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The 'Mona Lisa' paint fragment that was analyzed was barely visible to the naked eye, no larger than the diameter of a human hair., scientists have gained new insight into the techniques that Leonardo da Vinci used to paint his groundbreaking portrait of the woman with the exquisitely enigmatic smile.
“He was someone who loved to experiment, and each of his paintings is completely different technically,” said Victor Gonzalez, the study's lead author and a chemist at France’s top research body, the CNRS. Gonzalez has studied the chemical compositions of dozens of works by Leonardo, Rembrandt and other artists.
Carmen Bambach, a specialist in Italian art and curator at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, who was not involved in the study, called the research “very exciting" and said any scientifically proven new insights into Leonardo's painting techniques are “extremely important news for the art world and our larger global society.”
The scientists peered into its atomic structure using X-rays in a synchrotron, a large machine that accelerates particles to almost the speed of light. That allowed them to unravel the speck’s chemical make-up. Plumbonacrite is a byproduct of lead oxide, allowing the researchers to say with more certainty that Leonardo likely used the powder in his paint recipe.
Leonardo is thought to have dissolved lead oxide powder, which has an orange color, in linseed or walnut oil by heating the mixture to make a thicker, faster-drying paste.
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Scientists winkle a secret from the `Mona Lisa' about how Leonardo painted the masterpieceThe “Mona Lisa” has given up a secret.
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Scientists winkle a secret from the `Mona Lisa' about how Leonardo painted the masterpieceThe “Mona Lisa” has given up a secret.
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Scientists winkle a secret from the `Mona Lisa' about how Leonardo painted the masterpieceThe “Mona Lisa” has given up a secret.
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