Scientists successfully created a new technique that could be used to save and restore one of Leonardo da Vinci's most famous paintings.
The da Vinci portrait is a mysterious, yet widely-known work of art drawn with red chalk on paper of cotton fibers and linen. The piece is believed to be completed in the 1500s in Turin, and has reportedly been exposed to poor conditions that accelerated the damage since then. The drawing became too fragile to be opened for public viewing, but this new technique could be a chance to restore and preserve it.
The restoration method, created by the National Research Council in Italy, focused on the analysis of the chromosphores - compounds that absorb light. These compounds behave differently and produce varying wavelengths that correspond to a certain color. The researchers discovered that the extreme yellowing sustained by the painting was due to its exposure in a moist environment. After moving the painting to a better environment, the team did a second analysis to see if the yellowing stopped.
Study co-author Mauro Missori explained that this technique could help quantify the damage and, therefore, assist in planning better preservation initiatives not only for works of art but also for other ancient documents.
"A lively debate among scientists, conservators and restorers is taking place about the opportunity of performing a restoration intervention on Leonardo da Vinci's self-portrait," Missori told LiveScience in an email.
Experts were uncertain if it was a self-portrait of da Vinci or a portrait of a much older man, such as his father or his uncle. Historians claimed that da Vinci was only 50 years old at that time, while the painting depicted a man around 80 years of age. Da Vinci's work shows an old man with white locks and a flowing beard.
Further details of the study were published on the June 3 issue of Applied Physics Letters.
