"Nova" Mystery of a Masterpiece (2012)

Director:

David Murdock

Writer:

David Murdock

TV Series:

"Nova" (1974)

Original Air Date:

25 January 2012 (Season 39, Episode 12)

Genre:

Documentary | Biography

Plot:

Plot Keywords:

Science | Scene During End Credits | Space | Scientist | One Word Title

Cast

Peter Silverman	...	Himself - Art Collector
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Giammarco Cappuzzo	...	Himself - Art Specialist
Christophe Champod	...	Himself - Université de Lausanne (as Professor Master of Fingerprint Identification)
Pascal Cotte	...	Himself - Scientific Director, Lumiere Technology
David Ekserdjian	...	Himself - University of Leicester
Cristina Geddo	...	Herself - Art Historian
Elisabetta Gnignera	...	Herself - Costume Historian
Martin Kemp	...	Himself - Oxford University (as One of the world's most influential Leonardo scholars)
Emmanuel Mairesse	...	Translation Voiceovers (voice)
Maricruz Castillo Merlo	...	Translation Voiceovers (voice)
Jay O. Sanders	...	Himself / Narrator
Sarah Simblett	...	Herself
Leo Stevenson	...	Himself - Artist & Historian of Forgery
James P. Wynne	...	Himself - Special Agent, FBI

Directed by
David Murdock

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
David Murdock

Produced by
Paula Apsell	....	senior executive producer (as Paula S. Apsell)
John B. Bredar	....	executive producer
Laurie Cahalane	....	coordinating producer
Patrick Carey	....	associate producer
David Condon	....	development producer
Drew Grimes	....	associate producer
Lisa Mirowitz	....	senior producer
David Murdock	....	producer
Pamela Rosenstein	....	development producer
Karinna Sjo-Gaber	....	associate producer
Howard B. Swartz	....	executive producer
Stephen Sweigart	....	supervising producer
Melanie Wallace	....	senior series producer

Original Music by
Rob Kahn
Jim Morgan

Film Editing by
Emmanuel Mairesse

Production Management
Patrick Carey	....	post-production manager
Nathan Gunner	....	post-production manager
Nicole Hughes	....	production manager
Susan Lach	....	post-production supervisor
Jonathan Loewald	....	production manager

Art Department
Tyler Howe	....	senior designer

Sound Department
Tony Burke	....	sound recordist
Patrick Duvoisin	....	additional sound
David Hurley	....	sound editor
David Hurley	....	sound mixer
Marco Meazza	....	additional sound
Mark Puffet	....	sound recordist
Marek Zebrowski	....	additional sound

Camera and Electrical Department
Marcus Burnett	....	additional camera operator
Nicholas Donnelly	....	additional camera operator
Douglas Hartington	....	camera operator
David Murdock	....	additional camera operator
Simon Normanton	....	additional camera operator
Federico Padro	....	additional camera operator
Noel Smart	....	camera operator
Roni Ulmann	....	additional camera operator

Editorial Department
Michael H. Amundson	....	post-production on-line editor
James Bates	....	assistant editor
Mark N. Boszko	....	on-line editor
Bill Gabler	....	post-production coordinator
Spencer Gentry	....	post-production on-line editor
Alison Kelly	....	assistant editor
Kate Rhodes Kennedy	....	assistant editor (as Kate Kennedy)
Alex Kreuter	....	post-production editor
Lauren Meschter	....	colorist
Rebecca Nieto	....	post-production editor
Carl Reeverts	....	assistant editor
Peter Tyson	....	editor in chief
Laura Beth Ward	....	post-production coordinator
Rin Westcott	....	assistant editor

Music Department
Ray Loring	....	music theme
John Luker	....	music theme
Rob Morsberger	....	music theme
Walter Werzowa	....	music theme

Other crew
Lauren Aguirre	....	media director
Kristine Allington	....	digital projects coordinator
Kate Becker	....	senior researcher
Daryl Browne	....	senior developer
Linda Callahan	....	production coordinator
Eileen Campion	....	publicist
Sarah Charley	....	intern
Rachel Connolly	....	director of education
Candace Dunlap	....	consultant
Jon Ellenberger	....	developer
Linzy Emery	....	compliance manager
Sarah Erlandson	....	paralegal
Janice Flood	....	talent relations
Reen Gibb	....	consultant
Katie Gross	....	production coordinator
Ivan Hadingham	....	senior science editor
Scott Kardel	....	talent relations (as Scott Kardel Esq.)
Stefanie Kushner	....	production coordinator
Alan Kwan	....	developer
Karen Laverty	....	marketing and publicity
Hollington Lee	....	consultant
Maiken Lilley	....	educational coordinator
Ben Livermore	....	developer
Jonathan Loewald	....	business manager
Victoria Louie	....	publicist
Allyson Luchak	....	fixer
Lisa Mirowitz	....	project director
David Murdock	....	researcher
Conor Olmstead	....	archival researcher
Ben Ring	....	production assistant
Alan Ritsko	....	managing director
Susan Rosen	....	legal counsel
Maxine Rosenberg	....	consultant
Anna Rothschild	....	production assistant
Ben Schein	....	production assistant
Steve Sears	....	marketing
Jonny Sender	....	production assistant
Karinna Sjo-Gaber	....	publicist
Kristen Sommerhalter	....	Nova administrator
Kathryn Swanson	....	intern
Teresa Neva Tate	....	researcher
Joseph P. Tracy	....	business manager
Graham Veth	....	outreach coordinator
Maciek Wodyk	....	production assistant
Kasia Wozniak	....	fixer

Thanks
Federica Babetto	....	special thanks
Arthur Brennan	....	special thanks
Jo Ann Caplin	....	special thanks
Caroline Corrigan	....	special thanks
Contrada Delle Braide	....	special thanks
Judd Flogdell	....	special thanks
Jessy Kaner	....	special thanks
Jeanne Marchig	....	special thanks
James Margolin	....	special thanks
Derek Miller	....	special thanks
Nick Turner	....	special thanks (as Nicholas Turner)
D.R. Edward Wright	....	special thanks

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Mark Davis		(episode "Mars Dead or Alive" 2004)
Mark Hobson		(episode "Orangutan - Man of the Forest")

Produced by
D.J. Roller	....	producer (one episode)

Original Music by
James Yannatos

Cinematography by
Sam Henriques		(lighting cameraman) (multiple episodes)
D.J. Roller		(multiple episodes)

Sound Department
G. John Garrett	....	production sound mixer (multiple episodes) (1985-)
Rob Whitehurst	....	sound recordist (1992-)

Other crew
Gary Martyn	....	production assistant
Sallie McGuire Nicholas	....	production assistant

Production Companies

• National Geographic Television (a production of)
• WGBH Educational Foundation

Distributors

• National Geographic Channel (2012) (worldwide) (all media)
• PBS (2012) (USA) (TV)

Other Companies

• Alinari/Art Resource, New York  archival material (as Alinari/Art Resource, NY)
• Cameraphoto Arte. Venice  archival material (as Cameraphoto Arte. Venice/Art Resource, NY)
• Caption Center, The  closed captioning
• Castello Sforzesco  special thanks (as Castello Sforzesco, Milano)
• Christ Church Picture Gallery  archival material (as Christ Church Picture Gallery, Oxford)
• Corbis Images  archival material
• Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB)  major funding for Nova is provided by (a private corporation funded by the American people)
• David H. Koch Fund for Science, The  major funding for Nova is provided by
• Frich Lessing  archival material (as Frich Lessing/Art Resource, NY)
• Froggie Production  fixer (as Froggie Productions)
• HIP  archival material (as HIP/Art Resource, NY)
• Howard Hughes Medical Institute  major funding for Nova is provided by (as HHMI The Howard Hughes Medical Institute)
• Lockheed Martin  additional funding for Nova is provided by
• Millicent and Eugene Bell Foundation  additional funding for Nova is provided by
• Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali (MiBAC)  archival material (as Scala/Ministerio per i Beni e Attivita culturari/Art Resource, NY)
• Musikvergnuegen  Nova theme music (as Musikvergnuegen, Inc.)
• National Gallery of Art, Washington  archival material
• National Gallery, London  archival material (as National Gallery, London/Art Resource, NY)
• National Gallery, London  special thanks
• National Library of Poland, The  special thanks
• PixelDust Studios  animation (as Pixeldust Studios)
• Réunion des musées nationaux  archival material (as Reunion des Musees Nationaux/Art Resource, NY)
• Scala/Art Resource  archival material (as Scala/Art Resource, NY)
• yU+Co.  NOVA Series graphics (as yU + co.)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Company:

National Geographic Television

Forensic art appreciation?

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

A fascinating real-life detective story about the quest to discover whether a portrait of a woman as intriguing as the Mona Lisa also was painted by Leonardo da Vinci.

Welcome to the rarefied world of almost invaluable art, a place in which "a forger's success depends on finding eager victims."

Here we meet Peter Silverman, the collector who spotted the anonymous Renaissance work in a New York art gallery, purchased it for $22,000, had it analyzed by the world's top experts, and recently rejected an offer to sell it for $80 million! That's because opinion is still mixed as to whether this is one of the dozen or so extant works by the Italian master.

I was surprised that a story about an artwork could be this intriguing.

The viewer is left with questions, including who, exactly, is this prescient and enigmatic buyer? Mr. Silverman is last pictured dining by himself in an elegant locale. The mystery persists...