HOW LEORNARDO DA VANCI MADE MONA LISA SMILE

LONDON, England - The secret of how Leonardo da Vinci captured the Mona Lisa's enigmatic smile can be revealed for the first time.
Scientists have discovered how the artist managed to achieve his trademark smoky effect, known as sfumato, on the painting; by applying up to 40 layers of extremely thin glaze thought to have been smeared on with his fingers.

• The glaze, mixed with subtly different pigments, creates the slight blurring and shadows around the mouth that give the Mona Lisa her barely noticeable smile that seems to disappear when looked at directly.
• Using X-rays to study the painting, the researchers were able to see how the layers of glaze and paint had been built up to varying levels on different areas of the face. With the drying times for the glaze taking months, such effects would have taken years to achieve. The scientists also suspect that he used his fingers to apply the glaze as there are no brush marks or contours visible on the paintings.
• Leonardo is known to have employed the sfumato effect to seamlessly blend shading and blur outlines, but the exact techniques used have long intrigued art experts.
• The discoveries have been made by scientists at Laboratoire du Centre de Recherche et de Restauration des Musees de France and the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility.
• "The perfection of Leonardo da Vinci's painting technique has always been fascinating. The gradation of tones or colours from light to dark is barely perceptible.
  

Above all, the way the flesh is rendered gives rise to many comments because of its crucial role in the fascination exerted by Leonardo's portraits. The thinness of the glaze layers must be underlined: it confirms the dexterity of the painter to apply such thin layers," said Dr Philippe Walter, who led the study.

Source: TGL