A small sample from the hidden corner of the “Mona Lisa” revealed a big secret. The famous experimental artist painted a 16th-century portrait using a lead compound not previously discovered in Italian Renaissance paintings.
Using X-rays and infrared spectroscopy to analyze the chemical composition of da Vinci’s paint mixture, a scientific team (including Ida Fazlić from Bosnia and Herzegovina) in France and Britain examined microscopic fragments from the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper, another of the artist’s most famous works, wrote on Facebook Edhem Čustović, a Bosnian who lives in Australia where he works at La Trobe University.
According to a study published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, evidence was found not only of white lead pigment and oil in the layer beneath the artwork, but also of lead oxide, an orange pigment that helped dry the paint and make it thicker.
Many works of da Vinci’s time, including the “Mona Lisa”, were painted on wooden panels. The study concluded that the artist, also an engineer, likely added lead oxide to create an opaque preparatory layer thick enough to cover the wood. The research reflects a continuing fascination with the famous painting, which is considered an archetypal masterpiece of the Italian Renaissance.
Leonardo da Vinci’s iconic Mona Lisa is the most famous, recognizable and copied work of art in the world. Painted between 1503 and 1519, it was owned by the French royal family for centuries. Freed by revolutionary forces, the painting briefly graced Napoleon’s bedroom and was then installed in the Louvre museum.
Ida Fazlić was born and raised in Brčko. She began her undergraduate studies in the conservation and restoration of cultural and historical heritage in 2014 at the Academy of Fine Arts and the Faculty of Science and Mathematics in Sarajevo. In 2017, she enrolled in Master’s studies in Science and Technology in Cultural Heritage Conservation at Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia. During those two and a half years, she researched works of contemporary art, and for the first time got the opportunity to collaborate with internationally recognized scientists and conservators.
She specializes in NMR analysis of drying oils that are used as a binder in oil paintings and play an important role in the reactions and aging of such works. In addition, she completed a two-month internship through the Erasmus + internship program at the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna, where she had the opportunity to assist in the analysis of Caravaggio’s painting David with the head of Goliath.
In March 2021, she started doctoral studies at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility – ESRF in Grenoble, the Rijksmuseum and AkzoNobel. She is a student at the University of Amsterdam / Universiteit van Amsterdam. The focus of her doctoral research is the interaction of dry matter and oil, and their products and role in painting, Klix.ba reports.
