TRUE COLORS OF THE MONA LISA REVEALED

Abstract
In complément of recent publications about Mona Lisa
What were the true colors when the Mona Lisa left Leonardo da Vinci’s workshop ?
Contact Press

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Abstract

Lumiere Technology, a start-up based in Paris, reveals the true colors of the Mona Lisa.

Pascal Cotte, engineer and founder of Lumiere Technology, largely contributed to the knowledge of the Mona Lisa thanks to the multispectral digitization of the famous painting, whose report is detailed in the famous book “Mona Lisa - Inside the Painting”, recently published by Abrams in USA, Gallimard & the Editions of the Louvre in France, Shirmer Mosel in Germany.

The hidden knowledge of the true colors was revealed by multispectrally scanning the painting in thirteen channels – from Ultra Violet to Infra Red. Then the spectral response curve of the varnish in each pixel was isolated and subtracted from the digital file to virtually reveal the surface of the painting when it had freshly exited Leonardo da Vinci’s workshop.

This virtual removal of years of accumulated varnish is an illustration of Lumiere Technology’s technical knowledge that will now be marketed as an exclusive digitization service to museums and private fine art collections worldwide.

The true revolution that Pascal Cotte developed enables the in-depth study of fine art paintings using a numerical file to reveal the true pigments for viewing and analysis without touching or damaging the paintings.

Lumiere Technology offers this service to museums worldwide as a unique, single tool to assess, analyze, authenticate, restore and reproduce their masterpieces of fine art.

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Here are some of the discoveries revealed by Pascal Cotte,
in complement of different studies recently published:

The Mona Lisa’s originally-painted colors are now revealed "Physical removal of brittle varnish that weighs on a painting’s surface – particularly in delicately-painted facial complexion areas - would be very risky. Touchless multispectral digitization makes this possible.”

	The painting can now be virtually restored through digital varnish removal "The thinning of accumulated varnish presents the painting’s intermediate state that the Museum of the Louvre could be obtained after a restoration. Our contribution on scientific bases to a crucial question"
	A fur-lined coat rests on the Mona Lisa’s knees: "In the painting’s “unfinished” section a fur-lined coat rests on the Mona Lisa’s knees. Infra-red analysis under the painting’s surface reveals the position of the arm, hand and fingers moved as the artist evolved the final painting."
	There is a modern artifact on the painting ! “Virtual Analysis without touching the painting, revealed a tiny orange speck of “Minium” in the middle of the sky. This may have been caused by an unfortunate handling of the painting or a projection during maintenance performed in the Museum before the painting was protected by glass.” .
	The painting is proven to have shrunk , "Knowing the mathematical rigor of Leonardo da Vinci who adhered to the harmonic rectangle (the diagonal of the square of the rectangle is equal to the height of the rectangle) to ensure the ‘divine proportions’ essential to the harmony of a portrait and being assured of the total absence of distortion in our optical measurement, we could apply these factors to accurately determine the dimensions of the original poplar wood panel. The panel’s width has shrunk to 53.2 cm from its original 55.5 cm dimension. An interesting fact to be clarified.

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What were the true colors when the Mona Lisa left Leonardo da Vinci’s workshop?

The Mona Lisa painting has been subjected to many experiments, whose results are the subject of the book, “Mona Lisa, inside the painting” that explores the mystery of this work’s creation. While Canadians conclude pregnancy because of the veil that covers the lady’s chest, the Japanese have simulated her speech.

But, the mystery remains for specialists to interrogate the painting’s original colors before protective varnish was applied.

The sfumato technique applied by Leonardo di Vinci makes any restoration perilous. According to the French expert of Da Vinci technique, Jacques Frank, “to attempt to unvarnish the Mona Lisa would involve touching the surface, with the risk to irrevocably damage or erase the famous smile. Furthermore, the varnish may not be able to be physically differentiated from the pigments.”

This conclusion heightens the reality of lightening or eliminating varnished numerically without human contact to physically touch the original.

2 years ago, In October 2004, Pascal Cotte, the inventor of Lumiere Technology’s multispectral camera, digitized the famous masterpiece in the Louvre’s basement Laboratory of the Museums of France.

The digitized file attained an amazing definition of 240 million pixels and an unequalled scientific precision to enable the study of pigments on the painting’s surface. The spectral knowledge of each pixel, from ultra-violet to infra-red light rays, revealed the painting’s history by guaranteeing the colorimetry with a never-before-attained acuity.

The proposal to lighten the paintings historically-accumulated varnish was then collaborated with Francois Perego, author of the famous “Dictionary of Materials of the Painter”, who assessed for Lumiere Technology a simulation of varnish aging.

The result of analysis and virtual restoration is clear for all to see. The model seems younger and the sky is blue as Leonardo da Vinci had originally painted with Lapis lazuli, the most expensive pigment to buy, actually more than 20.000 $ the Kg !

“What is new is that scientific knowledge of paintings can now leave laboratories.. Conservators, curatots, experts and private collectors worldwide will very easily have access to a multispectral digital file on their own personal computer with an accuracy never made before. This will make possible to scientifically enlarge portions, without losing image definition, to leisurely see previous restorations of these most beautiful images.” Said Pascal Cotte."

A workshop of digitizing functions already exists in the center of Paris. Paintings can be multispectrally scanned in full physical safety in less than one hour to enable infinite potential for research, understanding and sharing.

“Lumiere Technology has ambition to install Multispectral rooms in museums to digitize Painting and drawing for the future. Studying pictorial artwork with this accuracy and fidelity is out of the world, said our users..It is a new way for Art studies and reproduction “

This multispectral camera is a major inventgion that pakes it possible for our company to go beyond traditional techniques to transform the worldwide digitla conservation, study and sharing of cultural heritage, that's Google does not do yet!

Remember the dream of Bill Gates who wanted to show on his LCD screen on the walls Fine Arts paintings. We are now able to deliver the "reality" of the true color palette of a painting, on different illuminants in the room, sunlight, tungsten, candle, as he'll wish.. Even if you are amblyopic, you will see as you and me the true colors."..

Lumiere Technology is presently collaborating with centers of expertise throughout the world including the C2RMF, the National Galleries in London and Washington, DC., the Rochester Institute of Technology and the Cleveland Museum of Art.

Typography exercise

"Oh come on! You haven't even tried donuts yet! You wanna store fat? That is the way to store some fat! You'll be sweating through winter!"

hot hot hot

These are the materials that i used for my photomontage assignment. Actually, i made other image but when i showed it to my lecturer, he did not satisfy with my work. Indeed, i spent quite a lot of time to make a beautiful and lovely background but did pay attention on the details of the main element which is the machine. It looked suck obviously. Then, i went back home and it took me 2 hours to go around and take photos. After that, i designed a new machine based on my own materials from 9pm to 8am. To tell you guys the truth, i did not feeling tired even a little bit but i got exciting more and more...............It will not be the same if i do java which is my nightmare :((

Now, have a look at my work. I love it a lot :XXX .It was the first time i designed in horror style, however, designing my own face did not scare me :XXX

Photomontage

There are all materials that i downloaded from a website which providing free images. I have a habit that finishing the assignment at least 3 or 4 days. Especially for DIM, i usually read all the assignments' requirement and finish them one week before deadline. I'm serious ^^

There is a message that i want to send from my work. As the development of high technology, there are more and more machine are being replaced by human. Scientists are still trying to make some robots that have the "function" as people. I just wonder if someday robots will replace human completely because we are abusing them. In my final work, i want to say if someday robots can be pregnant as human, so...human become useless???

When i read the assignment 2A this semester, and when our lecturer asked us to made a photomontage based on machine. I came home this day, brain storm to get some idea, i mean the meaningful idea, then, i search for free images that i usually did before (except for java assignment). 2 days later, i finished my work.

Then, our lecture asked us to use our OWN MATERIALS. This mean that the old requirement became invalid now. Oh my god, i was shock at that time. Admittedly, i felt very bad and i did not want to do this assignment any more. I think every one in my situation will get the same feeling as me. You know, it's similar to abandon something that you did put a lot of efforts on.

After that, i think about the BENEFITS of this job. Using our own materials have a lot of fun. I search for any corner in my room, my electric stuffs. I even creep on the street to take the engine of a car in front of my house. The car's owner though i was trying to steal his car =)) I also scanned as many things as possible and i got quite a big materials although i did not use all of them in my assignment. ^^ In addition, creating our own materials helps us to control and predict which pictures will be used for what situations. So you will not take a picture of something just because it cute or something.

Kenya Hara

This is the layout for a magazine that i created this semester. The main colors that i used are black and white. Generally, the layout looks quite classic and simple. However, personally, i think those characteristics made my work look elegant ^^.
Because this article is about a Japanese designer who is Kenya Hara. Simplicity is his style to design things. White appears nearly in all of his works. Hara considered that white has become the skeleton of his design process.

Have a look at my design, you can feel that i'm trying to bring you into the Japanese world. The font of the title, the way i arranged the text vertically, the little details that i used to decorated my layout such as the bamboo or the bird standing on a branch. All of those elements are actually Japanese.

Recently, i have found out that black and white is the everlasting colors and they are the solution for most design processs. I dont mean that other colors are bad. When i went to the library, between the many many colorfull books, i found a book called "Designing Design" written by Kenya Hara, and i fall in love with it! :)) The cover of this book is white, the background as well as the text are in white, just different levels of white so you can read them all. Inside the books, you can see many works of Kara. Most of them are in white also. However, i did not feel bored to read this book but i got exciting. Between so many talented designers, Kenya Hara has chosen his own and special way to make him different.

lovely T-shirt ^^

These are the back and the front of the T-shirt that i designed for my friend and her classmates at the Banking University. I got an idea to use the big as the symbol of a bank because of Vietnamese perception, big is represented for wealthy. Besides that, when i was a little girl, my mom and dad always brought me a big made by clay every year, so i could keep my money in it.

At the front of the T-shirt, i made a slogan also, "Your money will be safe in our hands." Therefore, when my friend and her classmates wear it, people might impress. As you can see, i added a label which contained the class name, NH123_KT32, on the ear of the big like the farmer mark their bigs.
At the back of the T-shirt, i drew the back of the big with little tail. This big is thinking of $$$

Personally, i love my works a lot. I think the shirt looks very cute and suitable for students. HOWEVER, my friend's classmates did not accept that, they think that it is better for the little children. Oh My God, my heart seemed to be broken =(( . They asked my to design another T-shirt for them but i was so angry to do so.

Once more time, i realize what is the biggest problem of a designer. It is how to satisfy your customers. Even when you have a great idea or you work looks very nice, but it is not what the customers want, you have to start over again. If you can not do so, your customers will tell you a simple sentence "You can keep it and you get no money from us. That's not what we want" :(( :(( . For me, it is like a mother abandon her beloved kids. I think i have to get used to it now. So sad :(

NOKIA 6300 poster

This light between two girls seems to be connecting them and the NOKIA cellphones are the connectors. Nokia 6300 has 2 colors which are black and red but they are still in the 6300 generation. Similarly, 2 girls, but one person, just another version ^^

Carhartt

This is the brochure for carthartt that our lecturer required us to make. Besides the text, i drew a very simple car because i saw "Car" in "Car-thartt". Moreover, there are some lines on this brochure that looked like the streets. The car is moving on the street ^^. The title is quite unique because it is the combination of some basic shapes like square and rectangle.

*Bonus: These are 2 other brochure that i created. One looks very gentle with light colors and the other looks elegant with dark colors!

Fashion show poster

This is the work which was applied some technique in Illustrator that my teacher showed us in the last class. I think those are quite simple but very useful. Now, i can use them to create very interesting things like the "content" or the "inside" of the text. Before the lecture, i just can create text and fill them with the basic colors or the gradient. However, have a look at my work, you guys can see the text in it is very colorful as well as unique ^^

I myself don't like colorful things but this work i created can be considered as some thing used for fashion purpose such as the cover of a CD containing the styles in 2008. Therefore, it should be looked impressive and attractive. However, you can see there are only 5 colors that i used and Black is the main one. As you know, Black is presented for Elegance.

The background is the combination of 3 images and i designed it in Photoshop. Then, i made the text in Illustrator.

There are two things in my work that i like a lot.
-The first one is the position of the number "2008". Viewers might easily recognize that it looks like a necklace of the model in the background.
-The second one is the lips represented as the letter "O" in the word "fashion". Its colors suit the background perfectly, doesn't it?

*I did some other versions of the poster but i like this one most because for me, it looks quite "art" and "strange", and i didn't break my style in design: SIMPLE is perfect!

Magic Box

In my opinion, "graphic design" is very, very wide. I did some research and find out that "Graphic design" are various methods being used to create and combine symbols, images and/or words to create a visual representation of ideas and messages. A graphic designer may use typography, visual arts and page layout techniques to produce the final result. Graphic design often refers to both the process (designing) by which the communication is created and the products (designs) which are generated.

I imagine that graphic design is like a box. You never know what is inside in until you open it. And, when you open that box, you may see many amazing things. However, the problem is that you dare to open the that box or not.

Everyone has their own ways to evaluate, see and do things. However, there are not many people can do and say what they want. Obviously, one of the reason for this barrier is that people are afraid of doing something different from other people. Particularly, they might be afraid of being called "crazy". I think, designers are different from other people such as accountants or bankers or business men because they can go over these kind of barrier. As can be seen that every famous designers are brave enough to do STRANGE and UNIQUE works. This job help them to be well-known. For example, unlike other people using the scanner to scan paper, John Meada use this device to scan fish and chips. As a result, his work became super impressive and beautiful.

Everything above explains why do i choose a "Magic Box" to present "Graphic design". Personally, i consider that "Design" field is like magic, it changes all the time and unpredictable and "Graphic" is sharp and simple as box. I prefer Simplicity and Complexity. "Less is more", "Less is more", "Less is more"... ^^

Sun and Moon

We have to do the exercise which drawing Sun and Moon in an stylized way. At the first time, i was going to present Sun and Moon as a Man and a Woman sitting side by side. Then, i think about a sentence that Rich, Liping and Thierry said all the time that "Less is more". After that, i spent about an hour to think what could be presented as Sun and Moon in an abstract way. Finally, i got an idea when i saw some eggs at the super market. I could present Sun as the yolk of an egg because they have the same colour and the egg's shell as the Moon. When you break the "Moon" you can see the "Sun" inside it. I know that i sounds very crazy and strange but that's why designers different from other people. They have a way to acknowledge things around them, and i'm not an exception. ^^

Card visit

These are the 4 pages of the card visit that i designed for my friend. Unlike the normal card visit, there are only 2 pages, my card visit is similar to a book which contains 4 pages.

-The first picture is the first page of the card, it contains the name of the company.
-The second one is the second and the third pages of the card, it will be folded. When you want to look inside the card, you have to open it like opening a book.
-The third picture is the last page of the card.

The main colors that i used in this work were brown and yellow. Because my friend's company is selling fine arts stuff, so i thought that the card visit should be designed in a old style. The bamboo and moon also gave us the feeling of the art in the old age.

I really like this card visit, maybe because i designed it. I've considered that it is the best work of me in Illustrator so far.