Mona Lisa 3D Scan

A Mona Lisa 3D scan has revealed that the Mona Lisa is in fragile condition but is not at risk of deterioration.  "The 3-D scan of the Mona Lisa has not only helped to further our understanding of Leonardo's sfumato technique of soft, heavily shaded modeling, but will also help to address the conservation and deterioration concerns we have," said Henri Loyrette, Director of the Musée du Louvre, which commissioned the study.

Mona Lisa 3D Scan

The key to combating the deterioration is to continue to care for the painting properly a team of Canadian and French scientists announced Tuesday according to CTV.

***

The process used is quite intriguing.  The scientists scanned the picture on both sides to obtain high resolution 3D image data of the whole painting.  The high-resolution, color 3D scans allowed the painting to be studied without risk of damaging the original.

The scientists will continue to study the scans.

The Discovery Channel reports that the National Research Council's 11-person team from the Institute for Information and Technology were given two nights to complete 16 hours' worth of the scans.

***

The 500-year-old painting proved a challenge for the scanner. Scientists had to write an entirely new algorithm just to be able to handle the Mona Lisa's gradual changing of color on its smooth poplar-wood surface.

Some mystery still remains even with all this technology.  The scans reveal that darker areas of the painting are also thicker - confirming that da Vinci used a technique of layering translucent colors called "sfumato." But the tool used to apply paint to the canvas is unclear - there are no paint brush lines, nor any finger prints.

***

Usually the Mona Lisa is removed from its environment-controlled chamber at the Louvre just one night a year for maintenance.

--Jack Kramer writes from Florida

Additional Sources: CTV, TDC