"Mona Lisa Smile and sfumato"
Most of us have seen Leonardo's masterpiece, a painting known as "Monalisa/Mona-Lisa."
I am sure that some of you may even have heard of the term, "sfumato." Leonardo has used this technique, and as you can see in his paintings, the effect of sfumato is wonderlous, for this technique allows the painter to blend the paints smoothly to create rather soft surfaces/forms rich in subtle gradation.
"Mona Lisa" is one of the best examples of a painting where the sfumato technique is applied.
According to one definition, the word, sfumato, is derived from "fumare(to smoke)."
( http://arthistory.about.com/cs/glossaries/g/s_sfumato.htm )
However, do we know for sure what this technique is all about?
Although I have used ( what I have understood as ) the sfumato technique to paint my artworks, I still do not know exactly how Leonardo had used it in his paintings.
What type of brushes did he use? : sable?
What shape was the brushes? : flat? round? filbert?
What were the sizes of the brushes?
How hard/soft did he brushed against the painted surface? (Had he brushed against the surface too hard, then the tiny fragments of the 'shaved' brushes should be mixed into the paints. Has any researchers found such fragments?)
What was the angle of the brush to the surface? : 30 degrees? 60 degrees?
What was the direction/movement of the brush stroke? : zigzag? crossed? slanted (as in his sketches)? circular?
What was the speed of the brush stroke? rapid? slow?
Did he only use his left hand to apply sfumato?
etc, etc, etc...
I hope we can obtain the answer in the future.
Most of us have seen Leonardo's masterpiece, a painting known as "Monalisa/Mona-Lisa."
I am sure that some of you may even have heard of the term, "sfumato." Leonardo has used this technique, and as you can see in his paintings, the effect of sfumato is wonderlous, for this technique allows the painter to blend the paints smoothly to create rather soft surfaces/forms rich in subtle gradation.
"Mona Lisa" is one of the best examples of a painting where the sfumato technique is applied.
According to one definition, the word, sfumato, is derived from "fumare(to smoke)."
( http://arthistory.about.com/cs/glossaries/g/s_sfumato.htm )
However, do we know for sure what this technique is all about?
Although I have used ( what I have understood as ) the sfumato technique to paint my artworks, I still do not know exactly how Leonardo had used it in his paintings.
What type of brushes did he use? : sable?
What shape was the brushes? : flat? round? filbert?
What were the sizes of the brushes?
How hard/soft did he brushed against the painted surface? (Had he brushed against the surface too hard, then the tiny fragments of the 'shaved' brushes should be mixed into the paints. Has any researchers found such fragments?)
What was the angle of the brush to the surface? : 30 degrees? 60 degrees?
What was the direction/movement of the brush stroke? : zigzag? crossed? slanted (as in his sketches)? circular?
What was the speed of the brush stroke? rapid? slow?
Did he only use his left hand to apply sfumato?
etc, etc, etc...
I hope we can obtain the answer in the future.
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