0:00:10 > 0:00:12Leonardo Da Vinci was one of the world's
0:00:12 > 0:00:16most brilliant and extraordinary men.
0:00:16 > 0:00:21He was endlessly curious, searching for answers in everything he did.
0:00:22 > 0:00:26We think of him as the ultimate Renaissance man.
0:00:26 > 0:00:30He created a new idea of beauty.
0:00:30 > 0:00:34He reinvented the art of painting.
0:00:34 > 0:00:38From The Last Supper, tragically deteriorating,
0:00:38 > 0:00:41but still full of power and drama...
0:00:43 > 0:00:44..to the Mona Lisa,
0:00:44 > 0:00:49whose mysterious hint of a smile has intrigued generations.
0:00:53 > 0:00:58There are perhaps no more than 15 paintings by Leonardo in the world.
0:00:58 > 0:01:01They're scattered in different countries...
0:01:03 > 0:01:08..believed until now to be all that remains of Leonardo's work.
0:01:10 > 0:01:12But in New York,
0:01:12 > 0:01:16locked away at a secret address, is a newly discovered painting
0:01:16 > 0:01:20by Leonardo, something that hasn't happened for over 100 years.
0:01:23 > 0:01:26The picture has never been filmed until now.
0:01:28 > 0:01:32It could be worth £125 million.
0:01:35 > 0:01:37Is this the discovery of a painting
0:01:37 > 0:01:40thought lost for centuries?
0:01:42 > 0:01:46Leonardo is a man for whom the word genius could have been invented.
0:01:46 > 0:01:48And yet his reputation as an artist
0:01:48 > 0:01:50rests on just a handful of paintings.
0:01:50 > 0:01:53And some of them were never finished.
0:01:53 > 0:01:57How did Leonardo become the most famous painter ever to have lived?
0:02:26 > 0:02:29Many people dream at some point in their lives
0:02:29 > 0:02:31of discovering a lost masterpiece.
0:02:32 > 0:02:34Few allow themselves
0:02:34 > 0:02:38to dream of finding a painting by Leonardo Da Vinci.
0:02:40 > 0:02:44No artist has a higher reputation. No artist's work
0:02:44 > 0:02:49is more highly coveted. But there's so little of it.
0:02:53 > 0:02:57I've come to New York to visit a gallery in a secret location.
0:02:57 > 0:03:01And in it is a painting that's just been seen by a handful of experts.
0:03:01 > 0:03:05If it's genuine, it will be the discovery of a lifetime!
0:03:05 > 0:03:09A painting by the greatest old master of them all.
0:03:15 > 0:03:17Hello!
0:03:17 > 0:03:20You must be Fiona. Nice to meet you.
0:03:20 > 0:03:23Pleased to meet you. Come this way.
0:03:28 > 0:03:30'Restorer Dianne Modestini,
0:03:30 > 0:03:32'and dealer and art historian Robert Simon
0:03:32 > 0:03:36'have been guarding their secret for more than two years'.
0:03:38 > 0:03:40Wow.
0:03:41 > 0:03:43My goodness.
0:03:46 > 0:03:49Gosh! To be that close to it!
0:03:49 > 0:03:51Amazing.
0:03:52 > 0:03:56'It's a painting of Christ known as Salvator Mundi,
0:03:56 > 0:03:58'or the Saviour of the World'.
0:04:00 > 0:04:04- It has got a real presence, hasn't it?- Yes.
0:04:04 > 0:04:09He begins to really dominate the space, and capture your attention.
0:04:09 > 0:04:15- And the gaze, as well. - Yes, the gaze. Yes.
0:04:15 > 0:04:20That's not a happy or inviting gaze, he's kind of fixing you
0:04:20 > 0:04:23with his stare! Don't you think?
0:04:23 > 0:04:29Yes, it's a very intent, very engaging and very powerful image.
0:04:29 > 0:04:33I think we've all felt from looking at it that as much as the subject,
0:04:33 > 0:04:36obviously, is a religious subject, it's a spiritual quality
0:04:36 > 0:04:41that communicates rather than anything strictly religious.
0:04:41 > 0:04:44The sense that this is really a man, and kind of a portrait of a man,
0:04:44 > 0:04:46as Christ, is very powerful.
0:04:46 > 0:04:50When you look at this, now, in its pristine state, thanks to all
0:04:50 > 0:04:56your endeavours, what are the bits that really strike you about it?
0:04:56 > 0:04:59The hand for example, certainly for me, is just so beautifully done.
0:04:59 > 0:05:04Yes. It has an incredible presence that no other picture
0:05:04 > 0:05:07I've ever worked on, and I've worked on some very important things,
0:05:07 > 0:05:10- has had this effect on me. - Really?- Yes.
0:05:10 > 0:05:16If you watch how he emerges at the end of the day, when the light
0:05:16 > 0:05:21goes down, which is the kind of light that Leonardo describes
0:05:21 > 0:05:24as being ideal for making pictures, he starts to glow from within.
0:05:24 > 0:05:27And sort of pulse with life. It's very...it's eerie.
0:05:27 > 0:05:30Do you think that you've been spending too long with it?!
0:05:30 > 0:05:33Yes! I certainly have spent hundreds of hours!
0:05:33 > 0:05:36I've experienced it too, actually!
0:05:39 > 0:05:43There are details, if you look even here, this crystal ball,
0:05:43 > 0:05:45in which he's portrayed these inclusions.
0:05:45 > 0:05:47- The little flaws.- Yes, exactly,
0:05:47 > 0:05:50in which everyone is individually light.
0:05:50 > 0:05:54Some from the top of it, some in the shadow, it really boggles to see the
0:05:54 > 0:05:58degree of study and the degree of ability to be able to render that.
0:05:58 > 0:06:01And of course, this enters into Leonardo's own very deep
0:06:01 > 0:06:05study of optical effects of light and of science.
0:06:09 > 0:06:12'It would be a while before I got into the
0:06:12 > 0:06:14'restoration studio to see the evidence,
0:06:14 > 0:06:18'to find out if this really is a lost Leonardo'.
0:06:23 > 0:06:27'If it is, for some people it would be like finding a new planet!
0:06:29 > 0:06:31'It's a measure of the extraordinary
0:06:31 > 0:06:34'veneration in which Leonardo is held'.
0:06:38 > 0:06:43He is that kind of mysterious, profound artist who seems
0:06:43 > 0:06:49to address the mysteries and secrets of life
0:06:49 > 0:06:51and to give them such beautiful expression
0:06:51 > 0:06:54without ever tying them down.
0:07:01 > 0:07:07Something of a cult has grown up around Leonardo.
0:07:07 > 0:07:09It's not just art lovers.
0:07:09 > 0:07:13Thriller writers and conspiracy theorists are drawn to him,
0:07:13 > 0:07:17fascinated by his obsessive enquiries
0:07:17 > 0:07:21into the frontiers of knowledge.
0:07:21 > 0:07:24From the secret of flight
0:07:24 > 0:07:28to the motions of the moon
0:07:28 > 0:07:33to the hidden architecture of the human body,
0:07:33 > 0:07:37all minutely noted in his mysterious mirror handwriting.
0:07:39 > 0:07:43We've got thousands of pages of writing, we've got
0:07:43 > 0:07:48these pictures, not many, to be sure, but he remains elusive,
0:07:48 > 0:07:52so there's this strange balance between being known and unknown,
0:07:52 > 0:07:55and it's a very precious, precarious balance.
0:07:55 > 0:08:00The unknown is sufficiently apparent, that people
0:08:00 > 0:08:04can go in and see mysteries where there are no mysteries, in fact.
0:08:06 > 0:08:11Is it possible to strip away the myths, the cult of Leonardo, and see
0:08:11 > 0:08:17the truth about this flawed, often puzzling man?
0:08:30 > 0:08:35The medieval town of Vinci, in Tuscany, in northern Italy.
0:08:40 > 0:08:45It was here on 15th April, 1452, that Leonardo was born.
0:08:50 > 0:08:55His surname, Da Vinci, literally means, "From the town of Vinci."
0:08:58 > 0:09:01Leonardo's start in life wasn't auspicious.
0:09:01 > 0:09:03He was illegitimate.
0:09:03 > 0:09:07His father came from a respected local family. His mother was
0:09:07 > 0:09:12a poor peasant girl - his father's mistress.
0:09:12 > 0:09:16Leonardo was born and would always remain something of an outsider.
0:09:16 > 0:09:19He never inherited his father's wealth.
0:09:19 > 0:09:22He never settled anywhere for too long.
0:09:22 > 0:09:26All his life, he moved from place to place.
0:09:31 > 0:09:33Leonardo's schooling was basic.
0:09:33 > 0:09:37He always called himself an uneducated man.
0:09:39 > 0:09:41But he made a virtue of this.
0:09:41 > 0:09:47His school room was the Tuscan countryside.
0:09:47 > 0:09:49He began to draw.
0:09:51 > 0:09:53Over the course of his life,
0:09:53 > 0:09:58he would fill hundreds of notebooks with minutely observed drawings
0:09:58 > 0:10:01of animals, plants and natural forms.
0:10:05 > 0:10:10There's a tenderness and sympathy in these pictures
0:10:10 > 0:10:15as well as a remarkable skill.
0:10:20 > 0:10:25At the age of 13 or so, Leonardo left this small country town.
0:10:25 > 0:10:28He carried with him his love of the landscape,
0:10:28 > 0:10:32his fascination with animals, and the wonders of the natural world.
0:10:32 > 0:10:36He set off for a new life in a very different sort of place.
0:10:45 > 0:10:49Florence in the 1460's was wealthy,
0:10:49 > 0:10:55cultured, a magnet for the finest artists, sculptors and architects.
0:10:55 > 0:10:58An exciting place to be.
0:10:59 > 0:11:02The city was the pinnacle of Renaissance splendour.
0:11:04 > 0:11:10What better place for an aspiring young artist to live and learn.
0:11:10 > 0:11:13Leonardo had come to work as an apprentice
0:11:13 > 0:11:16to a master artist and craftsman, Andrea del Verrocchio.
0:11:22 > 0:11:28Artists' studios were busy, crowded, dusty places.
0:11:28 > 0:11:31In the workshops of Florence's cathedral, where sculptors
0:11:31 > 0:11:36still work in the same way they have for centuries, you can get some
0:11:36 > 0:11:40sense of what it was like. Young apprentices learnt everything
0:11:40 > 0:11:44from how to clean brushes to how to paint an angel's wing.
0:11:46 > 0:11:50Verrocchio's workshop would have been a hive of activity.
0:11:50 > 0:11:53As well as producing paintings under the guidance of the master,
0:11:53 > 0:11:57he would have produced sculptures in bronze and marble,
0:11:57 > 0:12:02works in silver and gold, theatre sets - anything the wealthy
0:12:02 > 0:12:05and cultured classes of Florence desired.
0:12:08 > 0:12:12But for Leonardo, the city itself became his studio.
0:12:16 > 0:12:19He kept a notebook always dangling from his belt,
0:12:19 > 0:12:23and he drew the faces he saw around him.
0:12:46 > 0:12:49The turns and movement of the human body fascinated him.
0:13:03 > 0:13:06In the city's Uffizi Gallery, you can catch the first glimpse
0:13:06 > 0:13:09of the hand of Leonardo, the painter.
0:13:14 > 0:13:16The moment when Leonardo's master
0:13:16 > 0:13:21decided it was time to let his talented pupil pick up a brush.
0:13:24 > 0:13:30This is Verrocchio's painting of Christ with John the Baptist.
0:13:30 > 0:13:34Except this isn't all Verrochio's work.
0:13:34 > 0:13:37There's something very special about the kneeling angel here.
0:13:37 > 0:13:42Leonardo had the task of painting the angel when he was 23 or so.
0:13:42 > 0:13:45Just look a little bit more closely.
0:13:45 > 0:13:50The fact that the angel is three-quarter turned away from us,
0:13:50 > 0:13:53gazing raptly, adoringly, at Christ,
0:13:53 > 0:13:56that pose was groundbreaking at the time.
0:13:57 > 0:14:04Then look at the curls. Fine detail like ripples of water.
0:14:04 > 0:14:08You'll see that more and more, and then, the subtlety of the blue
0:14:08 > 0:14:11and the shading of the drapes of the material.
0:14:11 > 0:14:14Apparently, when Verrochio saw that, as the story goes,
0:14:14 > 0:14:16he decided that he should put down his brush
0:14:16 > 0:14:18and stop painting altogether,
0:14:18 > 0:14:21because he had been surpassed by his apprentice.
0:14:27 > 0:14:31Leonardo progressed to more ambitious and complex subjects.
0:14:31 > 0:14:34Though this painting in the Uffizi is unfinished,
0:14:34 > 0:14:38and at first glance, looks a bit of a mess.
0:14:38 > 0:14:40It's so dark and jumbled.
0:14:40 > 0:14:43It's hard even to know what's going on!
0:14:45 > 0:14:49It's a common religious subject - the moment when the three wise men
0:14:49 > 0:14:51come to pay homage to the infant Christ.
0:14:54 > 0:14:58Instead of the usual group of static, silent,
0:14:58 > 0:15:01reverential worshippers,
0:15:01 > 0:15:03there's something completely different going on here.
0:15:03 > 0:15:08The only still figure at the centre is Mary and baby Jesus.
0:15:08 > 0:15:13Around her, there is life, vitality, chaos.
0:15:13 > 0:15:18And there's even something slightly threatening about the way the crowd
0:15:18 > 0:15:24is pressing in on her and the faces, some of them seem rather skull-like.
0:15:24 > 0:15:28There are horses in the background rearing,
0:15:28 > 0:15:31there appears to be fighting going on.
0:15:31 > 0:15:36There's a real sense that the old order has been thrown over. And the new one is about to begin.
0:15:42 > 0:15:45There's an interesting detail to the right of the picture.
0:15:45 > 0:15:49The one figure who is standing looking away from the action.
0:15:49 > 0:15:52Many artists at that time would put a self-portrait in their work,
0:15:52 > 0:15:55and it's believed that that is, in fact,
0:15:55 > 0:15:59a portrait of Leonardo himself.
0:16:02 > 0:16:04If that's true,
0:16:04 > 0:16:09it may be the only image we have of Leonardo as a young man.
0:16:14 > 0:16:17It's not known why Leonardo didn't finish the work.
0:16:17 > 0:16:20But he became notorious for abandoning projects
0:16:20 > 0:16:26half way through. It drove his patrons mad with frustration.
0:16:29 > 0:16:34Time and time again, Leonardo couldn't or wouldn't finish the job.
0:16:34 > 0:16:37His insatiable curiosity meant that he was often distracted
0:16:37 > 0:16:40by something new or something different.
0:16:40 > 0:16:44And it's a paradox of Leonardo's that a man that was obsessed
0:16:44 > 0:16:48with detail and with reproducing that detail in paint
0:16:48 > 0:16:52often just left his works unfinished.
0:16:58 > 0:17:01I think with the Adoration of the Magi, Leonardo realised that he
0:17:01 > 0:17:04had started a picture that he simply didn't know how to finish.
0:17:04 > 0:17:07He had bitten off more than he could chew, if you like.
0:17:07 > 0:17:09I think he was sometimes intimidated
0:17:09 > 0:17:12by what he set out to do. and he got to a point
0:17:12 > 0:17:17sometimes where he realised he wasn't going to be able to finish,
0:17:17 > 0:17:21that he couldn't arrive at the perfect beauty
0:17:21 > 0:17:22that he had in his mind.
0:17:22 > 0:17:26In some ways, it's astonishing that he finished anything at all,
0:17:26 > 0:17:30given what he wanted for painting, what he thought painting
0:17:30 > 0:17:32should be able to achieve.
0:17:39 > 0:17:42As he matured as an artist,
0:17:42 > 0:17:45Leonardo acquired a reputation for being unreliable,
0:17:45 > 0:17:48a bit flaky, even. But an exceptional talent.
0:17:52 > 0:17:56Leonardo appeared to be living a charmed life in Florence.
0:17:56 > 0:17:59By the age of 20, he had been accepted into the official
0:17:59 > 0:18:01Florentine body of painters.
0:18:01 > 0:18:06He was described as generous, cultivated, well-dressed,
0:18:06 > 0:18:11extremely beautiful, with his hair cascading down
0:18:11 > 0:18:15in ringlets to his chest. One poet said he had infinite grace.
0:18:17 > 0:18:21But a dark shadow was about to fall across his world.
0:18:29 > 0:18:32Renaissance Florence was a small city.
0:18:32 > 0:18:35No more than 60,000 inhabitants.
0:18:35 > 0:18:38Florentines knew each other's business.
0:18:38 > 0:18:40They loved scandal.
0:18:42 > 0:18:45They would write anonymous notes to the authorities
0:18:45 > 0:18:50denouncing anyone they thought guilty of a crime.
0:18:50 > 0:18:54They dropped them into holes in the wall like this, known as
0:18:54 > 0:18:57buchi della verita - holes of truth.
0:18:57 > 0:19:01In early April 1476, someone dropped a denunciation
0:19:01 > 0:19:07into one of these holes. And it read, "To the officers of the night,
0:19:07 > 0:19:11"I hereby testify that Jacopo Saltarelli, aged 17,
0:19:11 > 0:19:15"who dresses in black, pursues many immoral activities and consents
0:19:15 > 0:19:17"to satisfy those persons
0:19:17 > 0:19:20"who request sinful things from him".
0:19:20 > 0:19:24He means, of course, homosexuality. And it goes on to list
0:19:24 > 0:19:30four of Jacopo's lovers or clients, including one "Leonardo da Vinci,
0:19:30 > 0:19:33"who works with the painter, Verrocchio".
0:19:37 > 0:19:42Homosexuality was common enough in 15th century Florence,
0:19:42 > 0:19:45particularly among artists and bohemians.
0:19:45 > 0:19:48But it was still a crime, punishable by death.
0:19:48 > 0:19:52Leonardo was forced to attend court.
0:19:52 > 0:19:55But the charges against him were eventually dropped.
0:19:58 > 0:19:59Was Leonardo gay?
0:20:01 > 0:20:05Some biographers say his art suggests he was.
0:20:06 > 0:20:10The recurring image of a young man with curly hair is arguably based
0:20:10 > 0:20:15on a young man called Salai - an apprentice in Leonardo's studio.
0:20:18 > 0:20:23He's there in a lot of drawings, seen often in profile
0:20:23 > 0:20:25with this slightly decadent profile
0:20:25 > 0:20:30and this cascade of ringleted hair.
0:20:30 > 0:20:33This was something that Leonardo really loved.
0:20:33 > 0:20:36Those angels always have this
0:20:36 > 0:20:39cascade of flowing hair - it was a kind of trademark
0:20:39 > 0:20:42in his paintings and drawings.
0:20:44 > 0:20:47There are one or two comments he makes in his notebooks which
0:20:47 > 0:20:49suggest he ran into a bit of trouble,
0:20:49 > 0:20:54because his angels were considered a bit too much like the pretty boys
0:20:54 > 0:20:58from the street, or the artist models on which
0:20:58 > 0:21:00they were no doubt based.
0:21:03 > 0:21:07Salai remained at Leonardo's side for the next 30 years
0:21:07 > 0:21:12until Leonardo's death - pupil, servant,
0:21:12 > 0:21:15confidant, and his lover.
0:21:17 > 0:21:21So this is the key relationship, probably, in Leonardo's life.
0:21:29 > 0:21:34In Florence, Leonardo was recognised as a supremely accomplished artist.
0:21:34 > 0:21:38But it was in another Italian city that he would
0:21:38 > 0:21:40achieve greatness.
0:21:54 > 0:21:58Milan was the wealthiest city state in Renaissance Italy.
0:21:58 > 0:22:03If Florence was a jewel of culture, Milan was a city
0:22:03 > 0:22:04of excess, of ostentation.
0:22:08 > 0:22:10It's fashion week here in Milan
0:22:10 > 0:22:14and there's something about the buzz and the glamour and the excitement
0:22:14 > 0:22:17that brings to mind why Leonardo came here all those years ago.
0:22:17 > 0:22:20It was a place to see and be seen, it was all about spectacle.
0:22:20 > 0:22:23He came here not as a painter, but as a musician
0:22:23 > 0:22:26and not just any musician, but with a lira di braccio,
0:22:26 > 0:22:29which was a kind of violin made out of solid silver
0:22:29 > 0:22:31in the shape of a horse's head.
0:22:31 > 0:22:33It was quite an entrance!
0:22:35 > 0:22:37Leonardo's patron in Milan
0:22:37 > 0:22:41was the Duke Ludovico Sforza, an immensely powerful
0:22:41 > 0:22:42and dangerous man.
0:22:45 > 0:22:48Leonardo saw him as a means to an end,
0:22:48 > 0:22:52a way of pursuing his own developing ideas.
0:22:56 > 0:23:00He brought with him an extraordinary letter of introduction.
0:23:03 > 0:23:07This is Leonardo presenting himself for employment
0:23:07 > 0:23:08to the Duke of Milan.
0:23:08 > 0:23:11It's a CV - but not what you'd expect.
0:23:11 > 0:23:15It's calculated to appeal to a 15th century despot.
0:23:15 > 0:23:20It starts with a bit of flattery - he writes, "Senor mi ilustrisimo",
0:23:20 > 0:23:22"my most illustrious Lord",
0:23:22 > 0:23:26and then Leonardo effectively goes on to sell himself
0:23:26 > 0:23:30as an inventor and maker of fantastical weapons!
0:23:30 > 0:23:33There's a whole list of them here.
0:23:33 > 0:23:36He talks about, "Ponti leggerissimi forti",
0:23:36 > 0:23:38bridges which are very light and strong.
0:23:38 > 0:23:44"I can make an infinite variety of methods of attack and defence."
0:23:44 > 0:23:48It's only at the end, almost as an afterthought,
0:23:48 > 0:23:51that he refers to himself as an artist. He says, "I can further
0:23:51 > 0:23:55"execute sculpture in clay, marble and bronze.
0:23:55 > 0:23:58"Also in painting, I can do as much as anyone else,
0:23:58 > 0:24:03"whoever that may be". Now, was he really that modest
0:24:03 > 0:24:07about his own talents or was it that he thought of all his talents,
0:24:07 > 0:24:08his painting was the thing that
0:24:08 > 0:24:11would least appeal to the Duke of Milan at the time?
0:24:16 > 0:24:18Whatever he meant,
0:24:18 > 0:24:22the letter reveals the dazzling diversity of Leonardo's
0:24:22 > 0:24:26interests and talents. Designing machines of war.
0:24:28 > 0:24:31Studying the motion of water.
0:24:35 > 0:24:38Mapping the geometry of the human body,
0:24:38 > 0:24:42relating it to the perfect forms of the circle and the square
0:24:42 > 0:24:47in the famous drawing known as the Vitruvian Man.
0:24:52 > 0:24:54That person in the circle,
0:24:54 > 0:24:57as well as expressing certain ideas of proportion and harmony
0:24:57 > 0:25:01and therefore being a rather abstract composition,
0:25:01 > 0:25:04that person is undoubtedly a real person.
0:25:06 > 0:25:09You can see his feet sort of pressing against the edge
0:25:09 > 0:25:13of the circle, you can see the muscles straining as he puts
0:25:13 > 0:25:16his arms out in the sort of flying position, as it seems to be.
0:25:19 > 0:25:24And then, very much, you have very specific features,
0:25:24 > 0:25:27a rather saturnine figure with long hair, parted in the middle,
0:25:27 > 0:25:31and these eyes boring out.
0:25:34 > 0:25:38And if you look hard at the face of the Vitruvian Man,
0:25:38 > 0:25:42which people strangely enough don't often do, because they're so
0:25:42 > 0:25:46aware of it as a sort of emblematic figure, kind of a logo almost
0:25:46 > 0:25:47of the Renaissance as it's used,
0:25:47 > 0:25:49that people don't tend to suddenly think,
0:25:49 > 0:25:53"Well, who is this guy?" Well, I think the answer is it's
0:25:53 > 0:25:55a self-portrait of Leonardo Da Vinci.
0:25:55 > 0:25:57Who better to express the sort of
0:25:57 > 0:26:03secrets of human proportion than the philosophical artist, scientist,
0:26:03 > 0:26:04Leonardo Da Vinci himself.
0:26:09 > 0:26:12In the court of Ludovico Sforza,
0:26:12 > 0:26:16Leonardo was employed on a surprising range of projects.
0:26:18 > 0:26:21He didn't make his main living by being paid to paint pictures.
0:26:21 > 0:26:23He made his living at the court.
0:26:23 > 0:26:27He was paid at the court to do great festival designs.
0:26:27 > 0:26:29He was paid at the court to do military designs,
0:26:29 > 0:26:33and when he was asked to do these great designs
0:26:33 > 0:26:35for weddings or whatever, I think
0:26:35 > 0:26:39he got very involved with it and he could always see possibilities.
0:26:39 > 0:26:41I suspect he would have groaned initially,
0:26:41 > 0:26:44and then suddenly become captivated by the project.
0:26:50 > 0:26:53But Leonardo was also experimenting with painting portraits.
0:26:54 > 0:26:58I must say, I don't warm to this young lady.
0:26:58 > 0:27:00She looks decidedly frosty.
0:27:01 > 0:27:04So why is she so admired?
0:27:07 > 0:27:10The portrait of Ginevra de' Benci is curiously unlovable.
0:27:10 > 0:27:12She really stares at us with
0:27:12 > 0:27:15a quite sort of chilly, menacing gaze. I think what Leonardo
0:27:15 > 0:27:19was trying to do was to make her very remotely beautiful,
0:27:19 > 0:27:24was to raise her beauty above a kind of ordinary human level
0:27:24 > 0:27:28to something that was poetic and almost otherworldly.
0:27:28 > 0:27:30I think she comes over as
0:27:30 > 0:27:34rather as if she's carved from marble rather than
0:27:34 > 0:27:38like a living, breathing human being and I think he moved on
0:27:38 > 0:27:40a great deal in his subsequent portraits.
0:27:45 > 0:27:48One picture in particular
0:27:48 > 0:27:52would take the art of portrait painting to new heights.
0:27:52 > 0:27:55It's thought by some to be Leonardo's unsung masterpiece.
0:27:57 > 0:28:05But it's left Italy forever, now hanging 700 miles away in Poland.
0:28:19 > 0:28:21I've come to see a painting
0:28:21 > 0:28:26that some experts believe is more beautiful than the Mona Lisa.
0:28:26 > 0:28:30And to think it was almost completely unknown to the Western
0:28:30 > 0:28:34art world until the start of the 20th Century!
0:28:37 > 0:28:40In 1798, it was bought by a Polish prince.
0:28:43 > 0:28:46In its long life, it's been walled up in a palace,
0:28:46 > 0:28:52hidden in a hotel cellar, and survived two world wars.
0:28:52 > 0:28:55It formed part of Hitler's private collection of looted art.
0:28:59 > 0:29:03Its present home is the Royal Castle in Warsaw.
0:29:05 > 0:29:09The portrait is of Ludovico's elegant young mistress,
0:29:09 > 0:29:11Cecilia Gallerani.
0:29:12 > 0:29:16It's become known as The Lady with the Ermine.
0:29:19 > 0:29:22An Italian poet writing when this was painted
0:29:22 > 0:29:24said that Cecila appeared so lifelike,
0:29:24 > 0:29:27it was almost as if she was listening.
0:29:27 > 0:29:30And when you look at her pose, see if I can get this right...
0:29:31 > 0:29:34..it's as if someone's just caught her attention
0:29:34 > 0:29:36just outside the frame.
0:29:40 > 0:29:43And this was revolutionary. No one else was painting like this,
0:29:43 > 0:29:45getting the body in that kind of movement.
0:29:49 > 0:29:51Look at her hand - you can see under the skin
0:29:51 > 0:29:55the bones and the muscles and the tendons.
0:29:56 > 0:29:58Just look at her face.
0:29:58 > 0:30:02Young, modest, but intelligent and alert. You can see that!
0:30:02 > 0:30:04And that's why I love this painting.
0:30:07 > 0:30:10And then what about the ermine or the stoat that she's holding?
0:30:10 > 0:30:13I mean, what's that all about? It's certainly not a pet.
0:30:13 > 0:30:16But to anyone at the time,
0:30:16 > 0:30:19the symbolism of the ermine would have been immediately apparent.
0:30:19 > 0:30:22The ermine was the symbol of purity, of chastity.
0:30:22 > 0:30:25The story was that the ermine would rather die
0:30:25 > 0:30:27than let its pure white coat be soiled.
0:30:27 > 0:30:31But also, this was about sex, because the ermine
0:30:31 > 0:30:36was the symbol of Cecilia's lover, of Ludovico Sforza.
0:30:36 > 0:30:37And when you look at him...
0:30:37 > 0:30:41Look, he's muscular, he's got his claws digging into her arm,
0:30:41 > 0:30:44he looks as if he might take a nip out of her at any moment.
0:30:44 > 0:30:46This is about sex and about power.
0:31:00 > 0:31:04Back in Milan, in 1495, Leonardo began work on a painting
0:31:04 > 0:31:09that would confirm him as the greatest artist of his age.
0:31:11 > 0:31:14The monastery of Santa Maria della Grazia was funded
0:31:14 > 0:31:17by Leonardo's patron, Ludovico Sforza.
0:31:20 > 0:31:23He commissioned Leonardo to paint a huge picture
0:31:23 > 0:31:25for the monks' dining room.
0:31:28 > 0:31:31The result would bring triumph, but also tragedy.
0:31:35 > 0:31:38It's visited by thousands of people every year.
0:31:40 > 0:31:43Their time limited to just 15 minutes in the presence
0:31:43 > 0:31:44of the masterpiece.
0:31:48 > 0:31:51It's approached through a series of airlocks.
0:31:55 > 0:31:59It's more like a hospital, protecting the patient
0:31:59 > 0:32:01from contamination.
0:32:10 > 0:32:14But the stage management of the entrance and the exit to this work
0:32:14 > 0:32:16is very important.
0:32:16 > 0:32:20Because this is a deliberately dramatic work of art.
0:32:35 > 0:32:38It's such a famous image,
0:32:38 > 0:32:40but nothing prepares you for seeing it in the flesh.
0:32:43 > 0:32:47Leonardo's epic painting shows the Last Supper,
0:32:47 > 0:32:49the meal Christ shares with his disciples
0:32:49 > 0:32:51just before his death.
0:32:52 > 0:32:55And in it, Leonardo has taken everything he has learned
0:32:55 > 0:32:59from the portraits about revealing the life within
0:32:59 > 0:33:03and choreographed it on a huge scale.
0:33:07 > 0:33:10He's painted the precise moment when Christ says,
0:33:10 > 0:33:13"One of you will betray me."
0:33:13 > 0:33:16And the reaction of the disciples is frozen in time.
0:33:16 > 0:33:20But you can see that bombshell ripple out through the painting,
0:33:20 > 0:33:24in their faces, in their body language and, very Italian,
0:33:24 > 0:33:25in their hands.
0:33:37 > 0:33:40This is not some traditional, flat,
0:33:40 > 0:33:43rather sterile religious image,
0:33:43 > 0:33:48this is human drama on a scale larger than life.
0:33:48 > 0:33:52It's realistic, it has perspective, passion.
0:33:52 > 0:33:54It's like a story in widescreen.
0:33:59 > 0:34:05But the painting we see today... is the ghost of what it was.
0:34:05 > 0:34:08Because only 20% of the original remains.
0:34:08 > 0:34:10So what happened?
0:34:14 > 0:34:17The clue is in the way Leonardo chose to work -
0:34:17 > 0:34:20unorthodox and eventually disastrous.
0:34:22 > 0:34:26Paintings on walls, frescoes, have to be painted quickly
0:34:26 > 0:34:27onto wet plaster.
0:34:29 > 0:34:33But Leonardo knew he was anything but a fast worker.
0:34:35 > 0:34:40He chose to work in oil paint on plaster that had already dried.
0:34:40 > 0:34:44The result? Within a few decades, the picture began to deteriorate.
0:34:47 > 0:34:51Several desperate attempts have been made over the centuries
0:34:51 > 0:34:52to salvage it.
0:35:49 > 0:35:53Leonardo's slow, painstaking approach to painting
0:35:53 > 0:35:56brought the monks to a frenzy of impatience.
0:35:57 > 0:35:59Eye witnesses sent to spy on him
0:35:59 > 0:36:03reported he would sometimes work from dawn to dusk
0:36:03 > 0:36:06and then do nothing for days, except stand and look.
0:36:13 > 0:36:18The detail of Leonardo's painting can never be recovered.
0:36:18 > 0:36:20But a key to what it looked like
0:36:20 > 0:36:23can be found surprisingly close to home.
0:36:35 > 0:36:38In the chapel of Magdalen College in Oxford,
0:36:38 > 0:36:43and quite unknown to most people, hangs Britain's last supper.
0:36:55 > 0:36:59It was painted in Leonardo's day, thought to be by a pupil
0:36:59 > 0:37:01of Leonardo, copied from the original,
0:37:01 > 0:37:04possibly approved by the master himself.
0:37:10 > 0:37:14Details which have disappeared forever from Leonardo's picture
0:37:14 > 0:37:16can be seen clearly in this one.
0:37:19 > 0:37:21The food on the table...
0:37:25 > 0:37:28..the sandaled feet of the disciples...
0:37:31 > 0:37:35..and most dramatically the face of Simon,
0:37:35 > 0:37:37stubborn and disbelieving.
0:37:47 > 0:37:51In 1499, Leonardo left Milan.
0:37:51 > 0:37:55His restless, inquiring nature took him off in pursuit of new,
0:37:55 > 0:37:57often wildly ambitious projects.
0:38:00 > 0:38:03In Venice, he tried to persuade the authorities
0:38:03 > 0:38:06to let him build underwater defences for the city.
0:38:08 > 0:38:12In Rome, he worked on designs for grand villas and statues.
0:38:16 > 0:38:19He dreamed up a scheme to divert the waters of the river
0:38:19 > 0:38:21around Florence to make it navigable.
0:38:25 > 0:38:27Eventually, he settled back in Florence,
0:38:27 > 0:38:31the city that had made him a painter.
0:38:31 > 0:38:33But things had changed here.
0:38:36 > 0:38:40In a city already crowded with talent, a new star had emerged,
0:38:40 > 0:38:42whose talents as a painter and sculptor
0:38:42 > 0:38:45threatened to eclipse Leonardo's.
0:38:45 > 0:38:48He was arrogant and aggressively ambitious.
0:38:48 > 0:38:50His name was Michelangelo
0:38:50 > 0:38:53and the two men would become fierce rivals.
0:38:59 > 0:39:02In 1501, Michelangelo won the commission
0:39:02 > 0:39:06to build a colossal statue for the city, of David,
0:39:06 > 0:39:08the slayer of Goliath.
0:39:08 > 0:39:11Leonardo was piqued and unimpressed.
0:39:12 > 0:39:15The two artists couldn't have been more different.
0:39:15 > 0:39:19Whereas Michelangelo's figures are virile supermen,
0:39:19 > 0:39:21all muscle and swagger,
0:39:21 > 0:39:25Leonardo was always after delicacy and subtlety.
0:39:25 > 0:39:28He even had a go at figures like that, saying their bulging muscles
0:39:28 > 0:39:31made them look ridiculous - like "un sacco di noci",
0:39:31 > 0:39:33a bag of nuts.
0:39:41 > 0:39:43Leonardo was much in demand,
0:39:43 > 0:39:47as military engineer, map maker, architect, designer.
0:39:48 > 0:39:52And though he was celebrated as a painter, he was notorious
0:39:52 > 0:39:54for late delivery.
0:39:54 > 0:39:58One man wrote of him, "Leonardo is better than anyone.
0:39:58 > 0:40:01"But he won't leave a picture alone."
0:40:01 > 0:40:04It was a quality that got him into trouble more than once.
0:40:04 > 0:40:08At the age of 54, he received a summons from some rich patrons
0:40:08 > 0:40:12in Milan - "Come back and finish our painting."
0:40:16 > 0:40:17The painting in question
0:40:17 > 0:40:21is a mysterious reimagining of the Madonna and child.
0:40:24 > 0:40:27Once again, Leonardo brought to a conventional subject
0:40:27 > 0:40:28an unusual approach.
0:40:30 > 0:40:33He places them in a strange cavern of rocks,
0:40:33 > 0:40:35a remote deserted place
0:40:35 > 0:40:38suggesting a world before time began.
0:40:41 > 0:40:44Instead of the bright, sharp colours of the day,
0:40:44 > 0:40:48he creates an atmosphere of shadows and subtle shifts
0:40:48 > 0:40:50of light and shade.
0:41:00 > 0:41:03Before Leonardo, people were very, very interested
0:41:03 > 0:41:06in line, in contour.
0:41:06 > 0:41:08Leonardo, on the other hand, believed
0:41:08 > 0:41:11in dissolving those contours to make something
0:41:11 > 0:41:14which was...which was really modelled from light and shade.
0:41:14 > 0:41:18And he used a technique called sfumato, which literally means
0:41:18 > 0:41:20smoked or smoky. So that's about
0:41:20 > 0:41:23those misty transitions of light and shade
0:41:23 > 0:41:28which he applied to a face like the Virgin in the Virgin Of The Rocks.
0:41:28 > 0:41:31It was really an entirely revolutionary process
0:41:31 > 0:41:34and was born from the fact that he understood
0:41:34 > 0:41:37the way in which light fell on objects
0:41:37 > 0:41:39like no other artist before him.
0:41:46 > 0:41:49The painting now hangs in the National Gallery in London.
0:41:51 > 0:41:56It's being restored for a major Leonardo exhibition there.
0:41:56 > 0:41:59The restoration is a terrifyingly delicate business.
0:42:02 > 0:42:06Just how much do you tinker with a Leonardo?
0:42:08 > 0:42:12On the one hand, it's a restoration of a Renaissance painting.
0:42:12 > 0:42:16On the other hand, it is a Leonardo, which is no small thing.
0:42:16 > 0:42:20The retouching I am doing is quite reversible
0:42:20 > 0:42:23and separated from the actual paint of Leonardo
0:42:23 > 0:42:26by a modern varnish layer.
0:42:29 > 0:42:33Leonardo was really exploring the possibilities of using oil paint
0:42:33 > 0:42:38to do this kind of modelling from light to dark
0:42:38 > 0:42:42in a consistent way. I think he's exploring the difference
0:42:42 > 0:42:45between quite dark, very dark and extremely dark,
0:42:45 > 0:42:48in a way that other artists up to then hadn't really done.
0:42:50 > 0:42:54One of the things that I think is essential about Leonardo -
0:42:54 > 0:42:56you can see when you look closely at this picture -
0:42:56 > 0:42:59is the way that he didn't seem to like to produce
0:42:59 > 0:43:03a definitive answer to anything. Contours are always being adjusted,
0:43:03 > 0:43:05nothing is quite final.
0:43:05 > 0:43:09There's often the possibility of just a slight change,
0:43:09 > 0:43:13a little modification here, a twist there,
0:43:13 > 0:43:15a line a little different than it was.
0:43:17 > 0:43:19And the fact that so many of his works are unfinished
0:43:19 > 0:43:23speaks to that kind of psychological tendency.
0:43:23 > 0:43:26I think he always saw another possibility,
0:43:26 > 0:43:28another way of doing something.
0:43:50 > 0:43:54Leonardo would never lose his habit of seeing other possibilities.
0:43:57 > 0:44:00He spent many months here at the monastery of Santissima Annunziata
0:44:00 > 0:44:02in the centre of Florence.
0:44:02 > 0:44:05The monks would certainly have appreciated a painting from him.
0:44:06 > 0:44:10But one who visited him at work in his studio reported,
0:44:10 > 0:44:13"He scarcely seems interested in picking up a brush."
0:44:16 > 0:44:20Leonardo's attention had been seized by new kinds of exploration,
0:44:20 > 0:44:23including the study of the human body.
0:44:29 > 0:44:32From dissections he made in the city's hospitals,
0:44:32 > 0:44:35he analysed the architecture of the body...
0:44:37 > 0:44:40..and noted the minute workings of its internal organs.
0:44:45 > 0:44:49The anatomical drawings are incredibly beautiful
0:44:49 > 0:44:53and he would regard the inside of the body as at least as beautiful
0:44:53 > 0:44:55as the outside.
0:44:55 > 0:44:58So if he draws, say, the branching of the air passages in the lung,
0:44:58 > 0:45:02it becomes like a coral. It's a beautiful structure,
0:45:02 > 0:45:05and that's not a loose analogy
0:45:05 > 0:45:09because he saw branching in nature as all the same thing.
0:45:09 > 0:45:13How a tree branches, how our vessels branch, how rivers come together,
0:45:13 > 0:45:16these are all systems which are essentially the same.
0:45:20 > 0:45:23During these intense philosophical investigations,
0:45:23 > 0:45:28painting seems to have been forgotten. Until...
0:45:28 > 0:45:32One day Leonardo received a request to paint a portrait.
0:45:32 > 0:45:35It probably came from Francesco del Giocondo,
0:45:35 > 0:45:36a merchant in silk and cloth,
0:45:36 > 0:45:40and he wanted Leonardo to paint a portrait of his wife.
0:45:40 > 0:45:42Nothing unusual in that -
0:45:42 > 0:45:45a perfectly ordinary, everyday subject.
0:45:45 > 0:45:49What Leonardo could not have imagined is that this would be
0:45:49 > 0:45:52the painting that defined him.
0:45:52 > 0:45:56It would become the most famous painting in the world.
0:45:58 > 0:46:02As so often with Leonardo, you can see glimpses of future masterpieces
0:46:02 > 0:46:04in his sketchbooks.
0:46:13 > 0:46:17The merchant, Del Giocondo, never actually received the portrait
0:46:17 > 0:46:20of his wife which he'd commissioned.
0:46:21 > 0:46:24When Leonardo left Italy for the last time in 1516,
0:46:24 > 0:46:26he took it with him.
0:46:33 > 0:46:36He had an invitation from the young French king, Francis I.
0:46:38 > 0:46:41Francis saw in Leonardo a mentor and a genius
0:46:41 > 0:46:44who would adorn his court.
0:46:50 > 0:46:54But Leonardo never stopped working on his portrait of the wife
0:46:54 > 0:46:56of a Florentine merchant.
0:47:01 > 0:47:04She now hangs in the Louvre Museum in Paris.
0:47:06 > 0:47:09She's known, of course, as the Mona Lisa.
0:47:10 > 0:47:13I've come here for a private audience with her
0:47:13 > 0:47:17to try and see why she has become the most iconic image
0:47:17 > 0:47:18in the world.
0:47:25 > 0:47:27It's not obvious.
0:47:28 > 0:47:33On first impressions, she's very small, very dark
0:47:33 > 0:47:35and very yellow.
0:47:37 > 0:47:40I know this is the most famous painting in the world
0:47:40 > 0:47:44and is considered a work of genius, but I just don't quite get it.
0:47:44 > 0:47:47What is so good about the Mona Lisa?
0:48:50 > 0:48:53How did Leonardo manage to create this mysterious
0:48:53 > 0:48:55and captivating woman?
0:48:59 > 0:49:01It is uncanny.
0:49:01 > 0:49:03It lives in a very extraordinary way.
0:49:03 > 0:49:06This is... You know, it sounds kind of pretentious
0:49:06 > 0:49:09but there is no other way of describing it.
0:49:09 > 0:49:12The figure seems not just to be inert pigments on a surface,
0:49:12 > 0:49:15but seems to be living and breathing.
0:49:21 > 0:49:25Now, the way that Leonardo did that is not by some kind of mystery,
0:49:25 > 0:49:31he did it by technique and he did it by mixing in the flesh,
0:49:31 > 0:49:34in these key areas, these very subtle,
0:49:34 > 0:49:37thin layers of paint, called glazes.
0:49:37 > 0:49:40Just a little, thin stain of colour, a lot of oil
0:49:40 > 0:49:42and just little dispersed bits of pigment.
0:49:42 > 0:49:46So he lays that down on top of a white priming.
0:49:46 > 0:49:48Then he'll lay another stain down,
0:49:48 > 0:49:52then another one and another one, sometimes adding a bit of shadow,
0:49:52 > 0:49:56sometimes a little bit of highlight, but basically he's relying upon
0:49:56 > 0:49:59the light coming through from the white panel.
0:49:59 > 0:50:05So he's using this transparency and it means the light comes through
0:50:05 > 0:50:10and is very subtle, very elusive and you don't have fixed edges.
0:50:10 > 0:50:14He doesn't draw the edge of a nose as a line.
0:50:14 > 0:50:17It's very ambiguous, very elusive.
0:50:17 > 0:50:20That is uncanny, it's spine tingling.
0:50:30 > 0:50:33Leonardo spent the last years of his life at the court
0:50:33 > 0:50:35of the French King.
0:50:39 > 0:50:42Relieved of all pressure to deliver paintings, free to follow
0:50:42 > 0:50:44wherever his curiosity led him.
0:50:47 > 0:50:49I think at the end of his life,
0:50:49 > 0:50:53Leonardo was, if anything, more of a celebrity than a painter.
0:50:54 > 0:50:58And when he moved to France, it was not necessarily
0:50:58 > 0:51:02because King Francis wanted somebody who was going to paint
0:51:02 > 0:51:08enormous fresco cycles in the various chateaux that he owned.
0:51:08 > 0:51:12I think it was more that he wanted to be seen to offer protection
0:51:12 > 0:51:16to perhaps the greatest man in Christendom, of the day.
0:51:20 > 0:51:23His last self portrait seems to show the face of a man
0:51:23 > 0:51:27who has spent a lifetime enquiring into everything.
0:51:30 > 0:51:34He died on 2nd May, 1519, at the age of 67,
0:51:34 > 0:51:38in the arms, so the story goes, of the French king.
0:51:42 > 0:51:46Francis declared he, "Did not believe that a man had been born
0:51:46 > 0:51:48"who knew as much as Leonardo."
0:51:54 > 0:51:57Leonardo left several of his paintings to his favourite, Salai.
0:51:59 > 0:52:00Among them was the Mona Lisa.
0:52:05 > 0:52:08She won't be travelling to London for the exhibition.
0:52:08 > 0:52:11Instead, the buzz will be about a picture
0:52:11 > 0:52:13that most people will never heard of...
0:52:14 > 0:52:17..the newly discovered Salvator Mundi.
0:52:22 > 0:52:24It's an amazing story.
0:52:29 > 0:52:32It's been known for centuries that Leonardo painted
0:52:32 > 0:52:34such a picture.
0:52:34 > 0:52:36Until now, it was thought lost.
0:52:39 > 0:52:42This is how the picture looked before it was restored,
0:52:42 > 0:52:47dismissed as a crude copy, buried in a private collection,
0:52:47 > 0:52:51last sold for £45 in 1958.
0:52:56 > 0:53:00I went to the restoration studio to see the evidence for myself.
0:53:03 > 0:53:07What had led restorer Dianne Modestini to believe
0:53:07 > 0:53:10she had discovered a lost Leonardo?
0:53:11 > 0:53:13First of all, X-rays revealed what lay beneath
0:53:13 > 0:53:16the surface of the painting.
0:53:16 > 0:53:18That's the face, isn't it?
0:53:18 > 0:53:21Yes, which you can just barely make out the features.
0:53:21 > 0:53:26What about these cracks? What are they up there to the left?
0:53:26 > 0:53:29- That's the crack in the wood. - Just missed his face.
0:53:29 > 0:53:32Imagine it had gone through the middle!
0:53:32 > 0:53:35Yeah, miraculous. Just missed the face.
0:53:35 > 0:53:38You see, it all came from this knot.
0:53:38 > 0:53:41- Oh, a knot in the wood? - There was a knot in the wood.
0:53:41 > 0:53:43It had this defect.
0:53:43 > 0:53:47Leonardo was very never very careful about his wooden supports.
0:53:47 > 0:53:50Given how meticulous he was about everything else,
0:53:50 > 0:53:53- that's quite surprising. - It's very surprising.
0:53:53 > 0:53:56- So the wood has basically warped and split from that knot.- Yes.
0:53:56 > 0:53:59One of the things you must have been looking for, which is
0:53:59 > 0:54:02a classic clue to whether or not a picture is an original,
0:54:02 > 0:54:05- is a pentimento, it's called, isn't it?- That's right.
0:54:05 > 0:54:08Which is where an artist has had a number of goes
0:54:08 > 0:54:11at painting something in a particular way before settling
0:54:11 > 0:54:14on painting a hand in a particular way or a drape of cloth.
0:54:14 > 0:54:17- And you can see him trying to work it out on the canvas.- Yes.
0:54:17 > 0:54:20It doesn't look like there are any here in the X-ray.
0:54:20 > 0:54:23No, we don't see any in this X-ray, but where we do see them
0:54:23 > 0:54:26is in the infrared reflectogram.
0:54:30 > 0:54:33So what are we looking at here?
0:54:33 > 0:54:35Here we can see quite clearly, I think,
0:54:35 > 0:54:39that there's a first idea for the thumb.
0:54:39 > 0:54:42Oh, yes! So it was more upright.
0:54:42 > 0:54:45It was more upright.
0:54:45 > 0:54:49But this was the moment that gave us a clue and gave us some hope,
0:54:49 > 0:54:52which wouldn't have entered our minds previously,
0:54:52 > 0:54:55that we might be dealing with a lost original.
0:54:59 > 0:55:02As it became clearer to you that this could well be
0:55:02 > 0:55:06an original Leonardo, did you have a moment where you thought...
0:55:08 > 0:55:10..if I do the wrong thing here...
0:55:10 > 0:55:14this could all rest on your shoulders.
0:55:14 > 0:55:18Yeah, I couldn't let myself think about that. I couldn't.
0:55:18 > 0:55:20I would never have dared to touch it.
0:55:25 > 0:55:29The discovery of a different first design for the thumb
0:55:29 > 0:55:31was an incredible breakthrough.
0:55:33 > 0:55:37No one painting a mere copy would experiment in this way.
0:55:42 > 0:55:45When the picture was finally shown to leading Leonardo experts,
0:55:45 > 0:55:50they examined everything - its history, its hidden details,
0:55:50 > 0:55:51the paint itself.
0:55:53 > 0:55:57I walked in to the conservation studios where it was being displayed
0:55:57 > 0:56:01at that point and you get that tingle and you think,
0:56:01 > 0:56:03"Ah, this is..."
0:56:03 > 0:56:06But then I always have a gravitational pull.
0:56:06 > 0:56:08I say, "Don't believe it!"
0:56:08 > 0:56:11A Leonardo painting hasn't come along like that
0:56:11 > 0:56:13since the early 20th century,
0:56:13 > 0:56:16so one every 100 years is kind of rare.
0:56:18 > 0:56:22There is that long process of research where you're putting
0:56:22 > 0:56:24the counter arguments and saying,
0:56:24 > 0:56:27"Let's look for what's wrong with it."
0:56:27 > 0:56:30And in this case, I couldn't find anything wrong.
0:56:35 > 0:56:38So the verdict is in. It's the real thing.
0:56:45 > 0:56:46Getting the Salvator Mundi
0:56:46 > 0:56:50and all the other paintings to London,
0:56:50 > 0:56:53poses a massive challenge...
0:56:53 > 0:56:56especially the huge copy of the Last Supper in Oxford.
0:57:01 > 0:57:03Moving the picture is a two-day operation.
0:57:03 > 0:57:06Once it's lowered from the walls,
0:57:06 > 0:57:08it's removed from the wooden stretchers
0:57:08 > 0:57:10that keep the canvas taut.
0:57:15 > 0:57:19The canvas is carefully rolled around a drum, painted side outwards
0:57:19 > 0:57:21to stop it cracking.
0:57:28 > 0:57:31Then it's off to the National Gallery to take its place
0:57:31 > 0:57:34alongside work by Leonardo himself.
0:57:41 > 0:57:44Never before will so many Leonardo paintings
0:57:44 > 0:57:48and drawings have been assembled in one place.
0:57:48 > 0:57:51And almost certainly, they never will be again.
0:57:53 > 0:57:56So valuable, so delicate,
0:57:56 > 0:57:59it's unlikely anyone would dare risk moving them again.
0:58:04 > 0:58:08When you strip away the cult that has grown up around Leonardo,
0:58:08 > 0:58:12his sheer skill and vision as a painter
0:58:12 > 0:58:14still tower above all others.
0:58:16 > 0:58:18But there is also mystery.
0:58:18 > 0:58:24He's an artist who continues to intrigue and baffle and astonish.
0:58:24 > 0:58:29And that enduring mystery has earned him a unique place in our history.
0:58:44 > 0:58:46Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:58:46 > 0:58:48E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk