2023-10-11 14:53:06
The Mona Lisa, or Portrait of Mona Lisa, was painted in the early 16th century. The painting is on display at the Louvre Museum. AURELIEN MORISSARD / AFP
Cutting-edge analyzes carried out on the Tuscan painter’s masterpiece reveal a unique mixture of leaded oil, very different from those usually used in oil paintings of the period.
« Oil painting is very difficult, but it is much more beautiful than water painting », sang Bobby Lapointe. To master this delicate material, Leonardo da Vinci may have used lead oxide to modify the mechanical and drying properties of the paint. A study carried out by a team of CNRS researchers reveals the process used by the Tuscan genius, in particular to paint the Mona Lisa. They publish the results of their work in the journal Journal of The American Chemical Society .
« Oil is a very difficult material to handle, because naturally it does not dry very quickly, explains Marine Cotte, co-author of this work and chemist at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF). The difficulty is to develop a chemical process which allows the paint to be quite flexible when it is applied to the support, but to dry quickly. Know what materials and techniques Leonardo…
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