Mona Lisa In 3D: Technology Captures Finest Details Of Da Vinci’s Work

Ever wondered what a real close-up of the Mona Lisa by Leonardo Da Vinci looks like? In September of 2006, the director of the Musee de Louvre in Paris ordered a team of scientists from Canada and Paris to find out just what condition that Da Vinci's Mona Lisa, after all these years, is in. Concerned that Da Vinci's famous painting may be deteriorating from environmental elements after hanging in the Louvre for centuries, a computer high-resolution scan was done of the Mona Lisa in 3D, which revealed that the painting is not in danger of deteriorating anytime soon, if the suggested maintenance by the Louvre continues.

Both sides of the famous work by Da Vinci were examined by the team of scientists, who were allowed to spend only a mere 16 hours with the painting capturing the fine details and techniques used by Da Vinci to perfect this masterpiece. Known around the world for his renowned Mona Lisa, it is confirmed that the famous French painter utilized the method of painting called "sfumato," which is a technique of layering translucent colors; however, the scientists were still stumped as to what kind of a tool Da Vinci used to apply the paint.

The scan of the Mona Lisa in 3D reveals that the darker areas of the painting are thicker, but this close-up scan still does not provide the scientists with any clues as to what kind of tool Da Vinci utilized, as there are no paint brush lines that can be detected in the scan of the Mona Lisa in 3D.

An overview of the 3D high-resolution color-scanner method used in the computer examination process by the Canadian team of scientists who captured the Mona Lisa in 3D is provided at the website for the Institute for Information Technology in Ottawa, Canada. Informational articles and links to other websites also exist on the Mona Lisa in 3D examination at the National Ledger website. The scientists have suggested continued maintenance on the masterpiece to prevent deterioration in the future. This important examination of the Mona Lisa through the 3D computer technology process now allows scientists from around the world to utilize photographs from this one examination to further study the mysterious "sfumato" painting method used by Da Vinci in this timeless painting.