Quick summary of the article because I'm tired of removing stupid comments from people who haven't read it:
A new analysis published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society shows that Leonardo’s 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.
Scientists have found that while other artists typically used gesso, da Vinci experimented by laying down thick layers of lead white pigment and by infusing his oil with lead(II) oxide (PbO), an orange pigment that conferred specific drying properties to the paint above. He used a similar technique on the wall underneath the “Last Supper” — a departure from the traditional, fresco technique used at the time.
Using X-ray diffraction and infrared spectroscopy techniques, they determined thatthe ground layers of these artworks not only contained oil and lead white, but also a much rarer lead compound: plumbonacrite
This material had not previously been detected in Italian Renaissance paintings.
While painters were known to add lead oxides to pigments to help them dry, the technique has not been proved experimentally for paintings from da Vinci’s time. In fact, when the researchers searched through his writings, the only evidence they found of PbO was in reference to skin and hair remedies, even though it’s now known to be quite toxic.
Edit: Also tired of removing comments making the same joke over and over. Read the article and comment only if you have something relevant to add. It's like a horrible crossover between Dad Night at the comedy club and some kind of convention for people who refuse to read things.
Something I learned in my lead-based paint inspection training — lead apparently makes colors really pop. With that and the quick drying, I can see why an artist would experiment with it.
Lead is, sadly, really freaking useful in paint. But, obviously problematic.
It shows he was really thinking about his paint though. Since he made all his own paints (pre-made oils wouldn't come out for centuries...) he was basically engaging in some chemistry experiments. Very common for painters back then. At this point in history, oil painting in the West is pretty new. And oil paints allow a level of control that you simply can't get with things like tempera, or glair. You can get transparent layers. Something only achievable with methods like encaustic (see Fayum Portraits.) So DaVinci was on the cutting edge, so to speak. And really having to experiment to get just the right look.
After people found out that lead was toxic some continued to use lead based makeup pigments because the safer alternatives were not as bright, white and did not provide the same coverage.
Crazy work when considering it destroyed their skin.
Same with cadmium in photographic silver halide paper, it’s absolutely terrific, since it’s ban there has been nothing else coming close to matching it
In (artistic) oil painting, lead white (flake white, cremnitz white) will lighten value while retaining, if not enhancing, color chroma. Titanium white, meanwhile, lightens while reducing chroma (while adding body to the brushwork).
Though a lot of places have banned true lead white for sale. I have a tube of flake that was my grandfather’s but I treat it with kid gloves.
You would have to consume it somehow. To be fair. The biggest risk of lead would be to the artist and the apprentices who mixed it. Inhale it....get on your hands and then ingest it...that kind of thing. Long exposure over time to constant tiny doses. Lead likes to build up in the body. It's a slow poison.
>He used a similar technique on the wall underneath the “Last Supper” — a departure from the traditional, fresco technique used at the time.
That's actually known as one of Da Vinci's biggest blunders. The Last Supper degraded extremely fast after it was completed and has always been very difficult to restore because he thought he knew better than professional fresco
painters.
Prussian blue is actually one of the safer pigments. It’s an iron-based pigment (iron ferrocyanide), and while cyanide is in the name, the cyanide is tightly bound in the molecular structure and essentially unavailable for biological activity under normal conditions.
Interesting! Upon reading on it more, looks like Prussian blue is also used medically to treat thallium poisoning. However, heating or strong acid could generate hydrogen cyanide gas. The more you know!
KewpieCutie97 | a day ago
Quick summary of the article because I'm tired of removing stupid comments from people who haven't read it:
A new analysis published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society shows that Leonardo’s 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.
Scientists have found that while other artists typically used gesso, da Vinci experimented by laying down thick layers of lead white pigment and by infusing his oil with lead(II) oxide (PbO), an orange pigment that conferred specific drying properties to the paint above. He used a similar technique on the wall underneath the “Last Supper” — a departure from the traditional, fresco technique used at the time.
Using X-ray diffraction and infrared spectroscopy techniques, they determined that the ground layers of these artworks not only contained oil and lead white, but also a much rarer lead compound: plumbonacrite
This material had not previously been detected in Italian Renaissance paintings.
While painters were known to add lead oxides to pigments to help them dry, the technique has not been proved experimentally for paintings from da Vinci’s time. In fact, when the researchers searched through his writings, the only evidence they found of PbO was in reference to skin and hair remedies, even though it’s now known to be quite toxic.
Edit: Also tired of removing comments making the same joke over and over. Read the article and comment only if you have something relevant to add. It's like a horrible crossover between Dad Night at the comedy club and some kind of convention for people who refuse to read things.
Snarl_Marx | a day ago
Something I learned in my lead-based paint inspection training — lead apparently makes colors really pop. With that and the quick drying, I can see why an artist would experiment with it.
TheGrandExquisitor | a day ago
Lead is, sadly, really freaking useful in paint. But, obviously problematic.
It shows he was really thinking about his paint though. Since he made all his own paints (pre-made oils wouldn't come out for centuries...) he was basically engaging in some chemistry experiments. Very common for painters back then. At this point in history, oil painting in the West is pretty new. And oil paints allow a level of control that you simply can't get with things like tempera, or glair. You can get transparent layers. Something only achievable with methods like encaustic (see Fayum Portraits.) So DaVinci was on the cutting edge, so to speak. And really having to experiment to get just the right look.
TheChocolateWarOf74 | a day ago
After people found out that lead was toxic some continued to use lead based makeup pigments because the safer alternatives were not as bright, white and did not provide the same coverage.
Crazy work when considering it destroyed their skin.
redaber | 22 hours ago
Same with cadmium in photographic silver halide paper, it’s absolutely terrific, since it’s ban there has been nothing else coming close to matching it
johnnyrollerball69 | a day ago
In (artistic) oil painting, lead white (flake white, cremnitz white) will lighten value while retaining, if not enhancing, color chroma. Titanium white, meanwhile, lightens while reducing chroma (while adding body to the brushwork).
Though a lot of places have banned true lead white for sale. I have a tube of flake that was my grandfather’s but I treat it with kid gloves.
conventionalWisdumb | a day ago
I used lead whites up until the 00’s when good substitutes became available.
BUNNIES_ARE_FOOD | a day ago
I can hear this in Bob Ross' voice
johnnyrollerball69 | a day ago
You honor me deeply 🎨
cm_bush | 6 hours ago
Michael Harding has Cremintz White, which is fairly easy to get in the UK and US. Natural Pigments and Rublev also offer lead white still.
HungryFinding7089 | a day ago
Good job it's behind glass
TheGrandExquisitor | a day ago
You would have to consume it somehow. To be fair. The biggest risk of lead would be to the artist and the apprentices who mixed it. Inhale it....get on your hands and then ingest it...that kind of thing. Long exposure over time to constant tiny doses. Lead likes to build up in the body. It's a slow poison.
HungryFinding7089 | 12 hours ago
:) I do know. I have a degree and nasters in chemistry. Cumulative toxin is the phrase you were looking for.
Son_of_Kong | a day ago
>He used a similar technique on the wall underneath the “Last Supper” — a departure from the traditional, fresco technique used at the time.
That's actually known as one of Da Vinci's biggest blunders. The Last Supper degraded extremely fast after it was completed and has always been very difficult to restore because he thought he knew better than professional fresco painters.
cryptoraptor | a day ago
It's crazy how the most toxic compounds make the prettiest colors!
If the poisonous frogs and plants are of any evidence...
|Pigment Name|Chemical Composition| :--|:--| |Scheele's green|Copper hydrogen arsenite| |Paris green|Copper acetoarsenite| |Lead white|Basic lead carbonate| |Vermillion|Mercury sulfide| |Naples yellow|Lead antimoniate| |Chrome yellow|Lead chromate| |Cadmium yellow|Cadmium sulfide| |Cadmium red|Cadmium selenide| |Cobalt blue|Cobalt aluminate| |Chromium oxide green|Chromium(III) oxide| |Prussian blue|Ferric ferrocyanide|
lll_lll_lll | a day ago
Prussian blue is actually one of the safer pigments. It’s an iron-based pigment (iron ferrocyanide), and while cyanide is in the name, the cyanide is tightly bound in the molecular structure and essentially unavailable for biological activity under normal conditions.
cryptoraptor | a day ago
Interesting! Upon reading on it more, looks like Prussian blue is also used medically to treat thallium poisoning. However, heating or strong acid could generate hydrogen cyanide gas. The more you know!
TheGrandExquisitor | a day ago
At one point, green wall paper with Scheele's Green in it could make you sick. Crazy times.
deus_voltaire | a day ago
Might explain all the strokes Leonardo had in his 60s.