Expert's Opinion

‘Mona Lisa’ Hides Surprising Mix of Toxic Pigments, Study Shows

Samples from both the ‘Mona Lisa’ and the ‘Last Supper’ suggest that he experimented with lead(II) oxide.

Leonardo da Vinci is renowned to this day for innovations in fields across the arts and sciences. Now, new analyses published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society show that his taste for experimentation extended even to the base layers underneath his paintings. Surprisingly, samples from both the “Mona Lisa” and the “Last Supper” suggest that he experimented with lead(II) oxide, causing a rare compound called plumbonacrite to form below his artworks. An aura of mystery has surround...

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