Secrets of Mona Lisa smile

Mona Lisa. The immortal, captivating and the most wondrous creation of the renaissance maestro Leonardo Da Vinci. There is truly something enigmatic about this sixteenth-century portrait that has fascinated artists non-artists alike for generations. Presumably the portrait of Lisa Gherardini, wife of a wealthy Florentine silk merchant Francesco Del Giocondo, this painting has deeply influenced scientists, fiction writers, even conspiracy theorists. Thanks to the mystic facial expressions created by Vinci, the archetype renaissance painter. A team of French scientists have finally cracked the secret of Mona Lisa. Specialists from the Center of Research and Restoration of the Museums of France, in collaboration with European Synchrotron Radiation Facility and Louvre Museum, have studied seven of Leonardo Da Vinci's paintings in order to analyze the master's use of successive ultra-thin layers of paint and glaze, the technique that scholars believe gave Vinci's work their distinct dreamy quality. The paintings are Mona Lisa, Virgin of the Rocks, Saint John the Baptist, Annunciation, Bacchus, Belle Ferronniere, Saint Anne, the virgin and the child, all currently displayed in the famous Louvre Museum where the actual study took place.

Armed with a non-invasive technique called X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, the distinguished team of scientists was able to study each layer of paint and their chemical compositions of each of the seven artworks. According to team leader, Philippe Walter, this equipment is so precise that “now we can find out the mix of pigments used by the artist of each coat of paint.” Published in the latest edition of the journal Angewandte Chemie, international edition, the researchers found out that Da Vinci painted up to 30 layers of paint on his works to meet his signature standard of subtlety and all the layers are less than 40 micrometers or about the half the thickness of a human hair. This is in fact a technique called “Sfumato” (common amongst the renaissance masters), which is the mixing of thin layers of pigment, glaze and oil to create lifelike shadows.

This “Sfumato” technique allowed Leonardo to give outlines and contours a hazy quality which eventually created an illusion of depth and shadow. According to the scientists, the shadows were built up by dozens of translucent layers of glaze where each layer was only one or two micro-meters thick, but each contained a carefully dosed pigmentation. It is believed that this in particular was a new technique during the Renaissance and part of the reason Leonardo and his contemporaries were able to make what had been once flat images of the Middle Ages which appear to leap from their frames into photo-like reality. And this “Sfumato” technique explains the mystic nature of the drawing of “Mona Lisa”. Experts believe that, one of the key reasons behind Mona Lisa's enormous appeal is the lifelike shadows and tones that give her enigmatically smiling face a sense of depth and reality. It was found that in the case of Mona Lisa, Leonardo used a mixture of oil and resins, a binder with a very low amount of pigments. And according to Philippe Walter, “with this mixture it was possible to create a very impressive aspect of the painting-a realistic, like a 3-D painting”. It was also found that in the Mona Lisa, Da Vinci used manganese oxide in hid shadings whereas in others he used copper and often glazes. And regarding any hidden codes or clues, perhaps more patience is in order. This study may have answered how Leonardo Da Vinci illustrated the mystic smile in Mona Lisa, but as for the actual reason behind such mysterious smile, as the saying goes “there is more than what meets the eye”; surely we need to study her more innately. 

Shariful Alam