A new study has found a rare compound in the base layer of the"Mona Lisa" that is formed from a lead oxide and oil combination, and provides a peek into one of Leonardo da Vinci's experimental painting techniques. Leonardo da Vinci was a painter, inventor and anatomist, to name just a few of his talents — and now, you can add innovative chemist to the polymath’s many gifts.
Plumbonacrite forms when lead oxides combine with oil. Mixing these two substances on a palette is a technique that later artists like Rembrandt used to help the paint dry, according to the study. Detecting the rare compound in the “Mona Lisa” suggested that Leonardo could have been the original precursor of this approach, said Gilles Wallez, an author of the latest study and a professor at Sorbonne University in Paris who also was a coauthor on the 2019 report.
“Each time you discover something on his processes, you discovered that he was clearly ahead of his time,” he said. The base layer of Leonardo’s mural “The Last Supper” was also found to have the same chemical makeup as the “Mona Lisa” even though the mural was painted on a wall, according to the study. The scientists had a much wider scope of samples from “The Last Supper” to look at, 17 in total, which came from the paint flaking off the wall over time, Wallez said.
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