The mysterious "Mona Lisa smile" isn't the only Da Vinci
ARTinvestment.RU   25 августа 2015

On another work of Leonardo experts found the same effect of subtle smiles

British experts claim that uncovered one of the mysteries of the magic of the smile of the Mona Lisa ("La Gioconda", 1503-1506). She's not one of a kind. The same mysterious smile, then visible, then invisible, has a model with another portrait of Leonardo — "La Bella Principessa" ("the Beautiful Princess"), written in 1495-1496 godah@

This profile portrait of a young girl in a dress of the Renaissance attributed to the hand of Da Vinci just a few years ago. First, in 2009, in the figure, drawn with ink and colored chalk on vellum, a fingerprint, coinciding with the prints on another work of Leonardo. And then, 2011 expert Martin Kemp found in Warsaw library book which was torn this drawing. This is the album of XV century, which tells the history of the family Sforza — kind, which belonged to a powerful patron of Leonardo da Vinci to the Duke of Milan Ludovico. Accordingly, the model for the portrait of "La Bella Principessa" was the illegitimate daughter of Ludovico Sforza — Bianca Sforza. Judging by the symbolism, the album served as her wedding gift. Alas, 13-летняя Bianca died only a few months after svadby@

Matching technique on both portraits, experts from the British Sheffield Hallam University came to the conclusion that elusive smile was created by Leonardo da Vinci, most likely specialno@

If you look at an earlier portrait of "La Bella Principessa" from different angles, we observed the same effect: smile appears and disappears. The facial expressions of the mouth varies depending on the distance to look at the portrait, and the amount of blur to install on the digital image of the portrait. "Through a series of psychophysical experiments, we found that the change of perspective on the lips "La Bella Principessa" affects the expression on her face", — the experts comment.

to Look at the portrait from different angles and distances has invited the volunteers, and they came to the conclusion that if you look more at the eyes, or if you intentionally blur the image, it appears the effect of a smile. If you look at the image up close, or if you look closely on the lips, then smile ischezaet@

Effect a mysterious smile, observed on both portraits have been made using the sfumato technique, invented by Da Vinci. By applying many thin layers of paint, the artist sought to effect a smooth transition between colors, softening contours, wrapping haze. Research conducted several years ago showed that Leonardo was inflicted (most likely with his fingers) on the picture to forty thinnest layers of paint. And the thickness of the layer does not exceed two microns, which is 50 times thinner than a human hair. Thanks to this unique technology appeared an optical illusion with vanishing ulybki@

"the results of the experiments confirm the theory that the portrait of "La Bella Principessa" there is an effect of optical illusion depending on the angle of view — says the psychologist Alessandro Soranzo (Alessandro Soranzo). — But we cannot state unequivocally whether this effect is intentional. However, if we take into account the skill of Leonardo and subsequent use of the same reception in the painting “Mona Lisa”, it is quite possible that this duality was created. Because the master has always sought to Express in his portraits "inner turmoil of the mind"".

the Material was prepared by Maria Onuchin, AI

Sources: artnet.com, telegraph.co.uk, artinvestment.ru