Long Lost Leo

January 13, 2005 12:56 PM

"Researchers have discovered the hidden laboratory used by Leonardo da Vinci for studies of flight and other pioneering scientific work in previously sealed rooms at a monastery next to the Basilica of the Santissima Annunziata, in the heart of Florence."
posted by ScottUltra (28 comments total)

Doesn't this have some sort of tie-in to the plot of Alias from several seasons ago?
posted by mecran01 at 1:12 PM on January 13, 2005

Please understand I am genuinely praising this link when I write "Best Newsfilter Ever."
posted by Joey Michaels at 1:15 PM on January 13, 2005

Being something of a bike geek, I feel the need to point out that the authenticity of the bicycle is still somewhat in dispte.
posted by fixedgear at 1:16 PM on January 13, 2005

errr, dispute.
posted by fixedgear at 1:17 PM on January 13, 2005

I think ol' Leo just used those rooms as love dens and made them look like a lab so the chicks would dig him more.

Actually, this is pretty cool. I can not even begin to imagine what he'd be inventing today if he were still alive.
posted by fenriq at 1:58 PM on January 13, 2005

That's very cool.
posted by The God Complex at 2:17 PM on January 13, 2005

I love seeing good posts like this on mefi. It gives me that tingly feeling all over.
posted by jperkins at 2:30 PM on January 13, 2005

Exciting News. It does have that Umberto Eco-ish feel, too. Secret sealed laboratories right under our noses.
posted by exlotuseater at 2:41 PM on January 13, 2005

[this is bad-ass]
posted by dorian at 2:42 PM on January 13, 2005

Fenriq: Leo was gay.
posted by absalom at 3:11 PM on January 13, 2005

I'm sure Da Vinci was a very happy man, absalom. :-)

I am pretty excited by these finds, too.
posted by nathanrudy at 3:15 PM on January 13, 2005

Incredible that such a treasure could have been literally locked away for all these centuries — it hardly seems possible. And of course, I'm dying to see photos. Wow.
posted by taz at 3:17 PM on January 13, 2005

Great story, but where's the photos? I Google-newsed and didn't find anything . . .
posted by _sirmissalot_ at 3:41 PM on January 13, 2005

[this is good]
posted by madamjujujive at 3:44 PM on January 13, 2005

I can't wait for the "Da Vinci Code" tourists to descend in droves on the place.
posted by tommasz at 3:45 PM on January 13, 2005

Damn, he's even cooler than I thought before. Thanks for the heads up, absalom.
posted by fenriq at 3:49 PM on January 13, 2005

*bouncebouncebounce*

Unspeakably cool. Can't wait to see pics.
posted by frykitty at 4:21 PM on January 13, 2005

very cool (of course, it was me who discovered it on my vacation) ; >
posted by amberglow at 4:34 PM on January 13, 2005

It does have that Umberto Eco-ish feel, too. Secret sealed laboratories right under our noses.

I was thinking more Enid Blyton Famous Five Go to Smugglers Top-ish feel.

What everyone else said. Unbelievable.
posted by uncanny hengeman at 5:17 PM on January 13, 2005

To cool the hype, it appears the rooms were rented subsequently by others and the sealing up happened long after most da Vincian artifacts were removed -- except for some wall paintings.

So he was an interior decorator. What does that prove?
posted by dhartung at 8:34 PM on January 13, 2005

So he was an interior decorator. What does that prove?

Undiscovered da Vinci fresoes? This is huge!
posted by wsg at 9:32 PM on January 13, 2005

As foretold in Quest of the Delta Knights.
posted by sourwookie at 12:13 AM on January 14, 2005

oops..make that frezkoes.
posted by wsg at 1:07 AM on January 14, 2005

wsg speaks truth. Huge! Even just knowing for sure that this was a space he used would be pretty huge, but actual undiscovered work? Way huge.
posted by taz at 4:16 AM on January 14, 2005

I can not even begin to imagine what he'd be inventing today if he were still alive.

He would be 550 years old. Maybe Da Pends.
posted by pracowity at 6:59 AM on January 14, 2005

pics plz!
posted by exhilaration at 8:46 AM on January 14, 2005

Maybe not.

I suspect that the way it works is like this:

If you first think (hope against hope, yearn to learn, etc.) that Leonardo did them, you then look at the work and say stuff like, "For the first time in this case, we see birds which are absolutely dynamic, animals which are absolutely vivid and remind us of the study done by Leonardo of birds in flight."

But if you start without such hopes, you look at a picture of the work and compare it to other works of the time and you say stuff like, "There's nothing about these bird studies that are [sic] unique at that date."
posted by pracowity at 6:59 AM on January 23, 2005

This article is available in full to Independent Portfolio subscribers. Access it through BT click&buy.
posted by crunchland at 9:40 AM on January 23, 2005