Latest Virgin of the Rocks Stories

The Leonardo Da Vinci masterpiece the Mona Lisa has once again become the subject of scientific research, joining a half-dozen other works by the Italian Renaissance painter in a new study that applied X-ray technology to study the artistic shading technique known as sfumato.Sfumato is one of four canonical painting modes utilized during the Renaissance period, is similar to the low-contrast concept used in photography. It is formed from the Italian word meaning "to smoke" and works...

By Tim Castle LONDON (Reuters) - Art curators have uncovered a newLeonardo Da Vinci drawing hidden beneath the surface of one ofthe Renaissance artist's most celebrated works, Britain'sNational Gallery said on Friday. Da Vinci painted two versions of The Virgin of the Rocksbetween 1483 and 1508. London's picture has long been regardedas an inferior copy of the original now in the Louvre in Paris. National Gallery curators found the uncompleted drawingwhile researching how Da Vinci copied his...

LONDON -- Art curators have uncovered a new Leonardo Da Vinci drawing hidden beneath the surface of one of the Renaissance artist's most celebrated works, Britain's National Gallery said on Friday. Da Vinci painted two versions of The Virgin of the Rocks between 1483 and 1508. London's picture has long been regarded as an inferior copy of the original now in the Louvre in Paris.National Gallery curators found the uncompleted drawing while researching how Da Vinci copied his original, using...