Mona Lisa: Inside the Painting

I bought this book for art research purposes, to paint my own Mona Lisa perhaps with less cracking :) , but was blown away by the amount of information presented for a single painting, albeit one of the most famous and valuable. You get full information on the support itself (which has shrunk a bit) , the cracks, the pigments and composition, and even the retouching it has undergone due to conservation, or worse, attacks by vandals. There are photos of the painting in various wavelengths of light, including infrared, uv, radiograph, and more. This is combined with digital analysis in various forms, showing the topography of the support, cracking and other. In between all this are very fine views of a painting which is usually found shown elsewhere as badly lit or overly contrasty. The book is very high quality and large enough to almost feel as if it is large as the actual Mona Lisa. There is only one flaw I feel which is mentioned by another reviewer and that is the lack of a digitally 'restored' version of the painting with the varnish removed and colors enhanced to their likely original appearance. The example at the author's site is too small and mostly useless for reference or just basic viewing on today's monitors. I would hope that any future edition of this includes such a final work, as it would reveal the original in a new splendor, and give yet more purpose to all the work and photography that is this book. Despite the omission currently, this is a great book you should be glad to own, and you can't beat the price.

This oversized coffee table book will delight all art lovers, particularly those who are into art history and restoration. It deserves 6 stars, actually, but I gave it 4 because for some reason authors chosed not to include Mona Lisa photo with digitally removed varnish. It can be seen on this link http://www.lumiere-technology.com/Pages/News/news3.htm and I had hoped that this book will feature it also, since one of the main advantages of this new technology is virtual removal of darkened varnish without touching or damaging the paintings. However, there is LOT of photos and large closeups in this book and I would recommend it to everyone interested in visual arts in general and Leonardo and renaissance painting in particular.

This book is absolutely a must-have for any fan of the Mona Lisa. The scientific breakdown of the painting, the intricate images and graphs, the descriptions of the colors and form all combine to create a intriguing and gripping look at one of the world's most famous paintings. If you are fascinated by art restoration and the use of technology to analyse paintings then this book is an essential resource, but even a casual dabbler like me will find hours of entertainment within its pages. Everyone who has opened the book at my house "just to see" has been lost to the party, and several have picked up their own copies for more in-depth perusal.

There's no other word for it: simply fabulous! Any art historian, student or just anyone interested in Leonardo's paintings will want to have this wonderful work. It peels away layers of varnish and paint like an onion and reveals Leonardo's technique in all its wonders.