white feather adorning the hat which is an apparent addition. Analysis Upon its discovery by Nicola Barbatelli, the painting was subjected to an initial examination by Alessandro Vezzosi, director of the Museo Ideale Leonardo da Vinci at Vinci, who confirmed that the painting appeared to be from the Renaissance period. Vezzosi was reported, in February 2009, as investigating whether the painting was the work of a minor 16th-century artist Cristofano dell'Altissimo. Altissimo executed numerous portraits of famous men for Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, some of them after the Giovio Series, including a profile of Leonardo based on the red chalk profile drawing in the Royal Collection attributed to Leonardo's companion Francesco Melzi. Vezzosi later dismissed the early conjecture that it was by dell'Altisimo. In February 2009, two months after the painting's discovery, Vezzosi had been erroneously quoted by The Times as saying he had excluded the possibility that the work was "a self-portrait painted by Leonardo himself" and that examination of the inscription "pinxit mea" on the reverse of the panel indicated that it was "a later addition". Vezzosi was later to say "We need to find out the exact dating of this portrait. I have excluded the possibility that we are dealing with a self-portrait painted by Leonardo himself. Nevertheless, the Acerenza portrait is intriguing because it adds a new element to the Leonardo's puzzle. Here we have Leonardo depicted as a middle-aged, blue-eyed man." Since that time the focus of attention and research has been directed at proving the painting to be the work of Leonardo da Vinci. The Vaglia Basilicata City Council then funded an investigation by a team of scientists, many of whom were from non-art related disciplines, to report upon anything which could be tested to either support or deny the attribution to Leonardo. A preliminary cleaning of the painting was carried out, by Professor Giancarlo Napoli of the Suor Orsola Benincasa University in Naples, and revealed micro-cracking (craquelure) of the paint surface which cannot be reproduced artificially and supported a Renaissance date. Further investigation was carried out by a body of specialists in different fields including INNOVA, CIRCE, University of Naples, Cybernetics - National Research Council, and University Suor Orsola Benincasa. The INNOVA centre of the Federico II University of Naples, headed by Prof. Terrasi, researched the physical properties of the painting including the ground, medium and pigments, and identifying