Vid exploring the digital point cloud of Palazzo Vecchio’s Hall of 500.

The first major challenge for Vid’s point cloud system was entirely epic. Utilizing his new, speedier, higher resolution visualization of his beta system, his work was integral to the fall 2011 National Geographic sponsored project dubbed Finding the Lost Da Vinci.

Legend holds that behind the walls of Florence’s famed Hall of the 500 in its city hall, thePalazzo Vecchio, lies hidden an unfinished and experimental Leonardo Da Vinci painting of the Battle of Anghiari. Known from later sketches (like the one above), the painting was reputedly tucked behind a new wall to preserve it intact during later Renaissance renovations by Giorgio Vasari. Its existence has long been speculated upon by art historian and cultural heritage engineer Maurizio Seracini. And with the students of the Center of Interdisciplinary Science for Art, Architecture, and Archaeology (CISA3) and National Geographic, he embarked on some of the initial investigations into determining its whereabouts in the monumental room.

The initial investigation in the Fall of 2011 by Maurizio, Vid, CISA3, and their collaborators was documented for the National Geographic documentary ‘Finding the Lost DaVinci.’ The Nat Geo project page is linked above. A trailer for the documentary is available here. And the full length documentary is available on Youtube and Amazon Prime.