the-BA : Well-travelled painting

One of the most famous paintings in the world is the Mona Lisa. The smiling, beguiling portrait was painted by Leonardo da Vinci nearly 500 years ago. It’s a well travelled piece of art; it started life in Florence, Italy and now hangs in the Louvre Museum in Paris, France. In the intervening few hundred years it’s been stolen (twice), toured New York, Moscow and Tokyo, and was nearly destroyed when attacked with acid. It took restorers several years to bring the enchanting smile back.

Have you ever wondered how scientists help to conserve and restore old paintings?

You might like to …

• investigate the role of scientists in major art galleries; find out how they look at what’s behind the surface; investigate the benefits of non-destructive methods and those that use small flakes of material
• find out about paintings that now look different from how the artist originally painted them; paint a picture, leave it for a while, then paint over it and try to develop techniques to restore it
• carry out investigations on a variety of paints to see how they are affected by, for example, oxygen, atmospheric pollutants or light
• research the history of paint; design and carry out tests to investigate the different qualities of paint (for example, find out about and compare ‘egg tempera’, oil paints (linseed, walnut or poppy), lake pigments)
• make your own paints and compare their qualities.

Further links:
RSC Publishing Chemical Technology 2006 Volume 4 - Art restoration

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