The Shadow Drawing: How Science Taught Leonardo How to Paint

Fiorani (The Marvel of Maps), an art historian at the University of Virginia, provides new insight into the work of Renaissance master Leonardo da Vinci in this fresh assessment. She examines Leonardo’s training in the Florence workshop of Andrea del Verrocchio and his study of the science of optics before moving on to a technical analysis of Leonardo’s major works, showing how he applied his scientific learning when creating The Last Supper and the Mona Lisa. Using information gleaned from infrared reflectography and X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy done on Leonardo’s paintings, Fiorani leads readers through the artist’s tortuous re-working of his art. “The secret of the Mona Lisa’s smile,” she notes, is created by the application of “multiple layers of colors and varnishes with low atomic density.” It also becomes clear that Leonardo “understood that the subtlest change of heart or mind involuntarily triggered an alteration in the appearance of bodies and faces” and thus saw painting as “a technique for revealing the human soul.” This beautifully written work is underpinned by immense scholarship; art lovers and historians will not be able to put it down. (Nov.)