Look ma, no palette

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.

From Discovery News, whose editors didn't catch that the painting analyzed, the Madonna of the Yarnwinder, is on panel, not canvas, and that it is not clear which of the versions extant is autograph. In fact, the best-known version is still missing, having been stolen in 2003 in Scotland.

Posted by David on September 18, 2007 10:28 AM