Research Paper On The Mona Lisa

175 Words1 Pages
Leonardo had a fascination for science behind his art. He painted in an almost mathematical way, using various forms of perspective. Two techniques he used on The Mona Lisa were sfumato and chiaroscuro. Sfumato is a “subtle change of tone and color”2 which blurs the contours in a painting, creating a smoky effect. Chiaroscuro is “an effect of contrasted light and shadow created by light falling unevenly or from a particular direction.”1 He studied the geometry of how light rays struck objects and the difference between sight and imagination. He studied how the eye saw light and “the capacity first to receive external images (like a mirror), then to combine, analyze, and store them.”2 Leonardo da Vinci learned to paint from his first teacher,