Leonardo da Vinci, artist and inventor of Renaissance fame, may have a secret painting that no one knew about until recently. The painting in question, a portrait of the Roman emperor Domitian, is embroiled in an ongoing artistic mystery that has stumped art historians for years.
Originally, scholars believed another Italian Renaissance artist and one of da Vinci’s contemporaries, Titian, had completed the portrait of Domitian. But things got complicated when the painting's current owners discovered a signature reading “L daVinci” after inheriting it in 1994.
A new study in Materials Today Advances has taken a closer look at pigments used in the painting, and while its true creator remains unclear, scientists have now come to realize that it was potentially retouched centuries after its creation.
“It may be that repairs were made or parts of the painting were touched up at a later date,” study author Jakob Thyr, a senior research engineer at Uppsala University, said in a statement.
A Da Vinci Mystery
The enigmatic Domitian painting belonged to a series of 12 portraits of Roman emperors, 11 of which Titian is believed to have painted from 1536 to 1539. Experts believe that the 12th portrait, that of Domitian, was painted by another hand. It’s said that the series was sold from England to the Spanish Royal House, but was ultimately destroyed in a fire in 1734.
Explore All OptionsThe Domitian painting, meanwhile, appeared at Christie’s auction house in London in the 1920s, going unsold at the time. Later, in 1939, it was successfully sold at an auction in Sweden. It has remained in the purchaser’s family ever since.
All this time, however, art historians have been wondering whether the painting is truly one of the original portraits in the Roman emperor series. Not only that, but questions about its creator began to swirl with the discovery of the “L daVinci” signature, which is followed by a word that reads “Pinxt” (an abbreviation for “Pinxit,” Latin for “one painted”), according to The Domitian.
The new study’s authors say that this case is muddled by the fact that da Vinci died in 1519, 17 to 20 years before the supposed time of completion of the series. However, they also raise the idea that the Domitian painting could have potentially been the first to be completed, thus inspiring Titian to paint the rest of the series.
Read More: An Italian Geologist May Have Solved the Mystery of the Mona Lisa's Background
Shining a Light on Pigments
The researchers involved with the new study aimed to investigate the materials used to make the painting, a process that hinged on the right lights.
“Naturally, it was exciting to work on a piece of art that might have been created by Leonardo da Vinci. What’s more, the signature is hard to detect. The contrast against the background is low, and it really only becomes visible when the painting is illuminated from the right angle,” said Thyr.
The researchers used a method called Raman spectroscopy, which relies on laser light to identify chemical compounds. In this case, they took microscopically small samples from different parts of the painting and subjected them to lasers in order to figure out which pigments had been used.
They ultimately found 13 pigments used in the painting. Twelve were traditional pigments used during the Middle Ages and Renaissance. A few notable examples include cinnabar, which makes up the red pigment of Domitian’s hairband, and carbon black, used in the signature.
An Extra Touch of Blue
One pigment stood out to the researchers; they identified Prussian blue, a synthetic pigment that wasn’t produced until the early 18th century, in two places: in the laurel wreath on Domitian's head, and in the blue jewel on the pommel of his sword's hilt.
Just because the painting uses Prussian blue doesn’t mean that the whole painting has a more recent origin, nor that it's a forgery. Rather, the researchers say this is evidence of retouching — in other words, adding paint in areas that are lost or damaged.
The study's findings show how chemical fingerprints from pigments can be examined to piece together the history of a painting. And while it's still unknown whether da Vinci actually made the Domitian painting, its identity is now clearer, knowing it was retouched with a modern pigment.
Read More: Are These 10 Natural Occurrences Examples of the Fibonacci Sequence?
Article Sources
Our writers at Discovermagazine.com use peer-reviewed studies and high-quality sources for our articles, and our editors review for scientific accuracy and editorial standards. Review the sources used below for this article:
- This article references information from a study published in Materials Today Advances: Leonardo under cover: A Raman spectroscopy investigation of a historic painting
- This article references information from The Domitian: Signature
