The Virgin of the Rocks: Da Vinci decoded

National Gallery restorer Larry Keith explains how it was done <a href="http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/">National Gallery</a> The first clue to consider in deciding who painted The Virgin of the Rocks is the hair of the angel. That angel, sitting to the right, has long been recognised as the loveliest figure in this painting. Last week, I stood staring at the minutely precise spirals that knot

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My own opinion is that this is all Leonardo. When I first saw the "new" painting in March, it seemed to have been freed from an amber prison. Every part of it swam with hesitant, playful creativity. How could I have missed, in the past, such brilliances as the tangle of sharp thorny branches behind