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High-Res Scan of Mona Lisa Reveals Its History
daevux writes "CNN is reporting that French engineer Pascal Cotte has discovered interesting details of the history of Da Vinci's Mona Lisa from a 240-megapixel scan of the artwork in various frequencies. Cotte surmises that the painted figure's eyebrows and eyelashes probably disappeared due to poor cleaning at some point in the past. He believes he can reconstruct the painting's original skin tones."
I'd imagine he's going to do it digitally and non destructively to the painting.
Restoring something to the way it was initially experienced is different from trying to enhance it beyond what it originally was.
Both are culturally beneficial, but the enhancement is more like a new work than an authentic reproduction of the old work.
-- The act of censorship is always worse than whatever is being censored. Always.
a) The VHS/DVD argument is garbage because there are more than one of them and you cannot physically change one into the other.
b) How do you know that the restoration has returned the item to it's original luster. What if it was originally painted in dull tones, but today's experts say they used bright tones back then. Which leads to...
c) If the restoration is screwed up the item is lost. Forever.
Sure we have loads of information and reproductions of the original but, as this study shows, there are always new ways to gain more information from the original. If restorations are performed how do you know if new information is about the painting or the restoration techniques. Also, think of the statues the Taliban destroyed in 2001. Sure they can be recreated, but who knows what has been lost with the original.
Maybe he did not like the way it looked and removed them himself is there any way to know I am not a painter but could this not be a possibility?
God way to sell his service though and how does one get permision to scan somthing like this?
Thanks for your post. It made me realize just how much people are not interested in the actual work, but the sentimental value and charm of old worn things. Thinking of these works in pristine condition as being of greater historical value took me a few moments. Thanks.
In fact da Vinci and all the artists of the time were well aware of the effects of aging on their work and took account of it.
Their patrons wanted work that would remain interesting over several generations, so there are usually a lot of "subtexts" in the picture that will only be revealed by repeated viewing.
Artist knew that the colours and varnishes they used would not finally "set" for some months or years so they had in mind a finished look that would not be achieved on day 1.
The artists themselves were fascinated by the way the paintings would look under different lighting conditions and took advantage to make their works "living".
Of course they didnt always get it right, and sometimes used experimental materials that did not last: The Last Supper degraded a lot during da Vinci's own lifetime.