Leonardo da Vinci

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Da Vinci May Have Had Unique Advantage as Painter

Study suggests the artist had an eye disorder

(Newser) - Whole libraries have been written trying to explain how Leonardo da Vinci produced some of the world's most revered paintings. Now a new study suggests he had a biological edge: an eye disorder that affected his depth perception. In JAMA Ophthalmology , researchers make the case that da Vinci had...

Discovery of Da Vinci Work Began With Real-Estate Listing

It was spotted, restored, discovered to be from Leonardo; then it sold for $450M

(Newser) - A long-lost da Vinci sold at auction last year for a record $450.3 million, quite a jump from the $120 price it fetched in 1958, before anyone knew it was a work by the master. The Wall Street Journal has done some detective work to piece together the fascinating...

Doc Says Disease, Not Da Vinci, Shaped Mona Lisa's Smile

Hypothyroidism theory points to swelled hands, weak facial muscles

(Newser) - The secret behind the world's most famous smile apparently escaped as a cardiologist spent 1.5 hours in line for a full viewing at the Louvre. "The enigma of the 'Mona Lisa' can be resolved by a simple medical diagnosis of a hypothyroidism-related illness," Mandeep Mehra...

Mystery Buyer of $450M da Vinci Revealed

Painting is headed for Abu Dhabi's Louvre

(Newser) - The mystery buyer who shattered art auction records by paying $450 million for a Leonardo da Vinci painting last month has been revealed as an obscure Saudi prince not previously known for collecting art—or for being incredibly wealthy. Bader bin Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Farhan al-Saud—identified by the...

This da Vinci Painting Just Obliterated Art-Sale Records

Sells for $450M at Christie's

(Newser) - A painting of Christ by the Renaissance master Leonardo da Vinci sold for a record $450 million at auction on Wednesday, obliterating previous records. The painting, called "Salvator Mundi" (Italian for "Savior of the World"), is one of fewer than 20 paintings by Leonardo known to exist...

Fewer Than 20 da Vinci Paintings Survive. A New Fate for One

The 'Salvator Mundi' will hit the block at Christie's on Nov. 15

(Newser) - A painting will hit the block at Christie's in New York on Nov. 15, and it's tough to say what's more interesting: that it could fetch $100 million, or the story behind it. As the Wall Street Journal reports, getting to nine figures would be an auction...

Experts: Nude Mona Lisa Is a Real Da Vinci

Sketch suggests he created different version of painting

(Newser) - Art experts have found tantalizing clues that suggest 500-year-old rumors Leonardo da Vinci painted a nude version of the Mona Lisa are true. A charcoal drawing of a nude Mona Lisa that has been sitting in a museum north of Paris for 150 years is now believed to be the...

Man Walks Into Auction House With Long-Lost Da Vinci

'An exciting discovery'

(Newser) - A Metropolitan Museum of Art curator says that when she took her first look at a newly surfaced drawing that a Paris auction wanted a second opinion on, her heart started pounding and her eyes "jumped out of their sockets." Carmen Bambach, the Met's curator of Italian...

Scientists Have Big Plans for da Vinci's DNA ... If They Can Find It

His remains are believed to be in the Chapel of Saint-Hubert

(Newser) - It's a project scientists say Leonardo da Vinci would have loved. Researchers plan to sequence the DNA of the Renaissance genius to discover more about his amazing abilities, and possibly even what he really looked like, the Independent reports. Da Vinci, however, wasn't trapped in amber Jurassic Park-style,...

Da Vinci May Have Used Male Model for Mona Lisa

Androgyny a "longtime fascination" for painter, says art detective

(Newser) - The Mona Lisa is two-faced. At least that's what a self-proclaimed Italian art detective says. Silvani Vinceti says his research shows that Leonardo da Vinci used two models—one female and one male—to create the famous 16th-century portrait that hangs at the Louvre, the Guardian reports. "I...

Historians Say They've Found Leonardo da Vinci's Relatives

It only took 43 years

(Newser) - After four decades of searching, two Italian historians revealed 35 people likely to be living descendants of Leonardo da Vinci, the BBC reports. "Obviously I’m surprised, but happy," the Guardian quotes one such possible relative, architect Elena Calosi, as saying. "Who has not studied Leonardo or...

500-Year-Old Design Used to Build World's Longest Ice Bridge

The ice bridge should be strong enough to hold a 2-ton car

(Newser) - In a move Leonardo da Vinci would definitely think is pretty cool, 150 students and volunteers will be using one of the Renaissance master's old designs to create the world's longest ice bridge, Discovery News reports. Construction on the project—helmed by Eindhoven University of Technology in the...

Behind Mona Lisa's Smile: Another Woman?

Pascal Cotte used reflective light technology to analyze the paint layers

(Newser) - Will the real Mona Lisa please stand up—or at least send us a signal from within the paint layers? The art world is buzzing over a French scientist's claims that he discovered a portrait of another woman lurking beneath the top layer of the world's most famous...

Forger Claims 'Da Vinci' Work Is His Own Fake

Is that a noblewoman or Sally from the co-op?

(Newser) - It might be a da Vinci portrait of a 15th-century noblewoman. Or it might be a fake featuring a modern-day cashier named Sally. Or perhaps neither. Whatever the truth, a forger's "astonishing" claim in Britain has the art world buzzing, reports the Art Newspaper . The claim comes from...

Scientist Unlocks a da Vinci Secret

 Scientist Unlocks 
 a da Vinci Secret 
in case you missed it
Oct 4, 2014 2:37 PM CDT

Scientist Unlocks a da Vinci Secret

'The Lady with an Ermine' has 2 previous versions hidden beneath it

(Newser) - Among Leonardo da Vinci's most famous paintings is a portrait of a woman holding an ermine, but a new analysis shows there's a lot more to it than that. The portrait features Cecilia Gallerani, the mistress of the "white ermine," as da Vinci patron the Duke...

Disappearing da Vinci Portrait's Savior: Scientists?

New technique allows them to quantify the damage

(Newser) - A Leonardo da Vinci portrait—thought to be a self portrait of the artist in his 50s—has been fading ever since it was first drawn with red chalk on paper in the early 1500s. Now, thanks to a new technique, scientists say they've been able to quantify the...

DNA Tests Begin in Quest for the Real Mona Lisa

Bones unearthed in Florence could belong to painting's model

(Newser) - A three-year quest that has put researchers on a path toward what they hope is the "real" face of the Mona Lisa winds closer to its conclusion: Silvano Vinceti says DNA tests have begun on a skeleton his team unearthed in July 2012 in Florence , in an effort to...

Next Step in Mona Lisa Quest: DNA Testing

Reconstruction of Lisa Gheradini's face may give clues about famed painting

(Newser) - Art history fans have a good reason to crack a smile: We're getting closer to determining whether Lisa Gherardini did indeed serve as the model for Leonardo da Vinci's famous Mona Lisa, reports CNN . Researchers in Italy have been sorting through a set of exhumed bones —currently...

Art Group: This Is Young Mona Lisa

Swiss foundation says da Vinci painted two works, 10 years apart

(Newser) - The world has a second Mona Lisa painting by da Vinci to ooh and aah over, says a Swiss art group. The Mona Lisa Foundation asserted today that years of historical and scientific research proves that the artist painted two portraits of Lisa del Giocondo at different ages, about 10...

Mona Lisa&#39;s Bones Unearthed?
 Mona Lisa's Bones Unearthed? 
Jul 19, 2012 10:46 AM CDT

Mona Lisa's Bones Unearthed?

Team finds intact skeleton in former Florence convent

(Newser) - We may be getting a little closer to discovering the secret of Mona Lisa's smile. Experts on Tuesday unearthed an intact skeleton beneath the floor of a former convent in Florence, and say this one could indeed belong to Lisa Gherardini. The tomb hunters last year said they had...

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