of
49:42paint.
49:43the answer,
49:44it seems,
49:45was hiding in
49:46plain sight all
49:47the time.
49:51In 2004,
49:52Pascal was
49:53invited by the
49:54Louvre to scan
49:55the Mona Lisa.
49:56His task,
49:57simply to identify
49:58the picture's
49:59original colours,
50:00hidden beneath
50:01the discolourations
50:02of time.
50:04But Pascal's
50:05technique also
50:05revealed that there
50:06was far more
50:07going on beneath
50:08the surface.
50:09For the last
50:10decade,
50:11he's worked
50:12in secret
50:13decoding those
50:14discoveries.
50:18Only television
50:20could take us
50:20inside a work
50:22of art to
50:23reveal such
50:24previously unknown
50:25details.
50:26Marked in red,
50:27they appeared to
50:28be elements of a
50:29larger, first
50:30portrait that
50:31never got beyond
50:32the draft stage.
50:34But that was just
50:35the beginning of
50:35the revelations.
50:36Here we are.
50:43What else is that?
50:45This is a hairpin.
50:48Like this one.
50:50Now you know
50:51there is a hairpin,
50:53you can see it.
50:54Ah.
50:56And more than that,
50:58if you look around
50:59the head,
51:00you discover
51:0112 hairpins.
51:02Scanning even
51:08deeper beneath
51:09the paint layers,
51:10Pascal's secret
51:11weapon revealed
51:12the last of a
51:13number of heads,
51:14hidden for 500
51:15years beneath
51:16the world's
51:17most famous
51:17one, a ghostly
51:19apparition,
51:20peering back
51:21like a Leonardo
51:22Turin shroud.
51:25How many heads
51:26is that so far?
51:29This is the
51:30number three.
51:30Now the
51:33high.
51:34So it's
51:35a wonderful
51:36proof.
51:38I discover
51:39two crosses
51:40just here.
51:42Oh my.
51:44That's
51:45extraordinary.
51:48The crosses
51:49clearly mark
51:50a different
51:50set of pupils
51:51looking in
51:53a different
51:54direction.
51:56The face
51:56behind
51:57Mona Lisa,
51:58the face
51:59is turned
52:0014 degrees
52:01in the
52:02right
52:03direction.
52:04Also
52:05eyebrows.
52:08And here
52:09you have
52:09another
52:10mouse.
52:12Absolutely
52:12amazing.
52:14She's barely
52:14smiling.
52:16So Pascal,
52:17you found a
52:18complete face
52:18inside.
52:20Inside.
52:21The Mona Lisa.
52:22Yes.
52:24Wow.
52:25That's quite a
52:26big discovery,
52:26isn't it?
52:27Yes, it is.
52:28This pioneering
52:33work marked an
52:34extraordinary
52:35moment in the
52:36history of art.
52:37By piecing
52:38together all the
52:39details and
52:40identifying the
52:41original pigments
52:42used by Leonardo,
52:43Pascal was able
52:44to construct a
52:46digital photo
52:47fit of the
52:47image, a
52:48perfect match
52:49with the
52:49historical records
52:51of the lost
52:51original.
52:52model.
52:54But if this
52:55computer image
52:56represents the
52:57original portrait
52:58of Mona Lisa,
52:59it's a portrait
53:00her husband never
53:01received.
53:03Instead,
53:04Leonardo went on
53:05to paint the
53:06world's most famous
53:07picture,
53:07over the top.
53:12So there were two
53:13Mona Lisas all
53:14along.
53:15I personally
53:20wasn't surprised
53:21that there were
53:21other things going
53:22on because it's
53:23not unusual for
53:23artists to change
53:24their minds,
53:25you know,
53:25in terms of the
53:26position of the
53:26head maybe,
53:27or the smile,
53:28or the eyes,
53:29or whatever it
53:29might be.
53:30So, you know,
53:30in that sense,
53:31it's not so
53:31unusual, you
53:33know, with the
53:33modern techniques
53:34of being able to
53:35examine pictures and
53:36what's going on
53:37beneath the paint
53:38surface to see the
53:40processes of how
53:41the actual final
53:42artwork evolved.
53:43For nearly 70
53:48years, television
53:49has been fanning
53:50the flames of
53:51Leonardo's celebrity.
53:53So when his
53:54long-lost Salvatore
53:55Mundi surfaced in
53:562011, it wasn't
53:58long before Fiona
53:59Bruce was on the
54:00case.
54:03This is how the
54:04picture looked
54:04before it was
54:05restored.
54:06Dismissed as a
54:07crude copy,
54:09buried in a
54:09private collection,
54:11last sold for
54:12£45.
54:13in 1958.
54:16To view the
54:16evidence for
54:17herself, Fiona
54:18met with Diane
54:19Modestini, the
54:21art restorer
54:21behind this
54:22incredible discovery.
54:24So what are we
54:25looking at here?
54:27Here we can see
54:28that there is a
54:30first idea for
54:31the thumb.
54:32Oh, yes.
54:34So it was more
54:35upright?
54:36It was more
54:37upright.
54:37But this was the
54:38moment that gave
54:40us a clue and
54:41gave us some hope
54:43which wouldn't have
54:44entered our minds
54:45previously that we
54:46might be dealing
54:47with the lost
54:47original.
54:52As it became
54:53clearer to you that
54:54this could well be
54:55an original Leonardo,
54:56did you ever have a
54:57moment where you
54:57think, if I do the
55:00wrong thing here, this
55:03could all, this could
55:05all rest on your
55:06shoulders?
55:06Yeah, I couldn't let
55:08myself think about
55:08that.
55:09I couldn't.
55:11I would never have
55:12dared to touch it.
55:13It must be terribly
55:14exciting.
55:15It's rather like, I
55:16don't know, imagine
55:17being an archaeologist
55:18and you're digging and
55:18digging and digging and
55:19digging and then all of
55:20a sudden you find this
55:20piece of treasure.
55:22I suppose it's a bit
55:23like that.
55:24But it's a picture just
55:25kind of turning into
55:26something in front of
55:27your eyes.
55:29The discovery of a
55:31different first design
55:32for the thumb was an
55:33incredible breakthrough.
55:36No one painting a mere
55:38copy would experiment in
55:40this way.
55:45When the picture was
55:47finally shown to leading
55:48Leonardo experts, they
55:50examined everything.
55:51Its history, its hidden
55:53details, the paint,
55:55itself.
55:56Leonardo painting
55:57hasn't come along like
55:58that since the early
55:5920th century.
56:01So one every hundred
56:02years is kind of rare.
56:05So there is that long
56:06process of research where
56:08you're putting the
56:09counter arguments and
56:11saying, you know, let's
56:13look for what's wrong
56:14with it.
56:15And in this case, I
56:16couldn't find anything
56:17wrong.
56:21So the experts agree.
56:23This is a long lost
56:24Leonardo.
56:26But should that really
56:27alter our opinion of
56:28it?
56:29On one level, I'd say
56:31it's wonderful to know
56:33that there's another
56:33Leonardo.
56:34It's fascinating.
56:36But on the other hand,
56:37if it wasn't a Leonardo,
56:39what would actually
56:40change about the
56:41picture?
56:42Why wouldn't we want
56:43to look at it?
56:44Why wouldn't, you know,
56:46the kind of, you know,
56:47the whole thing speak to
56:49us in the way that it
56:50does at present?
56:51So what does that tell
56:52us about our need to
56:53have a genius artist
56:55connected to an artwork
56:57for it somehow to work
56:58for us?
57:01When Salvador Mundi sold
57:03at auction in 2017, it
57:06shattered all records.
57:08The hammer finally fell at
57:10nearly half a billion
57:11dollars.
57:13Now, as far as I'm
57:14concerned, mere money is
57:16no true measure of
57:17artistic genius.
57:19But it could be said
57:21that this is an indication
57:23of quite how valuable
57:25Leonardo's reputation
57:26has become.
57:31Even if we never discover
57:32another of his works,
57:34my journey through the
57:35archives has shown me
57:37that we'll never cease to
57:39be enthralled by his
57:40insights and discoveries.
57:42Ultimately, it's not the
57:45drawings, the paintings,
57:47the water-powered clocks
57:49or flying machines that
57:50fascinate us, but the
57:52workings of a mind so
57:53keen, so advanced, that it
57:56never stopped yearning to
57:58comprehend all there was
57:59to know.
58:02And that, for me, is the
58:04very purpose of great art,
58:07the quest for knowledge and
58:09understanding.
58:10To borrow a very famous
58:12phrase, it's about the big
58:14questions of life, the
58:15universe and everything.
58:18And I believe that few
58:20came closer to finding
58:21answers than Leonardo da
58:23Vinci.
58:23ponto guard...
58:26Music...
58:30.
58:39.
58:43.
58:49.
58:50.
58:50Transcription by CastingWords
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