The main secret of Mona Lisa - her smile - still haunts scientists. Leonardo da Vinci technique revealed
The French Center for Research and Restoration of Works of Art, located in the cellars of the Louvre, conducted an analysis for the first time famous portrait Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci using a portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometer. The operation of this device, which produces non-destructive chemical analysis, is based on the fact that X-rays excite the atoms of the irradiated substance, and they, in turn, fluoresce - they emit X-rays, the energy of which is characteristic of the atoms of each chemical element. In the case of paintings, one can determine the composition of the paints used by the painter. The new French spectrometer makes it possible to carry out a layer-by-layer analysis of the painting, that is, to decipher the artist's technique in detail.
It is known that Leonardo used the technique of painting portraits in oil, invented by the Flemings at the beginning of the Renaissance. First, a layer of white is applied to the canvas (or, in the case of Gioconda, a wooden base), which reflects light well. Then the area where the face will be covered with a uniform layer of flesh-pink pigment. The pink shade is enhanced on the lips and cheeks. Shadows that make the portrait voluminous are applied using several layers of glazing with a translucent mixture of oils and turpentine with a small amount of dark dyes. Glazing allows you to enrich the color, change the shade of the underlying colors, create chiaroscuro. Finally, the portrait is varnished. But how thick are all these layers and what do they consist of? Until now, to answer this question, it was necessary to “pinch off” a piece of paint at least half a millimeter in size and feel it in electron microscope a thin beam of electrons - an electron probe. It is far from always possible to take such a sample, perhaps somewhere in the corner, and then if the picture is already slightly damaged, and for Mona Lisa this operation is completely excluded.
French physicists created a program for the computer unit of the X-ray spectrometer, which allows determining their thickness by the degree of absorption of X-rays by the overlying layers of paint. The procedure, previously tested on specially created paintings, does not harm painting at all. Moving from the lighter areas of the portrait, where the glazing layer is thin or absent, to the darker ones, the researchers measured the layers applied by the master's brush. It turned out that the average thickness of each layer is about two micrometers, there are about two dozen layers in total, and the total thickness of the paint layer is up to 40 micrometers. Each layer, judging by the composition of the solvents, had to dry from several days to several months. A mysterious feature was revealed: da Vinci used paints with an unusually high content of manganese. The reasons for this are unclear.
The measurements were taken on Tuesday, when the Louvre is closed to the public, and took four hours to complete. And a few more days continued mathematical processing of the results.
The French Center for Research and Restoration of Artworks, located in the cellars of the Louvre, conducted the first analysis of the famous portrait of Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci using a portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometer.
The operation of this device, which produces non-destructive chemical analysis, is based on the fact that X-rays excite the atoms of the irradiated substance, and they, in turn, fluoresce - they emit X-rays, the energy of which is characteristic of the atoms of each chemical element. In the case of paintings, one can determine the composition of the paints used by the painter. The new French spectrometer allows for layer-by-layer analysis of the painting, that is, to decipher the artist's technique in detail, writes nkj.ru.
It is known that Leonardo used the technique of painting portraits in oil, invented by the Flemings at the beginning of the Renaissance. First, a layer of white is applied to the canvas (or, in the case of Gioconda, a wooden base), which reflects light well. Then the area where the face will be covered with a uniform layer of flesh-pink pigment. The pink shade is enhanced on the lips and cheeks. Shadows that make the portrait voluminous are applied using several layers of glazing with a translucent mixture of oils and turpentine with a small amount of dark dyes. Glazing allows you to enrich the color, change the shade of the underlying colors, create chiaroscuro. Finally, the portrait is varnished. But how thick are all these layers and what do they consist of? Until now, to answer this question, it was necessary to “pinch off” a piece of paint at least half a millimeter in size and probe it in an electron microscope with a thin beam of electrons - an electron probe. It is far from always possible to take such a sample, perhaps somewhere in the corner, and then if the picture is already slightly damaged, and for Mona Lisa this operation is completely excluded.
French physicists have created a program for the computer unit of the X-ray spectrometer, which allows determining their thickness by the degree of absorption of X-rays by the overlying layers of paint. The procedure, previously tested on specially created paintings, does not harm painting at all. Moving from the lighter areas of the portrait, where the glazing layer is thin or absent, to the darker ones, the researchers measured the layers applied with the master's brush.
It turned out that the average thickness of each layer is about two micrometers, the total layers are about two dozen, and the total thickness of the paint layer is up to 40 micrometers. Each layer, judging by the composition of the solvents, had to dry from several days to several months. A mysterious feature was revealed: da Vinci used paints with an unusually high content of manganese. The reasons for this are unclear.
The measurements were taken on Tuesday, when the Louvre is closed to the public, and took four hours to complete. And the mathematical processing of the results continued for several more days.
fish_n_lilies, in pursuit of, here is a list of secrets revealed by 250 thousand people. pixel photography.Press release (excerpt)
... One of the most memorable is the section from Paris "Secrets of the Mona Lisa", representing the work of the French engineer Pascal Cotte (Pascal Cotte).
A lifelong passion for the study of the Mona Lisa and its conservation led him to invent an advanced 240-megapixel multispectral camera that uses patented infrared technology and intense illumination to scan the painting and virtually remove layers of centuries-old varnish layer by layer. With this camera, Côté was able to reveal what the newly completed Mona Lisa looked like, as well as to see the recorded elements, restoration and preservation attempts of the canvas - up to the identification of individual pigments used by da Vinci.
Côté gained unprecedented access to the Mona Lisa through a collaboration between the French Ministry of Culture and the Louvre, and photographed the 'naked' painting for scientific study. collected material. All of his amazing discoveries are presented in a gallery exhibition in high-resolution photographs, the largest of which is a giant image of the Mona Lisa measuring 4.26 m x 3.05 m ....
Secrets of the Mona Lisa
(explanatory labels at the exhibition)
Pascal Cottet, French engineer and inventor of the multispectral camera, was honored to take a series of photographs of the Mona Lisa at the Louvre. The unframed portrait was photographed in the highest resolution of 240 megapixels. As a result of the scientific research an infrared image magnified several times, which in itself is a masterpiece, was obtained.
The infrared beam has the ability to penetrate the top layer of the picture and show what is underneath. As a result of the analysis of the obtained data, we can see traces of retouching and restoration, preliminary sketches, original pigments, etc. on the image.
2) The restoration touched the upper part of the sky. In addition, a number of other minor fixes were made.
3) An 11 cm crack on the board was repaired twice
4) A veil written in several layers was mistakenly taken for a bonnet.
5) Spots in the corner of the eye and on the chin are the result of damaged varnish. This refutes the original hypothesis that da Vinci depicted the symptoms of the disease of the model, who suffered from high cholesterol in the blood.
6) Initially, Mona Lisa's look was somewhat different.
7) Reduction of cracks in the area of the lips and eyes indicates possible restorations or lightening of the varnish.
8) Mona Lisa had a wider face than now
9) The smile was more expressive and clear.
10) Until now, the image of the veil could not be seen clearly. Apparently, Leonardo strove for a clear drawing of the contours of the veil.
11) You can see that the veil was painted over the landscape. Thanks to this information, one can draw a conclusion about the artist’s technique, as well as reproduce the sequence in which Leonardo painted one or another element of the picture.
12) The column became transparent over time. When interacting with certain pigments, the oil tends to become more transparent over the years.
13) Lace disappeared from Mona Lisa's dress.
14) You can see the preparatory sketch of the lace.
15) Previously invisible lines become visible, indicating that the veil was painted by the artist later.
16) You can see a preliminary sketch of the column on the left side of the picture.
17) The railing is made of wood.
18) Under the right elbow, the armrest of the chair covered with a veil became visible.
19) In the area of the model's elbow, traces of restoration were visible, carried out after one of the visitors damaged the painting in 1956 by throwing a stone at it.
20) The fingers are not drawn to the end.
21) Leonardo decided to change the original position of the index and middle fingers of his left hand.
22) The veil lying on Mona Lisa's lap is thrown over her wrist (the wrist is slightly bent). This largely explains the position of the Mona Lisa's hand, supporting the veil on her stomach.
23) The Mona Lisa holds or holds the veil in her lap with the fingers of her left hand.
24) The image clearly shows decorative elements in the form of small columns on the arm of the chair.
25) An amazing discovery was made - see pictures of Mona Lisa's eyes.
Pictures of Mona Lisa's eyes
(caption under the illustration)
So what happened to Mona Lisa's eyebrows and eyelashes?
According to Pascal, there are three hypotheses:
1) It is possible that the paints, consisting of earth powder pigment and oil, with which Leonardo painted eyelashes, mixed with the primer of the canvas and dissolved.
2) Over time, the oil, along with the pigment, has faded. This hypothesis is the most widely accepted. Look at the right column, which is also starting to disappear.
3) It is possible that the eyelashes have disappeared from the painting due to improper cleaning of the painting and damage to the lacquer coating. Many cracks formed near the eyes confirm this hypothesis.
Art historians of various stripes have been struggling with the numerous mysteries of the Mona Lisa for centuries. The conclusions that the scientists made were one more incredible than the other. Science almost came to recognize the mysterious Mona Lisa as the messenger of Alpha Centauri, when suddenly a kind Parisian appeared and revealed all the secrets of the Giocondina.
Pascal Cotte is the name of a man from Paris, to whom we now owe new knowledge about amazing picture Leonardo da Vinci.
And it all began, according to Kott, back in the 1960s. When Pascal, as a boy (now 49 years old), first saw the Mona Lisa in the Louvre, he spent several hours looking at the painting.
One of them even recognized his boss in the portrait (photo by AP/Marcio Jose Sanchez).
Time passed, and now the engineer Pascal Cott began to consider it again, but using special equipment. Three years ago, he took a series of images of the Mona Lisa using a special 240-megapixel scanner. He spent even more time on this - about 3 thousand hours. Wow!
However, the patient researcher did not limit himself to ordinary light - he used 13 different light filters (apparently, he is not at all a superstitious citizen). He even used infrared and ultraviolet lighting. So it turned out that initially the mysterious woman was not depicted in the way we are used to seeing her now.
"La Gioconda" is one of the five hundred paintings that Pascal Cotte (this is him in the photo) examined in different spectra with highest resolution. Among others - works by van Gogh, Brueghel, Courbet and other European masters of painting (photo AP / Marcio Jose Sanchez).
First, it turned out that the face was somewhat different at first - it was slightly wider, and the smile was somewhat more expressive.
Secondly, it turned out that da Vinci decided to change the position of two fingers on the lady's left hand.
Again Kot! Well, since we are showing him to you, we will mention at the same time that he heads the Lumiere Technology company, which is engaged in high-precision digitization of paintings in various ranges of the electromagnetic spectrum (AP photo).
And, thirdly, it became clear that at first Mona Lisa supported the veil with this very hand, which is now almost invisible due to the fact that the colors have faded. Kott noticed that since then, artists, copying this famous canvas, conveyed this position of the hand, not at all understanding why it was that way.
"Mona Lisa" in the early 1500s and early 2000s. Reconstruction by Pascal Cotte (photo from bluebretzel.com).
Another one has been found interesting point concerning some details. Mona Lisa has no eyebrows or eyelashes. However, Kott, examining the eyes of the beauty in his detailed photographs, noticed that tiny cracks in the paint were somewhat smaller than those around them. This indicates that once someone, perhaps some restorer, during his work erased the paint particles that showed eyebrows and eyelashes.
This is how the scanning process went. The resolution of the resulting image is 150 thousand dots per inch. Thanks to this, the picture was enlarged 24 times (photo from bluebretzel.com).
And in general, Kott found out that the colors of the paints of the picture, to which we are now accustomed, are not at all the same as they were once upon a time. This, of course, is not surprising, but a stubborn researcher figured out exactly what they were half a millennium ago (Leonardo wrote "Gioconda" several years in early XVI century).
Jean Franck, a French researcher and consultant at the Leonardo da Vinci Research Center in Los Angeles, recently announced that he was able to repeat the unique technique of the great master, thanks to which the Gioconda seems to be alive.
"In terms of technique, the Mona Lisa has always been considered something inexplicable. Now I think I have an answer to this question," says Frank.
Reference: sfumato technique is a painting technique invented by Leonardo da Vinci. It consists in the fact that objects in the paintings should not have clear boundaries. Everything should be like in life: blurry, penetrate one into another, breathe. Da Vinci practiced this technique by looking at damp stains on walls, ash, clouds, or dirt. He deliberately smoked the room where he worked in order to look for images in clubs.
According to Jean Franck, the main difficulty of this technique lies in the smallest strokes (about a quarter of a millimeter) that are not accessible for recognition either under a microscope or using X-rays. Thus, it took several hundred sessions to paint a da Vinci painting. The image of the Gioconda consists of approximately 30 layers of liquid, almost transparent oil paint. For such jewelry work, da Vinci, apparently, had to use a magnifying glass at the same time as a brush.
According to the researcher, he managed to reach only the level early works masters. However, even now his research has been honored to be next to the canvases of the great Leonardo da Vinci. The Uffizi Museum in Florence placed next to the masterpieces of the master 6 tables of Frank, which describe in stages how da Vinci painted the eye of Mona Lisa, and two paintings by Leonardo recreated by him.
It is known that the composition of "Mona Lisa" is built on "golden triangles". These triangles, in turn, are pieces of a regular stellated pentagon. But researchers do not see any secret meanings, they are rather inclined to explain the expressiveness of the Mona Lisa by the technique of spatial perspective.
Da Vinci was one of the first to use this technique, he made the background of the picture unclear, slightly blurred, thereby increasing the emphasis on the outlines of the foreground.
Riddles of the Mona Lisa
Unique techniques allowed da Vinci to create such a lively portrait of a woman that people, looking at him, perceive her feelings differently. Is she sad or smiling? Scientists have solved this riddle. The Urbana-Champaign computer program, created by scientists from the Netherlands and the USA, made it possible to calculate that Mona Lisa's smile is 83% happy, 9% disgusted, 6% full of fear and 2% angry. The program analyzed the main features of the face, the curve of the lips and wrinkles around the eyes, and then ranked the face in six main groups of emotions.
If you believe the biographer of Leonardo da Vinci Giorgio Vasari, it is not surprising that Mona Lisa is dominated by positive emotions: “Since Mona Lisa was very beautiful, while writing a portrait, he kept people who played the lyre or sang, and there were always jesters, maintaining her cheerfulness and removing the melancholy that painting usually imparts to portraits. In Leonardo, in this work, the smile is given so pleasant that it seems as if you are contemplating a divine rather than a human being; the portrait itself is revered as an extraordinary work, for life itself could not be otherwise.”
Less romantic experts in the field of painting argue that the explanation for the mysterious smile is trite - the woman simply has her eyebrows shaved off. If you paint on the eyebrows, then her whole unique image will disappear.
Professor Margaret Livingston of Harvard University claims that Leonardo used the laws of human physiology in his painting. There are two types of vision: direct and peripheral. Direct well perceives details, worse - shadows. So, according to the scientist, Mona Lisa's smile is visible only if you look not at her lips, but at other details of her face: "The elusive nature of Mona Lisa's smile can be explained by the fact that almost all of it is located in the low-frequency range of light and is well perceived only by peripheral vision."
Who is Mona Lisa?
There are many versions. The most plausible of them - the model for the picture was Lisa Gherardini, the second wife of the Florentine silk merchant Francesco del Giocondo and the mother of five children. At the time of painting (about 1503-1506), the girl was, according to various sources, from 24 to 30 years old. It is because of her husband's surname that the painting is now known under two names.
According to the second version, the mysterious girl was not at all an angelic innocent beauty. The model for the painting was the very famous courtesan Duchess Caterina Sforzo at that time. At the time of writing, she was already 40 years old. The Duchess was the illegitimate daughter of the ruler of Milan - a legendary hero Italian Renaissance Duke Sforza and scandalously became famous for her promiscuity: from the age of 15 she was married three times and gave birth to 11 children. The Duchess died in 1509, six years after the start of work on the painting. This version is supported by a portrait of a twenty-five-year-old duchess who looks remarkably like Mona Lisa.
You can often hear the version that Leonardo da Vinci did not go far for a model for his masterpiece, but simply painted a self-portrait in women's clothing. This version is difficult to reject, because there is an obvious similarity between the Mona Lisa and the later self-portrait of the master. Moreover, this similarity was confirmed by a computer analysis of the main anthropometric indicators.
The most scandalous version affects the personal life of the master. Some scholars claim that the model for the painting was da Vinci's student and assistant Gian Giacomo, who was by his side for 26 years and may have been his lover. This version is supported by the fact that Leonardo left this painting to him as a legacy when he died in 1519.
Two paintings - two models
However, no matter how much you solve the master's puzzle, there are still more questions than answers. The ambiguity in the name of the painting has caused a lot of speculation regarding its authenticity. There is a version that there are actually two paintings. Contemporaries have repeatedly noted that the painting was not finished by the master. Moreover, Raphael, having visited the artist's studio, made a sketch from the still unfinished painting. On the sketch turned out to be everything famous woman, on both sides of which the Greek columns are located. In addition, according to contemporaries, the painting was larger and was made to order just for Mona Lisa's husband, Francesco del Giocondo. The author handed over the unfinished painting into the hands of the customer, and it was kept in family archive for many centuries.
However, the Louvre exhibited a completely different canvas. It is smaller in size (only 77 by 53 centimeters) and looks quite finished without columns. So, according to historians, the Louvre painting depicts the mistress of Giuliano Medici - Constanza D'Avalos. It was this picture that the artist brought with him to France in 1516. He kept her in his room in the estate near the city of Amboise until his death. From there, the painting came into the collection of King Francis I in 1517. It is this painting that is called “Mona Lisa”.
On real picture"La Gioconda" depicts the wife of the silk merchant Francisco del Giocondo and, perhaps, the secret mistress of Leonardo. According to historians, the original canvas, which fully corresponds to the description of contemporaries, was accidentally bought by a famous British antiquary in 1914 for clothing market the English city of Bass for a few guineas and was in London until 1962, until it was bought by a syndicate of Swiss bankers.
Kidnapping of the Gioconda
Skeptics argue that the Gioconda won the unique glory not beautiful eyes And enigmatic smile. In their opinion, the Italian painter Vincenso Perugia, who stole the painting from the Louvre on August 21, 1911, is responsible for the genuine interest in the masterpiece. The motive for such an unreasonable act was not at all a passion for profit, but a patriotic desire to return the Italian pearl to its homeland. The painting was indeed found in Italy, but after only two years, during which the portrait was on the front pages of all newspapers and magazines. The Gioconda was examined and processed by the restorers and hung in place with honors. Since then, the painting has become an object of cult and worship, as a masterpiece of world classics.
Mysteries of Leonardo
Da Vinci left in his creations many riddles and puzzles so complex that mankind has been trying to solve them for five centuries. The inventor wrote with his left hand and incredibly small letters, from right to left, turning the letters in a mirror image. He spoke in riddles and poured metaphorical prophecies. Leonardo did not sign his works, but left identification marks on them - a flying bird. According to it, his offspring are unexpectedly discovered through the centuries. Perhaps we only think that we find answers to the riddles of the master, but in fact we are infinitely far from them.
Artist biography
Leonardo got his last name from the town of Vinci, west of Florence, where he was supposedly born on April 15, 1452. He was the illegitimate son of a Florentine notary and a peasant girl, but was brought up in the house and his father, so he received a thorough education in reading, writing and counting. At the age of 15, he was apprenticed to one of the leading masters early renaissance Andrea del Verrocchio, and five years later joined the Guild of Artists. In 1482, already professional artist, Leonardo moved to Milan. There he wrote famous fresco « The Last Supper” and began to keep his unique records, in which he acts more as an architect-designer, anatomist, hydraulics, inventor of mechanisms, musician. Long years, moving from city to city, da Vinci was so fascinated by mathematics that he could not bring himself to pick up brushes. In Florence he entered into a rivalry with Michelangelo; this rivalry culminated in the enormous battle compositions that the two artists painted for Palazzo della Signoria (also Palazzo Vecchio). The French, first Louis XII and then Francis I, admired the works of the Italian Renaissance, especially Leonardo's Last Supper. Therefore, it is not surprising that in 1516 Francis I, well aware of Leonardo's various talents, invited him to court, which was then located in the Amboise castle in the Loire Valley. Leonardo died at Amboise on May 2, 1519; his paintings by this time were scattered mainly in private collections, and the notes lay in different collections almost completely forgotten for several more centuries.
The material was prepared by the online editorialwww.rian.ru based on information from the RIA Novosti Agency and other sources
