Searching for the Lost da Vinci via Kickstarter

We recently published an eBook entited “Crowdfunding Your Photography Projects” to inform photographers how the Internet has altered the financ...

We recently published an eBook entited “Crowdfunding Your Photography Projects” to inform photographers how the Internet has altered the financing of photography. Today, I came across a pretty darn interesting project.

There’s speculation that a Leonardo da Vinci fresco of The Battle of Anghiari in the town hall of Florence was covered over by the artist Giorgio Vasari during a 1563 renovation. But Vasari left a little clue “Cerca Trova” — “Seek and you will find” — perhaps indicating that the da Vinci still existed.

National Geographic Soecity fellow Dr. Maurizio Seracini started to speculate thirty-five years ago that the da Vinci is positioned behind the Vasari. When photojournalist Dave Yoder met Seracini in 2007, he was intrigued by the possibility of finding an unknown da Vinci.

Problem is, you can’t photograph through walls. Or can you?

Yoder found physicist Robert Smither who conjectured that his copper-crystal mosaic gamma ray diffraction lens camera could do the trick. But the project requires funding to the tune of $266,500. Typical photography project? No. Pretty awesome crowdfunding idea? Yes.

In light of the economic crisis and the aftermath of Irene, the timing of the project is not ideal. However, there is only one da Vinci, and his contributions to civilization have been unparalleled in western history. Check out the project page to learn more and donate.

And if you haven’t downloaded our free eBook, “Crowdfunding Your Photography Project,” what are you waiting for?