On the 500th anniversary of da Vinci's death, NOVA goes to Italy to explore his life and work. Then, in the basement of the Louvre, scientists and art restoration experts deploy cutting-edge technology to (digitally) peel back the layers of da Vinci's works. Ultimately, they'll reveal the impact of his science on his art and his art on his science.

Tim Jenison, a Texas-based inventor, attempts to solve one of the greatest mysteries in all art: How did seventeenth century Dutch Master Johannes Vermeer manage to paint so photo-realistically, 150 years before the invention of photography? Spanning ten years, his adventure takes him to Delft, Holland, where Vermeer painted his masterpieces, to the north coast of Yorkshire to meet artist David Hockney, and even to Buckingham Palace to see a Vermeer...

In his most achingly personal film to date, legendary Italian Filmmaker Marco Bellocchio uses the occasion of a family reunion in his hometown of Piacenza to excavate and discuss a traumatic event: the death of his twin brother Camillo, who committed suicide in the late '60s at age 29. Through detailed conversations with his siblings, archival footage providing context about 20th-century Italian leftist politics, and occasional clips from his films,...