Restored Da Vinci painting reveals hidden details

[n2doc]

Wed Jul 14, 9:32 pm ET
LONDON – A restoration project for Leonardo da Vinci's "Virgin of the Rocks" has revealed new details and suggest the Renaissance artist may have painted all the picture himself, instead of with his assistants as previously thought, a British gallery said Wednesday.
The 18-month conservation project involved removing much of some badly degraded varnish that was applied to the painting in the late 1940s, enabling experts to take a much closer look at the picture's brush strokes and styles, the National Gallery said.
The cleaning revealed the painting's full tonal range, especially in the darker areas, and resulted in a clearer sense of how the artist intended for space to recede through the rocky landscape, the gallery said.
It also affirmed that Leonardo likely painted the entire picture himself and intended for it to be unfinished.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100715/ap_on_en_ot/eu_britain_da_vinci

http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/learn-about-art/paintings-in-depth/restoring-leonardo-virgin-of-the-rocks

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. He was a truly fascinating Renaissance man...

How good the restoration was done carefully so that we may truly see what he intended.

Recommended.

[SpiralHawk]

2. The prophetic image they found when they scraped away the upper layers

[gateley]

3. How interesting! Although always beautiful, seeing the "before and after"

comparison made me gasp. There is so much LIFE in the work! Thank you so much for posting this!! :hi:

[Emeritus]

4. I want to enroll in the gym where those children work out

Look at those deltoids and triceps!

[pansypoo53219]

5. i have discovered many lost people

in history reading my old encyclopedia briitannicas. 1903 + 1891. lots of people lost to science and shit. finding artists i never heard about in art history too.

[jberryhill]

6. Twist of Lemon found in "Virgin Mary on the Rocks"