A recent study reveals that Leonardo da Vinci, renowned as a painter, inventor, and anatomist, had another talent to add to his impressive list- innovative chemist.
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Through the use of X-ray diffraction and infrared spectroscopy, a collaborative team of scientists from France and Britain has uncovered a rare mineral compound within the iconic “Mona Lisa,” shedding new light on the painting’s creation.

The findings, published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, highlight the previously unknown use of plumbonacrite, a compound formed when lead oxides combine with oil, in the base layer of the paint.

This discovery not only challenges the conventional understanding of how the masterpiece, dating back to the early 1500s, was painted but also suggests that Leonardo da Vinci may have been the originator of a technique that later artists, including Rembrandt, employed to expedite the drying of paint.

While a 2019 study had identified plumbonacrite in several 17th-century works by Rembrandt, its presence in works from the Italian Renaissance, including the “Mona Lisa,” was previously uncharted territory.

Gilles Wallez, a professor at Sorbonne University in Paris and an author of both the recent study and the 2019 report, emphasized Leonardo’s multifaceted talents as an artist, chemist, and experimenter, further underlining his contributions to knowledge in his era.
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