Featured documentary · Accompanying Episode 02
The Knot She WearsThe Extended Documentary
One detail. One golden thread. An investigation that reaches far beyond the portrait.
Look Closer.
Question what you
thought you knew.
History gave us the story.
The evidence may tell another.
Official Trailer
A first glimpse into the investigation
New to Fine Art Detective?
Open the Book of Investigations
The investigation begins here.
The Codex · The Master Volume
The Codex of Investigations
This is where the investigations open.
Every investigation begins with a question.
The Codex is where the questions, evidence and discoveries are gathered — masterpieces, artefacts, people, places, documents and details that begin to connect across centuries.
Within it, individual Codices open around particular subjects — the Mona Lisa, Titian, the Trinity — each a living investigation, revisited and expanded as new evidence emerges. Each investigation adds another piece.
Series One · Now Showing
Episodes 01–04 are now showing. The Gorgon’s Gaze is our next investigation.
The Mona Lisa
The Mona Lisa Codex
Four investigations are now open. Others are beginning to emerge.
- Episode 01 · Who Is She?Revealed
- Episode 02 · The Knot She WearsRevealed
- Episode 03 · The Pillars Beside HerRevealed
- Episode 04 · The HandsRevealed
- Episode 05 · The Gorgon’s GazeNext Investigation
Series One · Now Underway
One question leads to another.
A single investigation into the Mona Lisa, presented one question at a time.
Episodes 01–04 are now showing
The opening films of the investigation — Who Is She?, The Knot She Wears, The Pillars Beside Her and The Hands. The Gorgon’s Gaze is the next investigation.
The Investigation
Follow the thread
A Question
Something does not quite fit.
A Detail
A face. A background. A landscape.
A symbol. A signature. A date.
A pigment. A varnish. An underpainting.
A stamp. A seal. A thumbprint.
An object out of place.
An identity. A subject. An event.
A detail almost overlooked.
A Connection
Another masterpiece. Another artefact.
Another person. Another place. Another time.
The Evidence
What history, science and the surviving record can actually show.
But What If…?
Sometimes the evidence changes the question.
Another Thread
And the investigation continues.
Follow one thread — and another begins to appear.
The Puzzle Piece
The painting that started it all
One painting.
Decades of research.
The object that opened the door to everything that followed.
Private Collection · London
Authenticity validation in progress
One Renaissance painting. Decades of research. A trail that would eventually lead somewhere unexpected.
Historical records. Scientific examination. Changes beneath the surface. Symbols, identities, people and places beginning to connect across centuries.
This is where the Fine Art Detective investigation began.
HistoryProvenanceScientific ExaminationIconographyResearch
Research · The Dossier
Beyond the surface
What can be seen is only the beginning.
Open the evidence for yourself. Each drawer holds what the research and the scientific examination have found — and, where the case is still being tested, what remains to be resolved.
The Research
The research places the work within a wider Renaissance inquiry involving Venetian painting, court culture and the historical circumstances surrounding the proposed c.1515–16 period.
The research distinguishes documented history from proposed interpretation and identifies further archival work needed to test the case.
The research examines a possible connection with the finished sketch for La Gloria recorded in the Samuel Rogers collection and sold at Christie’s in 1856, while also considering competing identifications.
Further primary-document research remains important in testing and strengthening the proposed provenance chain.
The research tests the painting’s traditional identification as Joseph and Potiphar’s Wife against an alternative iconographic reading involving the Cybele–Attis mystery tradition, Renaissance ideas surrounding immortality and the humanist culture associated with Isabella d’Este’s Mantua.
These connections are presented as interpretations to be tested rather than established identifications.
The investigation compares motifs, composition and visual details in the painting with documented Renaissance works.
Comparative material is used to examine possible relationships between workshop practice, recurring motifs, historical context and evidence revealed through technical examination.
One area of particular interest is the relationship between visible and underlying elements revealed during imaging and comparable motifs found in Renaissance painting.
The Science
Scientific examination has included sampled cross-sections, SEM-EDS analysis, natural and ultraviolet photography, infrared spectroscopy and reflectography, Raman analysis, X-radiography and dating methods.
Together these techniques provide evidence concerning the ground, pigments, binder, alterations and physical history of the work.
Explore the technical evidenceInfrared reflectography reported no underdrawing but revealed pentimenti beneath the visible paint.
X-radiography recorded finished elements subsequently painted out, while ultraviolet examination identified areas associated with overpainting or restoration.
Explore the imagingCross-sectional analysis identified multiple paint layers above a substantial pigmented ground.
SEM-EDS identified components including calcite, earth pigments and lead white, while the technical review describes the ground as a pigmented imprimatura rather than a pure gesso layer.
Infrared spectroscopy indicated an oil binder, probably linseed or walnut oil, although the exact oil was not established.
Explore the materialsInfrared and X-ray examination revealed features the finished surface does not show.
The scientific review records pentimenti and finished elements subsequently painted out.
Infrared examination identified underlying changes including a dog and column, while X-radiography revealed completed areas, including lead-white highlights, later covered by paint.
The relationship of these underlying elements to the original execution remains part of the continuing research.
Look beneath the surfaceRead the Authenticity Report
Titian's Magnum Opus — La Trinità · Il Paradiso · by Ian Lea Henderson. Presented as the author's research case — proposed conclusions, not institutional fact.
The 2026 Expedition
Tracking Titian’s Treasure
The Pursuit of the Holy Grail
London & Italy — 15 November – 15 December 2026
One painting.
A trail of extraordinary connections.
A journey into the heart of Renaissance Europe.
London
15–19 November · To the Vault
A private viewing of the painting has been arranged, alongside research in London’s collections and archives. Further technical procedures have not been agreed.
- Milan19–22 NovemberLeonardo’s Legacy
- Mantua22–27 NovemberIsabella d’Este
- FerraraPlanned research visit · date to be finalisedThe Este Court
- Venice27 November – 1 DecemberTitian’s World
- Florence1–4 DecemberThe Renaissance Collections
- Urbino4–7 DecemberThe Double-Sided Banner
- Rome7–15 DecemberWhere the Threads Converge
The investigation is going into the field.
Explore the ExpeditionPartners · Patrons · Collaborators
Become part of what comes next
The investigation is leaving the page — and going into the world.
LondonMilanMantuaFerraraVeniceFlorenceUrbinoRome
Behind those names are paintings, archives, private collections, manuscripts, specialists and questions that can only be explored by being there.
Fine Art Detective is preparing to follow that trail.
And we are inviting a select group of partners, patrons and collaborators to come with us.
Help us reach the places.
Open the doors.
Meet the people.
Examine the evidence.
Film what we find.
Share what we find, with its sources.
This is an opportunity to support Fine Art Detective while the research is still taking shape.
Partner · Patron · Collaborate
Discover partnership opportunities and how you can help make the next chapter possible.
Support makes the work possible.
The evidence determines where it leads.
A Fine Art Detective Service
Artefact Unlocked
Authentication Research · Attribution · Provenance · Discovery
What if the artwork you own is more significant than anyone has realised?
Artefact Unlocked turns the Fine Art Detective lens towards privately owned, inherited, overlooked and potentially misattributed works of art.
The Team · Behind the Investigation
The people behind the questions
Fine Art Detective brings together decades of independent research with documentary filmmaking, journalism and visual storytelling.
What began with one painting has grown into an investigation spanning archives, collections, scientific evidence and locations across Europe.
Beyond a Single Investigation
The Mission
Fine Art Detective is about more than a single painting or investigation.
Explore the larger purpose behind the research, field investigation, visual storytelling, developing series, documentary ambitions and future investigations.
Support · Help Make It Possible
Support the Investigation
Some investigations only happen because someone decides they are worth pursuing.
Independent support allows Fine Art Detective to follow the evidence wherever it leads — without influence over what it finds.
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- London & Italy 2026 field updates
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When there is more to the story, you will hear it here.
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