Possible Lost Da Vinci Masterpiece Discovered

A hidden message in a painting has led to the first evidence of a 'lost' Leonardo da Vinci masterpiece that has lain hidden for 400 years in a secret compartment behind another mural in Florence. An 'endoscopic' probe was inserted into the interior of the wall in the Palazzo Vechio, and obtained chemical samples of a dark pigment which Da Vinci also used in the Mona Lisa.

The painting was long assumed to have been destroyed by fire in the 16th century. Now researchers believe that it may have been preserved by a hidden wall built by another painter. Archaeologists began to investigate behind the mural in the Palazzo Vechio after an archaeologist found the words, 'cerca trova' - 'seek and you shall find' - hidden in the mural thought to have replaced Da Vinci's work, by painter Giorgio Vasari.