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There had been no indication at all that this ould be found

Now he understood the shouts Now he understood the silence

Beneath the roughly pulled-back wood eed a beautiful fresco So vibrant, the colours so fresh it looked as if it had just been painted

Logan’s heart rate quickened as he reached the fresco He started shaking his head as a smile became fixed on his face

This was a It was one of thethe Madonna and Child Through his historical work Logan had seen hundreds of frescoes, even attending a private viewing of the most famous of all at the Sistine Chapel

But the detail in this fresco was stunning and being able to see it so close was a gift He could see every line, every brushstroke The single hairs on Mary’s head, baby Jesus’s eyelashes, the downy hair on his skin, the tiny lines around Mary’s eyes

Both heads in the fresco were turned upwards to the heavens, where the clouds were parted, a bea their faces

Part of the fresco was still obscured Logan grabbed the nearest tool and pulled back the final pieces of broken wood, being careful not to touch the wall Finally the whole fresco was revealed to the viewers in the chapel

It was the colour that was most spectacular It seemed that the years behind the wood had been kind to the fresco Most that he’d seen before had been dulled with age, eroded by touch and a variety of other elements There had even been scientific studies about the effects of carbon dioxide on frescoes ‘Breathing out’ could cause harm

But this fresco hadn’t had any of that kind of exposure It looked as fresh as the day it had been painted

His hand reached out to touch the wall and he inetic—the pull of the fresco, the desire to touch it He’d never seen one so vibrant, from the colour of Mary’s dark blue robe to the white and yellow of the brilliant bea countryside, the pink tones of Jesus’s skin, the ochre of the se and red flowers depicted around them It took his breath away