Analysis Reveals Da Vinci's Own Edits on Drawing

The first scientific study of Leonardo's earliest known drawing shows he added details to an earlier sketch, reports the AP. Director of the Uffizi Galleries, Eike Schmidt, says an initial microscopic examination of the 1473 "Landscape Drawing for Santa Maria della Neve" at a Florence restoration lab shows Leonardo worked on the drawing in two distinct phases, making it less likely it was a sketch of an actual place in his native Tuscany, as some have hypothesized, and that he used his imagination to later add details. Only occasionally shown off due to its fragility, the drawing will be displayed for five weeks in Vinci, Italy beginning on April 15, as the country marks the 500th anniversary of Leonardo's death. (A possible work by Michelangelo was just stolen.)