La Joconde, les secrets d'un tableau iconique

Leonardo was sent at a young age to apprentice in the workshop of Andrea del Verrocchio, one of Florence's greatest masters, where he quickly became recognized as a rising star due to his prodigious talent.

Everyone recognized Leonardo's extraordinary talent, and his genius became evident very quickly during his training in the Florentine artistic tradition of versatility.

The best illustration of Leonardo da Vinci's extraordinary talent is undoubtedly his most famous painting, the Mona Lisa.

When the painting was stolen in 1911, media coverage elevated it to worldwide cultural consciousness, making it an iconic symbol that persists to this day.

Engineer and inventor Pascal Cotte designed and developed an unprecedented electronic imaging system that uses multispectral camera technology to visualize each layer of paint applied during the painting's creation.

Cotte received exceptional access to the Mona Lisa at the Louvre and authorization to use his cutting-edge technology to analyze the phases of the masterpiece's creation.

• Professional cameras record approximately 20 million pixels in 3 primary colors, while Cotte's camera records 240 million pixels across 13 wavelengths • Four of these wavelengths exist outside the visible spectrum • Each of the 13 filters allows sensors to detect only a limited light wavelength • The camera scans the entire surface with each filter sequentially

The camera generates enormous quantities of data for each of the 240 million pixels, and the visible spectrum is calculated to create detailed digital analysis of the painting.

Pascal Cotte's digitization results consist of complex numbers and graphics that, when entered into custom-designed software, can reconstruct all stages of the Mona Lisa's evolution.

• Leonardo painted in an extraordinary manner using glazes, which are oil-based binders with very few pigments added • This created extremely thin layers of tinted oil applied over a white base to achieve subtle color veiling • He superimposed successive layers of color similar to tinted glass, allowing light to pass through the pigments and reflect off the white base

Rather than simply adding black or darker colors to create light and shadow, Leonardo built up layers of color progressively to achieve the desired luminosity and depth.

This delicate painting method is so intricate that no one has ever been able to achieve the same rendering, demonstrating where Leonardo da Vinci's true genius lies in his innovative painting approach.

The Mona Lisa represents a synthesis of everything Leonardo was capable of achieving as both an artist and thinker.

While history may have portrayed Leonardo as an extraordinary inventor more than he actually was, his notebooks reveal the true extent of his exceptional knowledge.

His notebooks demonstrate the exceptional breadth of domains he explored and the diversity of his intellectual interests.

Leonardo's genuine brilliance is expressed through his masterful and innovative approach to painting, rather than in invention alone.