Da Vinci's Ad Lib Painting Style Revealed

Sept. 4, 2007 — Leonardo da Vinci did not mix colors on a palette, but directly on the canvas he was painting, Italian researchers have found.

The discovery occurred when one of the Renaissance master's artworks was bombarded with a narrow beam of high-energy ions.

Presented at Ecaart 2007, an international conference running in Florence, Italy, until September 7, the study decodes for the first time Leonardo's painting technique.

Researchers at the Nuclear Techniques Laboratory for Cultural Heritage in Florence used a nuclear accelerator device that launches particles at high speed to determine the composition of the oil-on-wood painting Madonna of the Yarnwinder, completed in 1501.

"This non-destructive technology not only made it possible to identify pigments in the various paint layers, but also allowed us to decipher how Leonardo created his works. It was as if we were watching him while he painted," Cecilia Frosinini, an art historian at the Opificio delle Pietre Dure restoration lab in Florence, told Discovery News.

The technology basically dissected Leonardo's work, stroke by stroke.

"We were able to examine as never before the layers of color, their thickness and how they were placed on the canvas," Frosinini said.

It emerged that Leonardo applied very thin layers of color on top of each other to create a rich texture and an almost 3-D effect.

That conclusion comes as no surprise to some art historians.

"I think this is a very interesting study, though it doesn't really add much to our knowledge," said Alessandro Vezzosi, director of the Museo Ideale in the Tuscan town of Vinci, where the artist was born. "It confirms from a scientific point of view what scholars had already long known."

Da Vinci himself mentioned his painting technique, known as 'sfumato' — from the Italian word 'fumo', meaning smoke — in his notes on painting.

"Light and shade should blend without lines or borders, in the manner of smoke," he wrote.

According to Vezzosi, it is no surprise that the Renaissance genius did not use the palette.

"Color dilution was very important for Leonardo. He put a lot of effort in preparing the colors, so he did not have to mix them on the palette. Often, he did not use the brush either. He applied the thin layer of colors using his thumb. He used this technique often in his later work, especially on the Mona Lisa," Vezzosi said.

Ecaart 2007

An art history timeline from the Met

The science of da Vinci