I attended a seminar at the McCrone Research Institute in Chicago in 1997.
I was VERY lucky in that after class one day, I shared a German import beer with Dr. McCrone.
The beer sucked, but I was happy to shake the hand of such a revered scientist.
He passed away a few years ago.
Anyway, while there, I noticed this rather ugly painting on display on an easel.
I asked him about it, and he said that the owners believed it might have been an original Da Vinci.
Their laboratory analyzed the canvas, and the paint pigment. Their institute is probably the
worlds leading authority on microscopical analysis of paint pigments.
I asked him about having it out where anyone could walk up and touch it,
and he shrugged it off saying "it is well insured".
He went on to say it was shipped to the institute via FedEx, insured for 4 million dollars.
That way, even if it was stolen, damaged, or otherwise destroyed, the owners would get
their money.
SO, while it doesn't surprise me that BYU doesn't have the painting better protected
because obviously it is insured, it does surprise me that the insurance company isn't
throwing a fit over it.
The laboratory compared the paint pigments of this painting to samples of pigments from
other well known samples of Da Vinci artwork, and it turned out that the painting was
an original Da Vinci. The Discovery Channel had a show which featured it.
And now the painting's estimated value is somewhere over 20 million.
When I saw the Discovery Channel show, I about fell off my seat. I had assumed up until
then that it wasn't a Da Vinci. I shoulda wiped a booger on it when I had the chance.