Canadian Technology Extracts Tantalizing Information from the Mona Lisa

Canada's National Research Council (NRC) and its Institute for Information Technology (NRC-IIT) have published the first results of its 3D, high resolution, colour laser examination of Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece, Mona Lisa. Using a patented infrared technology that allowed them to see beneath many layers of varnish, in 2004 researchers captured images in a portable lab set up in the basement of the Louvre in Paris. Analysis of the data took over a year. Via the NRC web site, the public now has direct access to a wide range of text and graphic information, including data about the layers in the painting, the shape of the wood panel, the damage and cracks in it and the artist's style and technique. Although undetectable to the naked eye, it seems that the sitter for the portrait wore over her dress a translucent gauze garment called a guarnelo, indicating that she either was pregnant or had recently given birth. The technology has been licensed to a number of companies. One application was used recently onboard the NASA space shuttle Atlantis in its September mission, in order to examine the changing state of the shuttle's heat shield during orbit. For articles in The Globe and Mail and on the CBC web site, see: http://makeashorterlink.com/?A2D4122FD; and http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2006/09/26/mona-lisa-research.html For a comprehensive series of articles, visit the NRC/NRC-IIT web site at: http://iit-iti.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/projects-projets/monalisa-lajoconde_e.html Summary by: The Editor