tagged w/ Leonardo da Vinci
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How does the new game blend fiction with history and real historical figures?
Well, the big one is Leonardo Da Vinci. Leonardo Da Vinci is a really fascinating character and he’s a great guy to have in a videogame. He’s going to kind of like be like your Q in the game, coming up with your new inventions, creating your weapons. It’s been awesome for the team because we got to explore all of his old sketches and those served as inspiration for gameplay. The famous flying machine that Leonardo drew is now playable in the game. We also took some liberty with his designs took things a step further. At the time, gun powder was just starting to be used in big cannons, so we went with that and made the first gun. There are a lot of new weapons that are inspired by Leonardo’s drawings.
http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2009/11/16/assassin%E2%80%99s-creed-ii-ubisoft%E2%80%99s-jade-raymond-clues-us-in/How does the new game blend fiction with history and real historical figures?
Well,... more
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..Leonardo da Vinci researcher, Ben Sweeney, now claims that Leonardo da Vinci had webbed left hand.Sweeney said that the artist's own hand was used as the model for the hand on the Christ figure in da Vinci's "The Last Supper."
After viewing Sweeney's findings,Joseph Upton MD, A Harvard Syndactyly specialist, agreed that da Vinci's left hand -- the hand primarily responsible for his famous artworks -- was abnormal , fused third and fourth finger.
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=2832319&page=1
Leonardo da Vinci hand research at www.leonardoshands.com..Leonardo da Vinci researcher, Ben Sweeney, now claims that Leonardo da Vinci had... more
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MANCHESTER, England—One of the many questions that have long circulated about Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa is why the figure is missing her eyebrows. While some researchers have suggested that it was common practice for wealthier women to pluck them clean in the artist’s time, a new study of the painting with a 240-megapixel camera suggests another answer: Leonardo actually did paint them there. Pascal Cotte, who analyzed the painting with a camera that is so remarkably sensitive to light that it can see through layers of paint, says that Leonardo appears to have built up the foundational coats of paint for eyebrows. So where did they go? Cotte says restoration work over the past 500 years may have wiped the hair clean off the Mona Lisa’s forehead — or that a chemical reaction related to a special glaze that Leonardo used may be the culprit.
Losing your eyebrows can’t be much fun, though Cotte says that is the least of the changes the Mona Lisa has suffered. The somber, gray sky behind the sitter was originally blue, according to Cotte, and her skin was a crisp white, lacking the yellow tint it has today. What’s more, it seems that her face and notoriously enigmatic smile were much wider, though the years have stripped away the paint that portrayed that.
http://www.artinfo.com/news/story/33218/how-the-mona-lisa-lost-her-eyebrows/MANCHESTER, England—One of the many questions that have long circulated about... more
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Un vecchio ammiratore di Leonardo da Vinci, grazie all’aiuto di un ex ricercatore dell’Università di Yale, sta provando a sfidare quelle che, ancora oggi, sono le credenze comuni, riguardanti la vita di una delle più grandi menti mai esistite nella storia.
Ascoltando per caso una guida in un museo riferirsi alla mano sinistra del da Vinci, definendola come “sinistra” – quando in realtà aveva detto “la sinistra”, cioè “mancino”, colui che utilizza la mano sinistra – Ben Sweeney cominciò ad essere incuriosito dall’idea che da Vinci potesse aver avuto una mano sinistra deforme, una teoria che, come egli sostiene, è stata ignorata per 500 anni dal mondo artistico. Sweeney, agente immobiliare nella città di San Diego, ha iniziato le sue ricerche studiando i disegni, i dipinti e le formule matematiche del da Vinci, mettendo in dubbio tutte le conoscenze fin ad oggi accettate sul da Vinci, che, egli asserisce, non sono supportate da analisi basate su dati certi.
“Giungo nel mondo leonardesco da perfetto estraneo” dichiara Sweeney. “Molti dell’ambiente accademico corrono il rischio di restare chiusi nelle loro idee e troppo legati ai loro punti di vista. Io invece entro in questo mondo senza avere alcun tipo di preconcetto”.
Benché la ricerca di Sweeney abbracci diverse aree del genio leonardesco – tra cui l’arte, la scienza e la matematica – il suo studio sulla malformazione alla mano sinistra del da Vinci riveste l’argomento di maggior interesse. Attraverso l’analisi di diversi disegni di Leonardo, Sweeney giunge alla conclusione che il terzo e il quarto dito della mano sinistra del da Vinci erano uniti. Questa particolare condizione in medicina viene definita sindattilia, ovvero la situazione in cui due o più articolazioni risultano fuse insieme.
Sweeney sostiene che gli storici dell’arte avevano già notato, attraverso lo studio dei disegni del da Vinci, che l’artista era affetto da un problema alla mano, ma quest’ultimo è stato sempre trascurato perché attribuito ad un ictus avuto dal da Vinci in età avanzata. Sweeney invece ha illustrato la sua teoria al professor Joseph Upton ’66, un ex chirurgo dell’Ospedale di Yale-New Haven, il quale ha eseguito diverse analisi presso la sua Università. A conclusione delle ricerche fatte, ha dichiarato anch’egli che si tratta sicuramente di mano affetta da sindattilia.
Upton, attualmente professore della Scuola Medica di Harvard, ha affermato che sebbene una tale teoria non si possa facilmente verificare, la prova potrebbe venire da un’analisi condotta ai raggi X. Egli è convinto delle conclusioni raggiunte da Sweeney, ossia che le anomalie presenti nelle opere di Leonardo non sono dovute solo ad un ictus.
La teoria analizza la raffigurazione della mano sinistra di Gesù ne “L’Ultima Cena” e nella “Madonna dei Fusi”. La mano sinistra di Gesù appare deforme in entrambi i dipinti. Nella “Madonna dei Fusi”, sostiene Sweeney, la malformazione è stata scoperta grazie all’utilizzo di tecnologia ad infrarossi e, per dare maggiore supporto alla sua teoria, aggiunge che il da Vinci avrebbe avuto una sorta di ossessione o inquietudine nei confronti delle mani colpite da sindattilia.
“Ogni volta in cui il mondo dell’arte si è trovato di fronte ad una malformazione della mano, ha considerato quest’ultima semplicemente come un errore dell’artista”, assicura Sweeney. E aggiunge: “Secondo la mia opinione, da Vinci non ha commesso alcun errore. Ha dipinto, senza motivo di dubitarne, delle mani affette da sindattilia”.
Robert Goldwyn, professore in chirurgia presso il Centro medico Beth Israel Deaconess di Boston, sostiene che Sweeney, portando avanti i suoi studi sulla mano del da Vinci, sta percorrendo, con ogni probabilità, la strada giusta. La teoria è estremamente interessante, perché Sweeney osserva Leonardo da Vinci, in un modo del tutto nuovo, che nessuno aveva mai tentato di fare negli ultimi 500 anni, afferma Goldwyn e, inoltre, lo è anche perché il punto di vista, tanto originale di Sweeney, si forma al di fuori del campo accademico classico.
Ma mentre alcuni esperti scientifici sono d’accordo con la teoria di Sweeney, il mondo dell’arte è meno aperto a questa idea. Alcuni storici dell’arte sostengono che fino a quando non si darà una dimostrazione certa della teoria, non vedono per quale ragione devono credere che da Vinci aveva una mano sinistra deforme.
Sweeney ha rivelato: “Uno storico dell’arte, dopo aver ascoltato la mia teoria, mi ha detto di non volermi più vedere”. “Il mondo dell’arte dà maggiore rilievo alla bellezza che non alla verità e Leonardo questo lo sapeva bene. E’ riuscito a comprendere la nostra condizione mentale già 500 anni fa”.
Con l’aiuto di esperti come il professor Upton — che sta collaborando con lui su quattro diversi studi anatomici — Sweeney sta studiando circa 40 casi diversi. Questi vanno dall’analisi della salute del da Vinci allo sviluppo di formule matematiche con cui poter analizzare l’arte di Leonardo da un punto di vista prettamente matematico. Ha dichiarato Sweeney che uno dei suoi progetti più recenti ha riguardato la costruzione di un robot che già Leonardo nei suoi disegni aveva progettato in modo esauriente. Il “robot perduto” ha viaggiato attraverso tutto il paese e si trova attualmente in mostra presso l’Università di Tulsa in Oklahoma.
Sweeney desidera, ha dichiarato, che la sua ricerca possa culminare con la pubblicazione di un libro accessibile anche ai ragazzi di quinta elementare. Egli sostiene che far conoscere le informazioni è un processo lento, perché i dati possono essere interpretati male, se non vengono presentati in maniera sufficientemente chiara. Attende dei risultati certi per poter impressionare tutta la comunità del mondo dell’arte.
Dichiara Sweeney: “Questo potrà diventare il Control-alt-canc del mondo dell’arte”. “Alla fine si raggiungerà un accordo, ma questo rappresenta appena l’inizio”.
http://www.leonardoshands.com/artman2/publish/versioni-italiane-2%20/Ricerca_dei_probabili_handicap_di_Leonardo_da_Vinci.shtmlUn vecchio ammiratore di Leonardo da Vinci, grazie all’aiuto di un ex ricercatore... more
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Leonardo da Vinci, a quasi 500 anni dalla morte, è ancora una volta sotto le luci della ribalta. Probabilmente su questo grande artista è più quello che non si conosce che ciò che si conosce.Il sapere varia e insieme ad esso vecchi stereotipi appaiono e scompaiono. L’approccio alle sue opere, con uno spirito d’osservazione nuovo, richiede una mente aperta ed una disponibilità ad accettare quel che risulta chiaro ed evidente. Durante tale processo, alcune rivelazioni saranno ovvie, mentre altre potranno apparire controverse.Un riesame più fortuito dei suoi studi sulla mano ha portato alla conclusione che il disegno della mano stanca e la mano sinistra di Cristo ne L’Ultima Cena sono entrambi esempi di mani affette da malformazioni, quali le sindattilie e le polidattilie.
http://www.leonardoshands.com/artman2/publish/versioni-italiane%20/Il_Mancino_Versione_italiana.shtmlLeonardo da Vinci, a quasi 500 anni dalla morte, è ancora una volta sotto le luci... more
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"Ibn Sina is the first humanoid robot which actually can perform Arabic dialogue," Dr. Nikolaos Mavridis, lab director of the Interactive Robots and Media Laboratory and assistant professor of computer sciences, told The Media Line.
"The reason why we choose Ibn Sina is multi-fold," Mavridis said of the robot's name. "Number one we wanted somebody who people of the region can see as one of their own people, number two we wanted someone who carries values which are important for the region such as science and philosophy… He is pretty much the equivalent of Leonardo Da Vinci for the region that we are in."
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1256799093120&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
More robots and Leonardo at leonardoshands.com"Ibn Sina is the first humanoid robot which actually can perform Arabic dialogue," Dr.... more
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When the artist He Qi visited the Concordia Seminary campus recently, he told the following story about the artwork above, “The Risen Lord.”
A church in China commissioned the work from He Qi for their sanctuary without any strings attached. He Qi went to work with a “blank canvas,” so to speak. When he showed the pastor what he had made, the pastor was speechless.
Two minutes of frozen silence passed. He finally spoke.
“Its too Chinese,” the pastor said.
He then asked He Qi if he could make a copy of Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper.”
One of the interesting things about Dr. He Qi, though, is that he is also an art scholar. And he then proceeded to remind us that Leonardo’s models for “The Last Supper” were all his fellow citizens of Milan. We could just as easily say about it, “Its too Italian.”
Needless to say, he did not make a copy of Leonardo’s famous work.
Which makes me think that all art, including all religious art, is indigenous art. It is enculturated within its own setting, time, and context. Even when an artist attempts to express a subject within in its own “historical” setting, it often says more about the artist’s own perspective of that history, rather than the history itself. And that’s a good thing. It is what makes Leonardo, He Qi, and all great artists so fascinating.
http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/civil-religion/general/2009/11/leonardo-da-vinci-he-qi-and-indigenous-art/
if you would like learn more about Leonardo go to www.leonardoshands.comWhen the artist He Qi visited the Concordia Seminary campus recently, he told the... more
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ARTIST, engineer, inventor, anatomist: a new Southbank exhibition delves beneath the many hats of Leonardo da Vinci to profile a man of extraordinary genius.
Many know da Vinci as the hand that painted the Mona Lisa, while others will be aware of his many inventive sketches that foreshadowed such modern marvels as underwater breathing apparatus and even the helicopter.
Less well known, however, is his penchant for dismembering dead human bodies.
Brutally realistic wax models of the subjects of da Vinci’s dissections provide a macabre introduction to the exhibition, Leonardo da Vinci - ‘Anatomy to Robots’.
The most confronting of these is a full-scale model of a dead young woman, her stomach pinned open to reveal her internal organs and the primitive tools of surgery discarded on a side table.
Between that and an extraordinarily life-like model of a human womb containing an unborn baby, this is not an exhibition for the faint-hearted.
http://melbourne-leader.whereilive.com.au/lifestyle/story/the-guts-of-da-vinci-s-genius/
if you would like to see more anatomy and robot bty Leonardo go to www.leonardoshands.comARTIST, engineer, inventor, anatomist: a new Southbank exhibition delves beneath the... more
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The world's biggest Mona Lisa has been unveiled just as the secret of her enigmatic smile was revealed for the first time.
The giant version of the Leonardo da Vinci masterpiece has gone on display at the Eagles Meadow shopping centre in Wrexham.
It measures 17.5m, covers 240m sq and is 50 times bigger than the 16th century original which is hanging in the Louvre art gallery in Paris
The Wrexham version, which could accommodate 22 London buses, is more than double the size of the version painted by Rolf Harris in Edinburgh in 2005 - the previous biggest.
Artist Katy Webster was in charge of the project which involved 245 people and took 987 man hours to paint, using 86 litres of paint.
It was painted on scores of different segments by community groups including Victoria Primary School and the Haulfan Centre for people with disabilities.
Speaking after the mega Mona was unveiled the artist said: "It's kind of mind-blowing how big she is but the smile is still as enigmatic as ever.
"It took over a week to do her face - that was the hardest because everybody knows what it looks like so we had to make sure it was exactly right.
If you would like to learn more about www.leonardoshands.comThe world's biggest Mona Lisa has been unveiled just as the secret of her enigmatic... more
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The makers of the eerily lifelike robotic mule have a new creation: a machine that walks around like a real human being. Boston Dynamics is building the “Petman” prototype for the U.S. Army, to test out protective clothing.
“Petman will balance itself and move freely; walking, crawling and doing a variety of suit-stressing calisthenics during exposure to chemical warfare agents,” the company promises. “Petman will also simulate human physiology within the protective suit by controlling temperature, humidity and sweating when necessary, all to provide realistic test conditions. ”
Like Boston Dynamics’ BigDog robo-mule, Petman stays upright, even when it’s shoved. And the thing walks heel-to-toe at 3.2 miles per hour, just like a flesh-and-blood person. Petman may be just one of a number of attempts by robot-makers to build a simulated set of biped legs. But I haven’t seen one that gets closer to the real deal.
Leonardo da Vinci made a robot knight. The photos of the first replica are at
http://www.leonardoshands.com/artman2/publish/leonardo-picture-and-video-galleries/Pictures_of_Leonardo_da_Vinci_s_Lost_Robot_Knight.shtmlThe makers of the eerily lifelike robotic mule have a new creation: a machine that... more
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A fingerprint found on the upper left hand side of a 13 x 10in chalk, pen, and ink portrait reveals that it could actually be a long lost work by Leonardo da Vinci.
More Leonardo and Hands information at www.leonardoshands.com
No one thought twice when the portrait sold at Christie's New York in the late 1990's. Then believed to be an early 19th Century German depiction of a young woman in profile, it was purchased for $19 thousand. But two years ago, an anonymous Swiss collector grew suspicious of its true origin after viewing it at the Gantz Gallery in New York. Immediately, art collector and friend, Peter Silverman, purchased it on his behalf for a similar price.
Now, a century old fingerprint leads London dealer Simon Dickinson to say it could be worth over $160 million.
Using Lumiere Technology, Montreal-based forensics expert Peter Paul Biro found the fingerprint within the successive layers of color. "Leonardo used his hands liberally and frequently as part of his painting technique. His fingerprints are found on many of his works," Biro explained to the Associate Press. "I was able to make use of multispectral images to make a little smudge a very readable fingerprint."
The print is considered "highly comparable" to one previously found on Leonardo's St Jerome in the Vatican. Furthermore, a palm print, which was also found within the neck of the young woman, helped determine that the artist was left-handed, as da Vinci famously was.
How apropos that scholars of art, science, and technology should have to work so cooperatively to uncover what would be the first major piece by Leonardo da Vinci found in 100 years! It is just as he would have wanted.A fingerprint found on the upper left hand side of a 13 x 10in chalk, pen, and ink... more
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Rome – After seven years, Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man will again be on exhibit until January 10th at the Academy Gallery where it has been kept since 1822. This is a special occasion because this very famous sketch cannot be kept permanently on exhibit because light would fade the ink and so damage the sketch for all generations. This document doesn’t belong to the art world or the science world but it is an icon of western civilization. Represented in its various interpretations, on all types of objects and in all sorts of ways, this document is a study on the human body inserted in a circle and square which according to Plato are perfect geometric figures. The centre of the circle coincides with the umbilicus indicating the spiritual origin of man and the centre of the square with the genital area, representing man’s physical origin. A teaching workshop involving the schools of Venice has been organized in occasion of the exhibit.
If you would like to learn more about Leonardo and anatomy go to www.leonardoshands.comRome – After seven years, Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man will again be on... more
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Sammy the dog's paintings selling for $1,700
Monday, October 19, 2009
Holding his brush like an old master, Sam the painting dog is the Leonardo Da Vinci of the canine art world.
Using the lush surroundings of his home town of Eastern Shore, Maryland as his muse, Sam's paintings are attracting a loyal art world following.
Selling for up to $1700 for an individual work, Sam has put his brush to 22 different canvases.
Using his tailor made paintbrush, which he holds in his mouth, Sam approaches the blank 16inch by 20-inch canvas with his mind made up to make some modern art.
If you would like to learn more about Leonardo da Vinci go to www.leonardoshands.comSammy the dog's paintings selling for $1,700
Monday, October 19, 2009
Holding his... more
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Leonardo da Vinci may have had an Arab heritage, according to Italian researchers who have isolated and reconstructed the Renaissance master's fingerprint.
The fingerprint represents the only biological trace of the Florentine genius, said Luigi Capasso, an anthropologist at Chieti University.
"It is actually the first evidence of Leonardo's corporeality," Capasso told Discovery News.
if you would like to learn more about Leonardo and hands and robots go to www.leonardoshands.comLeonardo da Vinci may have had an Arab heritage, according to Italian researchers who... more
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TORONTO (AP) — Art experts believe they have identified a new Leonardo da Vinci— in part by examining a fingerprint on the canvas.
Peter Paul Biro, a Montreal-based forensic art expert, said Tuesday that a fingerprint on what was presumed to be a 19th-century German painting of a young woman has convinced art experts that it's actually a da Vinci.
Canadian-born art collector Peter Silverman bought "Profile of the Bella Principessa" at the Ganz gallery in New York on behalf of an anonymous Swiss collector in 2007 for about $19,000. New York art dealer Kate Ganz had owned it for about 11 years after buying it at auction for a similar price.
One London art dealer now says it could be worth more than $150 million.
If experts are correct, it will be the first major work by da Vinci to be identified in 100 years.
Biro said the print of an index or middle finger was found on the painting and that it matched a fingerprint from da Vinci's St Jerome in the Vatican. Biro examined multispectral images of the painting taken by the Luminere Technology laboratory in Paris. The lab used a special digital scanner to show successive layers of the work.
"Leonardo used his hands liberally and frequently as part of his painting technique. His fingerprints are found on many of his works," Biro said. "I was able to make use of multispectral images to make a little smudge a very readable fingerprint."
Technical, stylistic and material composition evidence also point to it being a da Vinci. Biro said there's strong consensus among art experts that it is a da Vinci painting.TORONTO (AP) — Art experts believe they have identified a new Leonardo da Vinci—... more
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The painting, titled Young Girl in Profile in Renaissance Dress, recently sold for a mere £12,000 ($19,000). It was billed at a Christie's sale in 1998 as "German, early 19th century".
Peter Silverman, the Canadian-born owner, thought there was more to it and decided to get the drawing checked out after buying it in 2007. His hunch appears to have paid off.
A Paris laboratory discovered that a fingerprint from the tip of an index or middle-finger, found on the top left of the picture, was "highly comparable" to one found on da Vinci's work St Jerome, which he painted early in his career when he did not have assistants,The painting, titled Young Girl in Profile in Renaissance Dress, recently sold for a... more
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Although Ben Sweeney’s research runs the gamut on da Vinci — including art, science and math — his study on da Vinci’s anomalous left hand has been the subject of most interest. Through analysis of different da Vinci sketches, Sweeney developed the idea that the third and fourth fingers of da Vinci’s left hand were connected. This condition is called syndactyly, in which two or more digits are fused together.
Sweeney said that art historians have noticed issues with da Vinci’s hand in his sketches before, but it was always written off as the result of a stroke da Vinci had late in life. But Sweeney took his theory to Joseph Upton ’66, a former Yale-New Haven Hospital surgeon who researched at the University, who agreed that it appears to be a syndactyly hand.
Both were interviewed for ABC primetime special.
more info at www.leonardoshands.comAlthough Ben Sweeney’s research runs the gamut on da Vinci — including art,... more
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Paris based Coladia today announced The Secrets of Da Vinci: The Forbidden Manuscript for Mac OS X. It is the first ever game created about the life and work of Leonardo Da Vinci. Players come to discover and delve inside the mysteries surrounding the hidden enigmas of the works of the great genius. The Secrets of Da Vinci: The Forbidden Manuscript is a major investigation and adventure game, a thrilling mystical quest into the heart of the Renaissance.Paris based Coladia today announced The Secrets of Da Vinci: The Forbidden Manuscript... more
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If you believe, as Maurizio Seracini does, that Leonardo da Vinci’s greatest painting is hidden inside a wall in Florence’s city hall, then there are two essential techniques for finding it. As usual, Leonardo anticipated both of them.
First, concentrate on scientific gadgetry. After spotting what seemed to be a clue to Leonardo’s painting left by another 16th-century artist, Dr. Seracini led an international team of scientists in mapping every millimeter of the wall and surrounding room with lasers, radar, ultraviolet light and infrared cameras. Once they identified the likely hiding place, they developed devices to detect the painting by firing neutrons into the wall.
if you would like to learn more about Leonardo go to www.leonardoshands.comIf you believe, as Maurizio Seracini does, that Leonardo da Vinci’s greatest... more
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