Digital BW, The Print

Andre,

Interesting news -- thanks for the post.

 
> Léonard de Vinci's 500 year old painting, "La Jaconde" aka "Mona Lisa"
> ... will be again shown to the public starting today...

> Mona Lisa has undergone a series of tests:...
> Verdict: Mona Lisa is in very good health for its age. 
>...
 
> They have found that the pictural coat is so fine ...
> goes against all rules of security for an oil painting.

Which, I assume, is that thicker coats will resist fading more?

> It's the varnish that maintains the painting at the cost of it being
> darkened...

Do they know what the varnish is?

This reinforces my view that the coatings are very important, at least
potentially protecting the pigments from physical abrasion, oxidation and
other gas attacks, and UV.  I suspect the high-tech clear coatings will
continue to get better for some time.

(But the real significant point is that Dan Brown in "The Da Vinci Code"
totally missed the symbolism of the coating both protecting and obscuring Da
Vinci's encoded message about the Holy Grail!!)

Paul
www.PaulRoark.com