Uncoverings

Some interesting but slightly confusing news stories about a da Vinci mural have been making it sound as if they've just discovered the room with a mural of mulberry trees, but it's not such a recent discovery...

http://www.al.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2013/10/lost_da_vinci_mural_found_unde.html

Golden knots, branches, leaves
from discovery.com

"The first major study on Leonardo's fresco was by Luca Beltrami, published in 1902...He interpreted the fresco as both a commemoration of Beatrice d'Este and an exploration of Leonardo's personal interests in nature and interlaced designs."

"In 1981 Martin Kemp provided the first political reading of the iconography in the fresco. He interpreted the Sala delle Asse as a courtly fantasy that commemorated the dynastic union of the Sforza and Este families. The heavily rooted trees represented a personal symbol of the Duke and the gold interlaced rope represented one of Beatrice d'Este's favorite designs."

"The mulberry tree, as a personal impresa of the Duke, was rooted in the already established image of the black African Moor."

~ From Architectural Trees and Moorish Knots...
by Thane Young, Thesis from Spring of 2011

They had already uncovered some roots...

from discovery.com

and now they have found some flowers?

from discovery.com