Kind: captions
Language: en
if we could just take that varnish off
we could see it the way leonardo really
did it
but i think french governments have
fallen
for less cause than trying to take the
mona lisa out of circulation and clean
it perhaps there is another way
could she be given a digital makeover
that is what pascal kott is trying to do
he has analyzed the mona lisa with a
remarkably powerful camera and lights
which he demonstrates using a replica
we make the measurement in the basement
of the low inside the laboratory
it's very emotional to have the painting
in hand
without the frame you can look at this
painting
under this very intense light that
reveal everything that you cannot see
usually
kot's extremely detailed scan of the
mona lisa and his analysis of the optics
and chemistry of paint reveal how the
colors may have changed over time
it's not just the varnish that yellows
and darkens
but the pigments and oil in the paint
itself
cot's challenge is to reverse engineer
the effects of that aging
this is not just photoshopping it and
messing around with the colors which you
and i could
do and get
tolerable results but this is based on
pigment analysis
first kant determines how much the
varnish has darkened
and with his computer peels it away
next he identifies what the color of
each pigment would have looked like 500
years ago and recreates them to see the
colors just as leonardo did for example
we know that leonardo made the sky with
white lead and lapis lazuli
so we have a software that removes the
wrong colors
to obtain the genuine color
then pixel by pixel cot restores those
colors
suddenly a greenish sky
becomes brilliantly blue
and a bit of flush comes back to lisa's
cheeks
finally as the french say
voila
suddenly she doesn't look like the
submarine goddess
she looks as if she's in the fresh air
which is just terrific
[Music]
cot's restoration has brought lisa back
to life
at least digitally
closer to the state that leonardo sarah