The real da Vinci code

The real da Vinci code: Louvre unlocks last work after18-month-long restoration

A man views the newly restored painting "The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne" by Italian Renaissance master Leonardo da Vinci. AP Photo/Jacques Brinon. By: Thomas Adamson, The Associated Press - via Art Daliy Newsletter PARIS (AP).- An intense and controversial restoration of the last great work by Leonardo da Vinci goes before the public Thursday at the Louvre Museum, revealing "The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne" in the full panoply of hues and detail painted by the Renaissance master 500 years ago. The 18-month-long restoration of the painting that Leonardo labored on for 20 years until his death in 1519 will go a long way to raising "Saint Anne" to its place as one of the most influential Florentine paintings of its time and a step towards the high Renaissance of Michelangelo. The cleaning has endowed the painting portraying the Virgin Mary with her mother Saint Anne and the infant Jesus with new life and luminosity. Dull, faded hues were transformed into vivid browns and lapis lazuli that had visitors awe-struck. "It's unbelievable, ... More