Restored Leonardo Painting Returns to Display at the Louvre

Art fans have a new reason to visit the Louvre: A restoration dubbed "intense and controversial" by The Telegraph of the last great work by Leonardo da Vinci, The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne, goes before the public today at the Museum.

The paper claims that the 18-month-long restoration of the painting, which Leonardo worked on for 20 years until his death in 1519, will go a long way to raising the piece to its place as one of the most influential Florentine paintings of its time and a step towards the high Renaissance of Michelangelo.

The exhibit brings together some 130 preparatory drawings and studies by Leonardo and his apprentices tracing the painting's conception and revealing to experts today the entire development over the last 20 years of Leonardo's life.