Imagine walking into a gallery in New York City and buying a painting.  An obscure work, thought to be 19th Century German.  It’s a well-made portrait, but nothing special.  Then, after careful analysis and the lucky uncovering of a fingerprint, the truth is uncovered:  for $19,000 you could have bought an original work of Leonardo da Vinci, the famed Renaissance artist, architect, inventor, and all-around creative genius.

Such is the tale of a painting now called “Profile of La Bella Principessa,” a painting by da Vinci of Bianca Sforza, daughter of his patron Ludovico Sforza, the Duke of Milan.  The painting dates from 1496 and is estimated to be worth several hundred million dollars.  The work was painted on animal-skin vellum for the cover of a book of poetry dedicated to Bianca.

All the credit for saving the work goes to New York art dealer Peter Silverman, who first figured out that the painting wasn’t 19th Century German, and who undertook the long and arduous process of figuring out just who painted the mystery girl.  He consulted with experts from around the world, devoted hours of research into the students of Da Vinci, and consulted with Lumière Technology in Paris for the high-tech spectral analysis that was icing on the cake.  All that work, and he doesn’t even get to keep the painting!

Image:  Telegraph

Tags: Leonardi da Vinci, lost daVinci painting found, Profile of the Bella Principessa, La Bella Principessa, Renaissance art, Bianca Sforza, Peter Silverman

Fashion designer Marc Ecko’s designs draw from a variety of inspirations, but there’s nothing as cool as his Black Rhino clothing articles.  After all, the Black Rhino collection is the home of the incredibly awesome Black Rhino Jason Hoodie, inspired by Jason Voorhees and the classic 80’s slasher movies in the Friday the 13th series.  […]

Throughout history, there’s been one constant.  People are going to do whatever they can to make themselves more beautiful.  Whether it’s a tattoo of an Internet superstar like Tay Zonday, a tooth tattoo, an eyeball coloration, or even an amputation disguise, there’s no shortage of ideas on what people can do to the body to […]

As lights get smaller and more powerful, you’re going to start seeing them in more and more places.  For example, check out the Galaxy Dress from CuteCircuit.  This formal-style gown made of crinoline, chiffon, 4,000 Swarovski crystals, and 24,000 LEDs is a pretty impressive combination of form and function.  Assuming you want to function as […]

Canada’s Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on Remembrance Day.
Tags: moment of silence, 11:11 on Novemeber 11, Remembrance Day, tributes, veterans

Twenty years ago today, on November 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall came down.  The wall, separating East and West Berlin, was a symbol of the Cold War between the free world and the Soviet Union.  Google has a great selection of images from Life Magazine detailing the history of the wall, and there’s also a […]

From the outside, Emma Cahill looks like your average school girl.  She just turned 16 and attends St Mary’s Convent School in Worcester, England.  She is active in sports and has many friends, but there’s one thing different about Emma.  At 6′5, she is the tallest teenage girl in the UK.
Fortunately for Emma, her unusual […]

The New York Marathon ran this weekend.  Surprisingly, the winner was an American; in fact, Eritrea-born Meb Keflezighi is the first American citizen to win the marathon since 1982 (the year after I was born).  However, with an estimated 42,000 runners in the marathon this year, not all of them are hardcore professionals.  There are […]