1 00:00:06,220 --> 00:00:08,890 Leonardo da Vinci. 2 00:00:08,930 --> 00:00:10,890 Legendary artist. 3 00:00:10,930 --> 00:00:12,830 His genius is universal. 4 00:00:12,860 --> 00:00:14,300 It speaks to everybody. 5 00:00:14,330 --> 00:00:19,770 He was also a scientist and inventor. 6 00:00:19,800 --> 00:00:21,540 There was a reason for every decision 7 00:00:21,570 --> 00:00:23,000 and every line. 8 00:00:23,040 --> 00:00:24,640 How did he create 9 00:00:24,670 --> 00:00:26,510 the most famous painting on Earth? 10 00:00:26,540 --> 00:00:29,640 You can perceive the beating of the pulse 11 00:00:29,680 --> 00:00:30,810 underneath her skin. 12 00:00:32,850 --> 00:00:37,790 The answers have been as elusive as her smile. 13 00:00:37,820 --> 00:00:39,690 Leonardo embraced mystery. 14 00:00:39,720 --> 00:00:43,730 Now researchers are peeling away the layers. 15 00:00:43,760 --> 00:00:46,860 Thanks to a new kind of scientific investigation, 16 00:00:46,900 --> 00:00:50,070 we are really able to get inside the painting. 17 00:00:50,100 --> 00:00:53,700 Can science unlock her secrets? 18 00:00:53,740 --> 00:00:54,900 She seems like she's alive, 19 00:00:54,940 --> 00:00:55,946 because she looks different 20 00:00:55,970 --> 00:00:57,810 depending on where you're looking. 21 00:00:57,840 --> 00:01:03,240 And decipher the genius behind her creator? 22 00:01:03,280 --> 00:01:05,310 "Decoding da Vinci," 23 00:01:05,350 --> 00:01:07,280 right now, on "NOVA." 24 00:01:11,960 --> 00:01:14,080 Major funding for "NOVA" is provided by the following: 25 00:01:15,930 --> 00:01:20,060 In the heart of Paris lies a former royal castle. 26 00:01:20,100 --> 00:01:26,030 It is now the world's busiest art museum: 27 00:01:26,070 --> 00:01:28,540 the Louvre. 28 00:01:28,570 --> 00:01:31,340 Filled with glorious galleries 29 00:01:31,370 --> 00:01:34,910 of antiquities, mummies, and Michelangelos. 30 00:01:41,920 --> 00:01:45,250 But one masterpiece is the biggest draw of all. 31 00:01:45,290 --> 00:01:48,120 Today's reigning queen... 32 00:01:48,160 --> 00:01:53,730 the "Mona Lisa," by Leonardo da Vinci. 33 00:01:53,760 --> 00:01:55,960 The "Mona Lisa" has become 34 00:01:56,000 --> 00:02:00,500 some grand thing in our imagination. 35 00:02:00,540 --> 00:02:02,670 Each time you see the "Mona Lisa," 36 00:02:02,710 --> 00:02:04,810 you have a different feeling 37 00:02:04,840 --> 00:02:06,980 about what she has in mind. 38 00:02:08,080 --> 00:02:09,740 Every year, millions visit her, 39 00:02:09,780 --> 00:02:11,580 drawn by her beauty 40 00:02:11,620 --> 00:02:15,350 or, perhaps, her fame. 41 00:02:15,390 --> 00:02:17,250 They've clocked the average amount the visitors 42 00:02:17,290 --> 00:02:19,650 spend looking at the "Mona Lisa," 43 00:02:19,690 --> 00:02:21,920 and that's roughly about 15 seconds. 44 00:02:23,760 --> 00:02:25,960 You're more focused on getting a good picture 45 00:02:26,000 --> 00:02:26,960 for your Instagram feed 46 00:02:27,000 --> 00:02:29,800 than actually looking at the painting. 47 00:02:31,640 --> 00:02:33,970 So is the "Mona Lisa" just famous 48 00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:36,100 for being famous? 49 00:02:36,140 --> 00:02:39,210 More icon than art? 50 00:02:39,240 --> 00:02:42,310 Or does she deserve her place on the Louvre's throne 51 00:02:42,350 --> 00:02:44,910 as the most celebrated painting in the world? 52 00:02:44,950 --> 00:02:47,120 It's not just a portrait 53 00:02:47,150 --> 00:02:49,880 of a woman who was living 500 years ago. 54 00:02:49,920 --> 00:02:53,690 It's a demonstration of how painting could show life. 55 00:02:54,930 --> 00:02:58,330 Now researchers are using new techniques 56 00:02:58,360 --> 00:03:01,030 to investigate the most famous painting on Earth 57 00:03:01,060 --> 00:03:02,100 like never before. 58 00:03:04,500 --> 00:03:05,570 The smile is crucial. 59 00:03:05,600 --> 00:03:09,040 It's teasing you, saying, 60 00:03:09,070 --> 00:03:11,170 "I know something you don't know." 61 00:03:11,210 --> 00:03:15,380 Could the "Mona Lisa," with her enigmatic smile, 62 00:03:15,410 --> 00:03:19,750 be the key to decoding the man who made her... 63 00:03:19,780 --> 00:03:23,820 Leonardo da Vinci? 64 00:03:23,850 --> 00:03:26,960 No doubt he was a brilliant artist, 65 00:03:26,990 --> 00:03:30,760 but he was also a groundbreaking scientist. 66 00:03:30,790 --> 00:03:34,700 He anticipated theories by both Galileo and Newton 67 00:03:34,730 --> 00:03:37,430 by at least a century. 68 00:03:37,470 --> 00:03:39,730 And dreamed up remarkable inventions 69 00:03:39,770 --> 00:03:43,370 that seem to predict our modern age: 70 00:03:43,410 --> 00:03:44,910 armored tanks, 71 00:03:44,940 --> 00:03:47,280 flying machines, 72 00:03:47,310 --> 00:03:51,550 even something like a self-driving car. 73 00:03:53,180 --> 00:03:56,420 But were his scientific explorations 74 00:03:56,450 --> 00:03:59,350 a distraction from his painting? 75 00:04:00,920 --> 00:04:06,060 Or was science the secret to his artistic genius? 76 00:04:06,100 --> 00:04:11,630 Was the "Mona Lisa," in fact, Leonardo's greatest invention? 77 00:04:11,670 --> 00:04:14,070 If you want to understand Leonardo da Vinci, 78 00:04:14,100 --> 00:04:16,400 you just have to look at the "Mona Lisa," 79 00:04:16,440 --> 00:04:18,010 because it's all there. 80 00:04:18,040 --> 00:04:22,040 It's the culmination of a lifetime spent 81 00:04:22,080 --> 00:04:26,110 loving science and art. 82 00:04:36,490 --> 00:04:40,230 In the back streets of Florence, Italy, 83 00:04:40,260 --> 00:04:44,370 Valter Conti and his daughter Elena 84 00:04:44,400 --> 00:04:46,730 prepare for their tribute to Leonardo 85 00:04:46,770 --> 00:04:48,470 and the "Mona Lisa"... 86 00:04:49,870 --> 00:04:54,910 Human statues handing out Leonardo quotes. 87 00:04:54,940 --> 00:04:59,350 It's their way of marking the 500th anniversary 88 00:04:59,380 --> 00:05:00,620 of Leonardo's death, 89 00:05:00,650 --> 00:05:03,920 and just one of many celebrations 90 00:05:03,950 --> 00:05:06,350 that are in the works around the world. 91 00:05:07,790 --> 00:05:11,560 From a fine art museum in Beijing 92 00:05:11,590 --> 00:05:16,030 to a multimedia extravaganza in Peru... 93 00:05:17,400 --> 00:05:20,470 And a blockbuster exhibition at the Louvre. 94 00:05:20,500 --> 00:05:23,000 For the Louvre museum, 95 00:05:23,040 --> 00:05:24,840 it's a really important moment. 96 00:05:24,870 --> 00:05:27,410 Because Louvre is like Leonardo da Vinci. 97 00:05:27,440 --> 00:05:31,480 We have the third of all his paintings. 98 00:05:31,510 --> 00:05:35,580 Vincent Delieuvin oversees the five Leonardo masterpieces 99 00:05:35,620 --> 00:05:37,650 that hang at the Louvre. 100 00:05:41,760 --> 00:05:45,530 That's the largest collection in the world. 101 00:05:45,560 --> 00:05:47,030 While Leonardo may be 102 00:05:47,060 --> 00:05:49,560 the most famous painter of all time, 103 00:05:49,600 --> 00:05:53,670 he completed surprisingly few paintings. 104 00:05:53,700 --> 00:05:55,870 Leonardo was really someone experimental. 105 00:05:55,910 --> 00:05:57,310 He didn't want to paint a lot. 106 00:05:57,340 --> 00:05:59,270 He wanted to paint a perfect painting. 107 00:06:02,350 --> 00:06:03,480 So what did it take 108 00:06:03,510 --> 00:06:06,750 for Leonardo to make a perfect painting? 109 00:06:06,780 --> 00:06:11,990 The answer may be lying right under Delieuvin's feet. 110 00:06:16,130 --> 00:06:17,206 For the upcoming exhibition, 111 00:06:17,230 --> 00:06:20,030 he is working with a team of scientists 112 00:06:20,060 --> 00:06:22,330 housed downstairs from the Louvre, 113 00:06:22,370 --> 00:06:24,770 at the Center for Research and Restoration 114 00:06:24,800 --> 00:06:27,540 of Museums in France. 115 00:06:27,570 --> 00:06:30,870 Thanks to a new kind of scientific investigation, 116 00:06:30,910 --> 00:06:33,440 we are really able to get inside the painting 117 00:06:33,480 --> 00:06:35,480 and to understand how Leonardo was working 118 00:06:35,510 --> 00:06:37,580 to perfect the painting 119 00:06:37,610 --> 00:06:41,750 for a long, long time... during five, ten, 20 years. 120 00:06:41,790 --> 00:06:43,626 It's really something really specific to Leonardo. 121 00:06:43,650 --> 00:06:47,960 They are peering deep inside Leonardo's masterpieces, 122 00:06:47,990 --> 00:06:52,330 hoping to reveal the secrets of his technique 123 00:06:52,360 --> 00:06:53,960 that our eyes cannot see. 124 00:06:54,000 --> 00:06:56,160 The eye sees something 125 00:06:56,200 --> 00:06:58,600 that it believes to be two-dimensional, 126 00:06:58,640 --> 00:07:00,840 but which is really three-dimensional, 127 00:07:00,870 --> 00:07:02,800 because there is depth in a painting. 128 00:07:05,210 --> 00:07:07,680 For art historian Bruno Mottin, 129 00:07:07,710 --> 00:07:09,380 the first step is to understand 130 00:07:09,410 --> 00:07:11,610 the chemistry of Leonardo's paint, 131 00:07:11,650 --> 00:07:14,880 starting with the powdered minerals 132 00:07:14,920 --> 00:07:17,790 that were the source of his colors. 133 00:07:18,890 --> 00:07:20,920 You have green, which is made 134 00:07:20,960 --> 00:07:22,890 with the scratching of copper plates, 135 00:07:22,930 --> 00:07:25,730 you have vermillion, which is made with mercury, 136 00:07:25,760 --> 00:07:28,430 you have lead white, which is made with lead. 137 00:07:28,470 --> 00:07:31,200 But these can't be applied directly on a painting... 138 00:07:31,230 --> 00:07:33,730 it has to be mixed with something else. 139 00:07:33,770 --> 00:07:34,770 These colored pigments 140 00:07:34,800 --> 00:07:38,370 are mixed with a liquid, like oil. 141 00:07:39,980 --> 00:07:43,440 That gets painted on in layers. 142 00:07:48,220 --> 00:07:50,320 In a cross-section of a painting, 143 00:07:50,350 --> 00:07:52,050 you have the base- 144 00:07:52,090 --> 00:07:54,360 which today is frequently canvas, 145 00:07:54,390 --> 00:07:58,460 but in Leonardo's time, they used planks of wood. 146 00:07:58,500 --> 00:08:03,760 On that is a coat of white that can reflect light. 147 00:08:03,800 --> 00:08:07,400 As the artist works, semi-translucent paint 148 00:08:07,440 --> 00:08:10,370 is built up layer by layer 149 00:08:10,410 --> 00:08:14,810 and then sealed with a coat of varnish. 150 00:08:14,840 --> 00:08:17,550 In the end, our eyes see the interplay 151 00:08:17,580 --> 00:08:20,180 between the light reflected off different pigments 152 00:08:20,220 --> 00:08:22,550 suspended in the layers, 153 00:08:22,590 --> 00:08:26,590 creating depth and elusive subtleties. 154 00:08:26,620 --> 00:08:28,220 Oil is a translucent medium, 155 00:08:28,260 --> 00:08:31,960 which gives to the mixture a deepness. 156 00:08:32,000 --> 00:08:33,430 You can see through all the layers. 157 00:08:33,460 --> 00:08:35,730 You don't only see a flat surface. 158 00:08:35,770 --> 00:08:38,600 You have the feeling of what is beneath the painting. 159 00:08:38,640 --> 00:08:44,340 Leonardo worked on the "Mona Lisa" for about 16 years. 160 00:08:44,370 --> 00:08:46,240 Can these investigative techniques 161 00:08:46,280 --> 00:08:51,150 help reveal, ultimately, what he was doing all that time? 162 00:08:58,560 --> 00:09:03,120 The "Mona Lisa" began in Florence, Italy, in 1503 163 00:09:03,160 --> 00:09:05,990 as a commission from a wealthy cloth merchant 164 00:09:06,030 --> 00:09:09,230 to paint his wife, Lisa Gherardini. 165 00:09:09,270 --> 00:09:12,000 The word "mona" was a polite form of address, 166 00:09:12,040 --> 00:09:16,440 much like "madam," hence "Mona Lisa." 167 00:09:16,470 --> 00:09:20,370 Over time, she became something much more. 168 00:09:20,410 --> 00:09:25,350 The "Mona Lisa" started off as a portrait for a merchant's wife 169 00:09:25,380 --> 00:09:29,020 and ended up as a sort of manifesto, if you want, 170 00:09:29,050 --> 00:09:32,220 of his ability as a, as a painter, 171 00:09:32,260 --> 00:09:36,260 of his conception of the world, even. 172 00:09:36,290 --> 00:09:40,030 So is this what the real Lisa looked like? 173 00:09:40,060 --> 00:09:42,500 And how different does she appear today 174 00:09:42,530 --> 00:09:45,730 from what Leonardo painted 500 years ago? 175 00:09:49,240 --> 00:09:52,640 To find out, scientists captured the "Mona Lisa" 176 00:09:52,680 --> 00:09:56,480 with an array of high-tech cameras. 177 00:09:56,510 --> 00:09:59,680 These detect light in the electromagnetic spectrum 178 00:09:59,720 --> 00:10:03,520 that is not visible to our eyes. 179 00:10:07,290 --> 00:10:11,490 So just as some cameras can see wildlife in the dark, 180 00:10:11,530 --> 00:10:12,860 these cameras can help us 181 00:10:12,900 --> 00:10:16,430 see the "Mona Lisa" in a new light... 182 00:10:16,470 --> 00:10:19,530 literally. 183 00:10:19,570 --> 00:10:22,770 Each image provides clues about her past. 184 00:10:24,370 --> 00:10:26,710 So we have a lot of different images, 185 00:10:26,740 --> 00:10:28,710 which can tell us 186 00:10:28,750 --> 00:10:30,056 about the structure of the painting 187 00:10:30,080 --> 00:10:31,450 and the, the way it has been made. 188 00:10:31,480 --> 00:10:34,350 In the ultraviolet image, 189 00:10:34,380 --> 00:10:39,150 blotches of dark blue appear. 190 00:10:39,190 --> 00:10:41,620 These reveal areas of paint 191 00:10:41,660 --> 00:10:45,190 which are not by Leonardo's hand. 192 00:10:45,230 --> 00:10:49,100 They are modern restorations to repair damage to the painting, 193 00:10:49,130 --> 00:10:54,040 like this dangerous crack in the wood base. 194 00:10:54,070 --> 00:10:57,200 And for Mottin, it reveals even more. 195 00:10:57,240 --> 00:10:59,510 It shows us that the painting is in fact colored 196 00:10:59,540 --> 00:11:01,540 by a greenish and yellowish varnish 197 00:11:01,580 --> 00:11:03,810 which changes the colors of the true painting. 198 00:11:03,850 --> 00:11:08,780 This thick varnish has yellowed and darkened over time, 199 00:11:08,820 --> 00:11:14,490 making it difficult to make out some of the details. 200 00:11:14,520 --> 00:11:16,860 She looks rather like a plump lady, we should say, 201 00:11:16,890 --> 00:11:18,990 because we do not know where the arm stops. 202 00:11:19,030 --> 00:11:22,860 But this infrared image clearly shows 203 00:11:22,900 --> 00:11:27,130 this dark area was once translucent. 204 00:11:27,170 --> 00:11:29,470 Lisa is wearing a veil 205 00:11:29,510 --> 00:11:33,840 that gracefully falls over her surprisingly slender shoulders. 206 00:11:39,020 --> 00:11:41,850 To penetrate the very deepest layers, 207 00:11:41,880 --> 00:11:44,490 the team turn to a tool more familiar to us 208 00:11:44,520 --> 00:11:46,550 from a doctor's office: 209 00:11:46,590 --> 00:11:50,930 X-rays. 210 00:11:50,960 --> 00:11:53,560 These can reveal how the painting began. 211 00:11:56,400 --> 00:11:59,500 Most artists at the time began with a drawing 212 00:11:59,540 --> 00:12:04,840 and then filled it in with thick paint. 213 00:12:04,870 --> 00:12:08,180 So the X-ray looks like this, 214 00:12:08,210 --> 00:12:10,680 Raphael's "La Belle Jardinière." 215 00:12:10,710 --> 00:12:16,350 The figures started out clearly defined... 216 00:12:16,390 --> 00:12:18,450 and stayed that way. 217 00:12:22,330 --> 00:12:25,730 But when Leonardo's paintings are X-rayed, 218 00:12:25,760 --> 00:12:28,260 the figures often vanish. 219 00:12:33,870 --> 00:12:36,770 Leonardo image are like phantom. 220 00:12:36,810 --> 00:12:39,570 We don't understand at first sight 221 00:12:39,610 --> 00:12:42,280 what really is on the picture. 222 00:12:44,580 --> 00:12:49,920 In the X-ray of the "Mona Lisa," there is no clear outline. 223 00:12:49,950 --> 00:12:51,620 Instead, the image evolved 224 00:12:51,650 --> 00:12:55,020 as Leonardo made continual adjustments. 225 00:12:57,430 --> 00:13:02,630 This also suggests Lisa may not have looked exactly like this. 226 00:13:02,670 --> 00:13:03,860 He keeps it. 227 00:13:03,900 --> 00:13:04,870 He doesn't deliver it 228 00:13:04,900 --> 00:13:06,370 to the merchant who commissioned it. 229 00:13:06,400 --> 00:13:07,740 Because for him, 230 00:13:07,770 --> 00:13:10,970 it's no longer a portrait of Mona Lisa. 231 00:13:11,010 --> 00:13:12,740 It is a universal painting. 232 00:13:15,680 --> 00:13:17,480 In the upcoming exhibition, 233 00:13:17,510 --> 00:13:18,810 Delieuvin plans to hang 234 00:13:18,850 --> 00:13:21,780 some of these scientific masterpieces 235 00:13:21,820 --> 00:13:25,890 along with Leonardo's original paintings. 236 00:13:25,920 --> 00:13:28,160 The scans prove an essential point 237 00:13:28,190 --> 00:13:30,660 about Leonardo's artistry... 238 00:13:30,690 --> 00:13:33,330 he painted like no one else. 239 00:13:33,360 --> 00:13:36,900 Leonardo is one of the first artists 240 00:13:36,930 --> 00:13:38,500 to be really free. 241 00:13:38,530 --> 00:13:41,000 He felt free to change his mind, 242 00:13:41,040 --> 00:13:43,540 not only during the drawing preparation, 243 00:13:43,570 --> 00:13:48,280 but also during the painting of his work. 244 00:13:48,310 --> 00:13:50,180 This is incredibly not common. 245 00:13:50,210 --> 00:13:53,180 He is the only one to give such liberty, free manner, 246 00:13:53,220 --> 00:13:56,150 in his execution. 247 00:13:59,320 --> 00:14:02,460 Artists then were considered craftsmen, 248 00:14:02,490 --> 00:14:06,660 and needed to churn out paintings for patrons. 249 00:14:06,700 --> 00:14:14,240 So how did Leonardo become such a free spirit? 250 00:14:14,270 --> 00:14:17,370 From the beginning, Leonardo was an outsider. 251 00:14:19,880 --> 00:14:23,840 Born in 1452 to an unwed farm girl 252 00:14:23,880 --> 00:14:26,610 in the small Italian town of Vinci, 253 00:14:26,650 --> 00:14:30,650 he was named "Leonardo from Vinci." 254 00:14:30,690 --> 00:14:33,550 Therefore, Leonardo da Vinci. 255 00:14:33,590 --> 00:14:35,320 Leonardo had the great good fortune 256 00:14:35,360 --> 00:14:36,520 to be born out of wedlock. 257 00:14:36,560 --> 00:14:40,060 It meant he didn't have crammed into him 258 00:14:40,100 --> 00:14:44,060 the sort of old dusty scholastic wisdom of the Middle Ages. 259 00:14:44,100 --> 00:14:46,630 Instead, he got to be self-taught. 260 00:14:46,670 --> 00:14:50,640 It also meant he didn't have to be a notary like his father. 261 00:14:50,670 --> 00:14:52,340 And so he has a fresh life, 262 00:14:52,380 --> 00:14:54,040 where he can be anything he wants. 263 00:14:56,850 --> 00:14:58,950 At about 14, Leonardo's father 264 00:14:58,980 --> 00:15:01,480 sent him to learn a trade in Florence, 265 00:15:01,520 --> 00:15:05,790 the epicenter of commerce, learning, and beauty 266 00:15:05,820 --> 00:15:08,060 at the beginning of the Renaissance. 267 00:15:10,890 --> 00:15:13,560 Florence was one of the most advanced 268 00:15:13,600 --> 00:15:15,360 social organization of the planet. 269 00:15:15,400 --> 00:15:17,800 Very wealthy city. 270 00:15:17,830 --> 00:15:20,600 A city that was attracting the brightest guys around. 271 00:15:23,210 --> 00:15:25,640 Florence is just extraordinary at this time, 272 00:15:25,680 --> 00:15:29,040 to produce Donatello, Masaccio, Brunelleschi, 273 00:15:29,080 --> 00:15:31,150 Michelangelo, Raphael. 274 00:15:34,650 --> 00:15:35,920 With no formal education, 275 00:15:35,950 --> 00:15:38,420 Leonardo started as an apprentice 276 00:15:38,450 --> 00:15:41,690 in one of the leading artist's studios of the day: 277 00:15:41,720 --> 00:15:46,490 the workshop of Andrea del Verrocchio. 278 00:15:46,530 --> 00:15:48,160 Verrocchio was a sculptor above all, 279 00:15:48,200 --> 00:15:50,970 but also a painter, an architect. 280 00:15:51,000 --> 00:15:52,130 He could play music. 281 00:15:54,270 --> 00:15:57,270 So the example of Verrocchio was very important 282 00:15:57,310 --> 00:16:00,310 to Leonardo. 283 00:16:00,340 --> 00:16:01,810 Leonardo's training with Verrocchio 284 00:16:01,840 --> 00:16:05,610 is a real model of how an artist should evolve. 285 00:16:06,920 --> 00:16:09,180 Technique is subordinate to the act of seeing. 286 00:16:09,220 --> 00:16:10,380 It's about the eye, 287 00:16:10,420 --> 00:16:12,820 and it's Leonardo who first described that. 288 00:16:12,860 --> 00:16:16,090 It is believed the handsome model 289 00:16:16,130 --> 00:16:18,530 for this Verrocchio statue of David 290 00:16:18,560 --> 00:16:22,700 is his apprentice, a young Leonardo. 291 00:16:22,730 --> 00:16:26,130 So, they think that Leonardo posed for his master. 292 00:16:26,170 --> 00:16:30,200 It's a very elegant boy face 293 00:16:30,240 --> 00:16:32,310 framed by these beautiful curls. 294 00:16:32,340 --> 00:16:35,280 Despite the circumstances of his illegitimate birth, 295 00:16:35,310 --> 00:16:40,580 the workshop gave Leonardo a way to get ahead in life. 296 00:16:40,620 --> 00:16:42,250 He's a misfit. 297 00:16:42,280 --> 00:16:43,920 He's illegitimate. 298 00:16:43,950 --> 00:16:45,990 He's gay, he's left-handed, 299 00:16:46,020 --> 00:16:48,460 he's a vegetarian, he's distracted, 300 00:16:48,490 --> 00:16:50,920 and yet he's embraced by the people of Florence 301 00:16:50,960 --> 00:16:55,900 because it was a very tolerant city. 302 00:16:55,930 --> 00:17:00,530 One of the most challenging construction projects of the day 303 00:17:00,570 --> 00:17:03,300 was capping the dome of the breathtaking cathedral 304 00:17:03,340 --> 00:17:06,310 with a golden sphere. 305 00:17:06,340 --> 00:17:09,980 The commission of the crowning of the cupola 306 00:17:10,010 --> 00:17:12,450 with a gilded sphere 307 00:17:12,480 --> 00:17:13,850 was a very important one. 308 00:17:13,880 --> 00:17:18,850 And that's a commission that Verrocchio secured. 309 00:17:18,890 --> 00:17:22,890 Verrocchio's team, which included a young Leonardo, 310 00:17:22,930 --> 00:17:25,660 had to figure out not only the design, 311 00:17:25,690 --> 00:17:29,360 but also how to secure the one-and-a-half-ton ball 312 00:17:29,400 --> 00:17:33,830 on top of the nearly 370-foot high cathedral. 313 00:17:35,670 --> 00:17:38,710 Figuring out how to get the ball on top of the cathedral 314 00:17:38,740 --> 00:17:41,210 helps Leonardo become a great engineer. 315 00:17:41,240 --> 00:17:42,740 It helps him become an artist, 316 00:17:42,780 --> 00:17:45,450 because he gets the perspective of the ball right. 317 00:17:45,480 --> 00:17:49,880 That combination of science, engineering, and art 318 00:17:49,920 --> 00:17:52,620 becomes part of who Leonardo da Vinci is. 319 00:17:52,660 --> 00:17:57,320 In fact, in sheer quantity, 320 00:17:57,360 --> 00:17:58,930 Leonardo's scientific investigations 321 00:17:58,960 --> 00:18:00,560 far outweigh his output of paintings. 322 00:18:00,600 --> 00:18:04,830 The proof of that lies in a remarkable collection 323 00:18:04,870 --> 00:18:07,000 of replicas of his notebooks. 324 00:18:07,040 --> 00:18:10,000 We have very few records, 325 00:18:10,040 --> 00:18:12,070 in the whole history of science, 326 00:18:12,110 --> 00:18:14,780 similar to Leonardo's manuscripts. 327 00:18:14,810 --> 00:18:16,410 These are not books. 328 00:18:16,450 --> 00:18:18,650 You cannot compare that to a work 329 00:18:18,680 --> 00:18:20,250 of, by Galileo or by Newton, 330 00:18:20,280 --> 00:18:22,980 because they have solved the problems 331 00:18:23,020 --> 00:18:24,850 before writing their books. 332 00:18:24,890 --> 00:18:27,550 Paolo Galluzzi is the director 333 00:18:27,590 --> 00:18:29,620 of the Galileo Museum in Florence. 334 00:18:31,330 --> 00:18:32,560 What we have in Leonardo 335 00:18:32,600 --> 00:18:36,060 is the direct expression of his internal dialogue. 336 00:18:36,100 --> 00:18:40,470 Leonardo's notebooks span his lifetime. 337 00:18:40,500 --> 00:18:44,740 They even come pocket-sized. 338 00:18:44,770 --> 00:18:48,110 We're sure that those 6,000 pages that we have 339 00:18:48,140 --> 00:18:49,980 are by him. 340 00:18:50,010 --> 00:18:53,810 And this is just one-fourth of what he actually penned. 341 00:18:53,850 --> 00:18:57,150 So we're talking about something he was obsessed by 342 00:18:57,190 --> 00:19:01,520 throughout his life. 343 00:19:01,560 --> 00:19:04,530 The brilliance and breadth of Leonardo's notebooks 344 00:19:04,560 --> 00:19:08,000 is astonishing. 345 00:19:08,030 --> 00:19:11,700 His ideas seem to predict our modern age, 346 00:19:11,730 --> 00:19:14,500 making Leonardo much more than a Renaissance scientist 347 00:19:14,540 --> 00:19:16,040 for many. 348 00:19:17,770 --> 00:19:20,440 His dreams of human flight 349 00:19:20,480 --> 00:19:22,340 include a helicopter-like machine 350 00:19:22,380 --> 00:19:25,510 and a parachute. 351 00:19:25,550 --> 00:19:28,020 A fascination with water 352 00:19:28,050 --> 00:19:31,050 led to ambitious civil engineering proposals. 353 00:19:35,390 --> 00:19:38,490 And he conceived an intriguing self-propelled machine 354 00:19:38,530 --> 00:19:44,130 that seems part-automobile, part-early robot. 355 00:19:45,470 --> 00:19:49,240 But could any of these inventive designs have actually worked? 356 00:19:51,340 --> 00:19:52,870 Leonardo is, of course, 357 00:19:52,910 --> 00:19:55,010 a great artist, 358 00:19:55,040 --> 00:19:56,940 but he's also a great scientist, 359 00:19:56,980 --> 00:19:58,480 and, I would argue, a great engineer. 360 00:19:58,510 --> 00:20:01,050 The geometry is stunning... 361 00:20:01,080 --> 00:20:03,380 One small sketch in Leonardo's notebooks 362 00:20:03,420 --> 00:20:06,720 has so intrigued M.I.T. engineer John Ochsendorf 363 00:20:06,760 --> 00:20:10,120 that he asked his graduate student Karly Bast 364 00:20:10,160 --> 00:20:13,760 to bring 21st-century engineering rigor 365 00:20:13,800 --> 00:20:16,400 to see if Leonardo's 16th-century idea 366 00:20:16,430 --> 00:20:18,430 would in fact stand. 367 00:20:18,470 --> 00:20:21,400 There is a historical reason for this, 368 00:20:21,440 --> 00:20:22,616 because you see it in the drawing, right? 369 00:20:22,640 --> 00:20:24,140 Yeah, these two aren't... 370 00:20:24,170 --> 00:20:27,840 In 1502, the year before starting the "Mona Lisa," 371 00:20:27,880 --> 00:20:29,680 Leonardo proposed 372 00:20:29,710 --> 00:20:31,480 to the sultan of the Ottoman Empire 373 00:20:31,510 --> 00:20:35,980 a bridge in Constantinople five times longer 374 00:20:36,020 --> 00:20:39,250 than any other span at the time. 375 00:20:41,660 --> 00:20:44,390 His plan for this ambitious project, 376 00:20:44,430 --> 00:20:47,390 sketched upside-down in a small notebook, 377 00:20:47,430 --> 00:20:49,700 offers few details... 378 00:20:49,730 --> 00:20:53,370 yet just enough for Bast to bring it to life. 379 00:20:53,400 --> 00:20:55,440 Leonardo provided four measurements, 380 00:20:55,470 --> 00:20:57,800 but he provided two sketches. 381 00:20:57,840 --> 00:21:00,840 At first, it seems like a rough sketch, 382 00:21:00,880 --> 00:21:02,340 but as I dug into it, 383 00:21:02,380 --> 00:21:04,010 I realized there was a reason 384 00:21:04,050 --> 00:21:06,710 for every decision and every line. 385 00:21:06,750 --> 00:21:08,450 There was a lot of thought 386 00:21:08,480 --> 00:21:11,320 put into the force distribution, and it wasn't just aesthetic. 387 00:21:11,350 --> 00:21:14,350 It was engineering. 388 00:21:14,390 --> 00:21:16,220 And to test that engineering, 389 00:21:16,260 --> 00:21:17,660 Bast and her colleagues 390 00:21:17,690 --> 00:21:20,030 have built a scale model of the bridge 391 00:21:20,060 --> 00:21:23,560 with a state-of-the-art 3-D printer. 392 00:21:23,600 --> 00:21:25,930 Before 3-D printing came along, 393 00:21:25,970 --> 00:21:27,376 we'd have to try to build that bridge 394 00:21:27,400 --> 00:21:29,440 as close as we could to the full scale, 395 00:21:29,470 --> 00:21:32,410 because you couldn't reliably get the geometry quite right. 396 00:21:32,440 --> 00:21:35,540 Leonardo's stone bridge would have been 397 00:21:35,580 --> 00:21:38,110 500 times the size of this model, 398 00:21:38,150 --> 00:21:41,180 but the physics are exactly the same. 399 00:21:41,220 --> 00:21:42,420 We have the bridge, 400 00:21:42,450 --> 00:21:44,720 and we have the mold that's holding it up. 401 00:21:44,750 --> 00:21:46,950 The first piece should be easy to take off. 402 00:21:46,990 --> 00:21:52,030 Piece by piece, she removes the Styrofoam... 403 00:21:52,060 --> 00:21:55,300 a modern day stand-in for the wooden scaffolding 404 00:21:55,330 --> 00:21:56,730 used in Leonardo's day. 405 00:21:56,770 --> 00:21:58,330 This is more like heart surgery 406 00:21:58,370 --> 00:22:00,070 than bridge construction. 407 00:22:00,100 --> 00:22:02,900 Finally, the last support is removed. 408 00:22:06,310 --> 00:22:10,580 And Leonardo's stone bridge stands. 409 00:22:12,280 --> 00:22:15,250 The geometry is aesthetically beautiful, 410 00:22:15,280 --> 00:22:18,250 and the fact that this is standing on its own 411 00:22:18,290 --> 00:22:20,650 tells us that it was feasible. 412 00:22:20,690 --> 00:22:21,620 Absolutely. 413 00:22:21,660 --> 00:22:23,020 Wow. 414 00:22:23,060 --> 00:22:25,890 Leonardo's bridge even stays up 415 00:22:25,930 --> 00:22:27,830 when they simulate an earthquake. 416 00:22:27,860 --> 00:22:29,130 Stop. 417 00:22:29,160 --> 00:22:30,600 1,500 pounds. 418 00:22:30,630 --> 00:22:32,470 Oh, my God. 419 00:22:32,500 --> 00:22:36,440 It has moved by 30 feet, and the arch still stands. 420 00:22:36,470 --> 00:22:41,210 The bridge does eventually collapse, 421 00:22:41,240 --> 00:22:45,980 but only after being moved the equivalent of 50 feet. 422 00:22:47,720 --> 00:22:49,780 Leonardo has the artistic ability, 423 00:22:49,820 --> 00:22:51,820 and he also has that scientific knowledge 424 00:22:51,850 --> 00:22:53,650 and that engineering capability 425 00:22:53,690 --> 00:22:55,790 where he can create things 426 00:22:55,820 --> 00:22:58,490 that are beautiful and structurally sound. 427 00:22:59,760 --> 00:23:02,400 Bast clearly had to fill in some details 428 00:23:02,430 --> 00:23:04,560 to get from this sketch 429 00:23:04,600 --> 00:23:06,670 to this model. 430 00:23:06,700 --> 00:23:09,100 And we don't know if the bridge could have been built 431 00:23:09,140 --> 00:23:11,300 with the wooden scaffold of the day. 432 00:23:11,340 --> 00:23:12,940 And he also shows... 433 00:23:12,980 --> 00:23:14,240 But she has shown 434 00:23:14,280 --> 00:23:16,980 Leonardo got the basic physics right. 435 00:23:17,010 --> 00:23:19,810 What's extraordinary is the ideas 436 00:23:19,850 --> 00:23:24,450 that he was coming up with more than 500 years ago. 437 00:23:24,490 --> 00:23:26,120 Yep. 438 00:23:26,160 --> 00:23:29,420 We're still trying to understand them. 439 00:23:33,130 --> 00:23:35,760 As with this ambitious proposal to the sultan, 440 00:23:35,800 --> 00:23:37,630 Leonardo sought out wealthy patrons 441 00:23:37,670 --> 00:23:39,200 throughout his life 442 00:23:39,230 --> 00:23:44,770 to support not only his art, but his scientific explorations. 443 00:23:46,580 --> 00:23:51,950 At 30, he moved to Milan to work for its duke. 444 00:23:51,980 --> 00:23:54,750 17 years later, when the duke was deposed, 445 00:23:54,780 --> 00:23:58,150 Leonardo had to move once again, 446 00:23:58,190 --> 00:24:01,990 back to Florence, and later, Rome. 447 00:24:02,020 --> 00:24:04,860 His accomplishments in science and art 448 00:24:04,890 --> 00:24:07,090 meant he had much to offer. 449 00:24:07,130 --> 00:24:09,130 Leonardo sells himself as an engineer, 450 00:24:09,160 --> 00:24:10,860 as well as an artist, 451 00:24:10,900 --> 00:24:12,970 because he knows he can make a better living. 452 00:24:13,000 --> 00:24:16,400 But also, I think, Leonardo just loved 453 00:24:16,440 --> 00:24:19,510 the connection of the arts and sciences, 454 00:24:19,540 --> 00:24:22,710 and he didn't want to have to be siloed as just a painter. 455 00:24:22,740 --> 00:24:27,150 Leonardo's explorations in science 456 00:24:27,180 --> 00:24:32,590 can also be clearly seen in the details of his paintings. 457 00:24:32,620 --> 00:24:37,260 He studied everything from botany 458 00:24:37,290 --> 00:24:40,530 to the physics of flowing water. 459 00:24:40,560 --> 00:24:44,870 Even the curls of human hair. 460 00:24:44,900 --> 00:24:46,470 To paint something absolutely perfect, 461 00:24:46,500 --> 00:24:52,040 he had to understand how nature was done. 462 00:24:52,070 --> 00:24:54,410 To paint a mountain, to paint rocks, 463 00:24:54,440 --> 00:24:58,140 he had to understand why the rocks were of that kind. 464 00:24:58,180 --> 00:25:00,080 He was obsessed with that. 465 00:25:00,120 --> 00:25:03,580 And that was what he called the science of painting. 466 00:25:05,250 --> 00:25:09,860 The science of painting was all-encompassing for Leonardo. 467 00:25:09,890 --> 00:25:13,160 But how could he capture the beauty he observed in nature 468 00:25:13,200 --> 00:25:15,330 with paint? 469 00:25:19,700 --> 00:25:23,270 Back at the Louvre, art restorers and researchers 470 00:25:23,310 --> 00:25:25,670 are uncovering new clues 471 00:25:25,710 --> 00:25:27,740 in an elegant intensive care unit 472 00:25:27,780 --> 00:25:30,780 for priceless works of art. 473 00:25:34,820 --> 00:25:37,020 To prepare for the upcoming exhibit, 474 00:25:37,050 --> 00:25:38,396 Delieuvin and the team of scientists 475 00:25:38,420 --> 00:25:42,220 are restoring a painting long shrouded by controversy. 476 00:25:45,330 --> 00:25:47,930 For centuries, this portrait of Bacchus 477 00:25:47,960 --> 00:25:52,030 was considered one of the few paintings by Leonardo's hand. 478 00:25:54,040 --> 00:25:56,740 But now, experts aren't so sure. 479 00:25:59,040 --> 00:26:00,870 For centuries, that painting 480 00:26:00,910 --> 00:26:03,340 was attributed to Leonardo. 481 00:26:03,380 --> 00:26:06,680 But during the 20th century, some historians said, 482 00:26:06,720 --> 00:26:08,850 "Well, it looks like difference 483 00:26:08,880 --> 00:26:10,126 compared to the other paintings." 484 00:26:10,150 --> 00:26:14,490 Cinzia Pasquali has been brought in 485 00:26:14,520 --> 00:26:16,590 to restore the painting. 486 00:26:16,630 --> 00:26:18,360 Can Leonardo's unique scientific techniques 487 00:26:18,390 --> 00:26:24,460 provide the clue she needs to finally solve the mystery: 488 00:26:24,500 --> 00:26:28,030 did Leonardo in fact paint this? 489 00:26:38,150 --> 00:26:42,580 Restoration work is not for the faint of heart. 490 00:26:42,620 --> 00:26:44,650 This painting may be in bad shape, 491 00:26:44,690 --> 00:26:47,990 but Pasquali is still taking her scalpel 492 00:26:48,020 --> 00:26:52,530 to an irreplaceable masterpiece. 493 00:26:52,560 --> 00:26:55,860 She scrapes away the yellow darkened varnish, 494 00:26:55,900 --> 00:26:59,470 revealing a vibrant color beneath. 495 00:27:01,500 --> 00:27:04,540 But other parts of the painting appear more damaged. 496 00:27:04,570 --> 00:27:08,480 So Pasquali must rely on her training 497 00:27:08,510 --> 00:27:10,140 not only in art history, 498 00:27:10,180 --> 00:27:12,850 but also chemistry. 499 00:27:15,820 --> 00:27:18,150 The colors of pigment in paint 500 00:27:18,190 --> 00:27:22,090 can change or fade over time. 501 00:27:22,120 --> 00:27:24,420 But the chemistry of the pigments themselves 502 00:27:24,460 --> 00:27:25,960 can still be detected. 503 00:27:25,990 --> 00:27:31,560 Pasquali orders a special scan for the element copper, 504 00:27:31,600 --> 00:27:33,700 often used in green paint. 505 00:27:35,570 --> 00:27:39,240 The scan reveals this dark area of the painting 506 00:27:39,270 --> 00:27:41,740 was once a lush garden, 507 00:27:41,780 --> 00:27:45,580 until the copper in the paint darkened. 508 00:27:45,610 --> 00:27:46,880 So we can see a lot 509 00:27:46,920 --> 00:27:51,950 of vegetable and leaves and plants and flower, 510 00:27:51,990 --> 00:27:56,690 and when you look on the surface of the work, they are not. 511 00:27:59,430 --> 00:28:02,360 While the beauty of these plants may suggest 512 00:28:02,400 --> 00:28:04,760 Leonardo's meticulous attention to detail, 513 00:28:04,800 --> 00:28:07,100 that's not enough to say for sure 514 00:28:07,140 --> 00:28:09,340 he painted it himself. 515 00:28:10,810 --> 00:28:13,040 So the investigation turns 516 00:28:13,080 --> 00:28:15,780 to his brushwork. 517 00:28:18,810 --> 00:28:21,480 One of the most characteristic fingerprints of a Leonardo 518 00:28:21,520 --> 00:28:25,520 are remarkably thin layers of paint, 519 00:28:25,550 --> 00:28:29,520 which can only be seen with a powerful microscope. 520 00:28:39,370 --> 00:28:42,900 Some Leonardos have been found 521 00:28:42,940 --> 00:28:46,170 to have as many as 30 layers of paint... 522 00:28:46,210 --> 00:28:49,410 many more than most painters. 523 00:28:51,780 --> 00:28:53,350 As she continues her restoration, 524 00:28:53,380 --> 00:28:57,550 Pasquali is looking for evidence of this unusual technique. 525 00:28:58,820 --> 00:29:01,490 But what was Leonardo trying to achieve 526 00:29:01,520 --> 00:29:03,420 with all those thin layers? 527 00:29:05,730 --> 00:29:08,360 Just ask a living painter. 528 00:29:08,400 --> 00:29:12,670 Da Vinci was always looking for beauty. 529 00:29:12,700 --> 00:29:15,140 He's not just painting or drawing a tree. 530 00:29:15,170 --> 00:29:19,670 He wants to paint the perfect expression of what a tree is. 531 00:29:21,210 --> 00:29:24,510 This aspiration to beauty is, to me, 532 00:29:24,550 --> 00:29:27,050 very inspiring as an artist. 533 00:29:28,520 --> 00:29:32,150 Florent Farges is a painter in Dijon, France. 534 00:29:32,190 --> 00:29:35,990 In the tradition of the Renaissance, 535 00:29:36,020 --> 00:29:38,390 Farges runs an artist's workshop, 536 00:29:38,430 --> 00:29:39,960 but with a twist. 537 00:29:40,000 --> 00:29:43,500 Hello, everyone, and welcome to a new video. 538 00:29:43,530 --> 00:29:45,130 His is a virtual one. 539 00:29:45,170 --> 00:29:47,270 This one is going to guide you 540 00:29:47,300 --> 00:29:52,440 through the entire process of classical figure painting. 541 00:29:54,080 --> 00:29:56,310 Most Italian painters at the time 542 00:29:56,340 --> 00:29:59,180 mixed their pigments into an egg base, 543 00:29:59,210 --> 00:30:04,380 using real egg. 544 00:30:04,420 --> 00:30:05,890 But egg tempera doesn't allow 545 00:30:05,920 --> 00:30:09,690 as much light to pass through it, 546 00:30:09,720 --> 00:30:13,790 so there is less depth in the painting. 547 00:30:15,560 --> 00:30:18,930 Instead, Leonardo decided to use an oil, 548 00:30:18,970 --> 00:30:22,570 like linseed or walnut. 549 00:30:22,600 --> 00:30:24,700 Leonardo was using oil. 550 00:30:24,740 --> 00:30:28,580 Because oil helps to reproduce in the best way 551 00:30:28,610 --> 00:30:30,410 the transition between light and shadow. 552 00:30:33,220 --> 00:30:37,120 Gradually, Farges' portrait comes to life. 553 00:30:47,660 --> 00:30:48,930 For the finishing touches, 554 00:30:48,960 --> 00:30:51,200 Farges demonstrates how oil paint 555 00:30:51,230 --> 00:30:53,400 can be applied very thinly 556 00:30:53,440 --> 00:30:55,300 to create a subtle shading of light 557 00:30:55,340 --> 00:30:58,240 falling across the human body. 558 00:30:58,270 --> 00:31:00,310 If I want, I can come back later 559 00:31:00,340 --> 00:31:02,340 and put another layer on top of that, 560 00:31:02,380 --> 00:31:04,880 to make this transition very soft. 561 00:31:08,350 --> 00:31:12,050 Leonardo's techniques are still being taught today 562 00:31:12,090 --> 00:31:14,520 in his hometown of Florence. 563 00:31:15,990 --> 00:31:18,020 To make their paintings come alive, 564 00:31:18,060 --> 00:31:21,390 artists strive to capture human flesh 565 00:31:21,430 --> 00:31:25,230 and the way light reveals its shape. 566 00:31:25,270 --> 00:31:26,430 Leonardo speaks 567 00:31:26,470 --> 00:31:28,670 about the smoky transition of light to shade. 568 00:31:30,540 --> 00:31:34,510 That's how we perceive in nature. 569 00:31:34,540 --> 00:31:36,940 The problem often with photographic images we see 570 00:31:36,980 --> 00:31:38,910 is that there's so much detail, 571 00:31:38,950 --> 00:31:40,230 we don't get the broader effect. 572 00:31:41,820 --> 00:31:46,690 We see life very much out of focus... we glance. 573 00:31:46,720 --> 00:31:48,420 Other artists of the day, 574 00:31:48,460 --> 00:31:50,090 like Sandro Botticelli, 575 00:31:50,130 --> 00:31:53,560 painted figures with hard outlines. 576 00:31:56,430 --> 00:31:58,730 But Leonardo used his fine layers 577 00:31:58,770 --> 00:32:04,700 to create soft transitions, obscuring the lines. 578 00:32:04,740 --> 00:32:09,240 This is his signature look, called "sfumato," 579 00:32:09,280 --> 00:32:12,510 from the Italian "fumo," or smoke. 580 00:32:14,450 --> 00:32:16,820 Unquestionably, the most famous example 581 00:32:16,850 --> 00:32:18,520 of Leonardo's sfumato 582 00:32:18,550 --> 00:32:22,690 is that enigmatic smile of the "Mona Lisa." 583 00:32:25,560 --> 00:32:28,590 Just look at the mouth. 584 00:32:31,830 --> 00:32:33,970 Look at the eyes. 585 00:32:35,900 --> 00:32:37,800 You can't see lines. 586 00:32:37,840 --> 00:32:42,980 You just see the movement of the light. 587 00:32:43,010 --> 00:32:45,240 That's incredible, and there is no comparison 588 00:32:45,280 --> 00:32:49,380 with other artists at that time. 589 00:32:49,420 --> 00:32:51,450 There's no edge there at all. 590 00:32:51,490 --> 00:32:53,650 It's all very uncertain. 591 00:32:53,690 --> 00:32:55,960 This plays a psychological role, of course, 592 00:32:55,990 --> 00:32:59,360 because she is present but somehow not tangible. 593 00:32:59,390 --> 00:33:02,830 She is idealized. 594 00:33:04,830 --> 00:33:08,430 For Leonardo, sfumato captured in two dimensions 595 00:33:08,470 --> 00:33:12,470 what he observed in the three-dimensional world. 596 00:33:14,010 --> 00:33:16,010 But in order to get the skin just right, 597 00:33:16,040 --> 00:33:17,910 he had to go deeper... 598 00:33:17,950 --> 00:33:21,450 to the muscles and tendons below. 599 00:33:21,480 --> 00:33:24,420 Hold it like that. 600 00:33:24,450 --> 00:33:26,190 Trudy Van Houten 601 00:33:26,220 --> 00:33:27,620 has taught anatomy for 30 years. 602 00:33:27,660 --> 00:33:29,690 Perfect. 603 00:33:29,720 --> 00:33:32,990 Leonardo da Vinci constantly inspires me. 604 00:33:33,030 --> 00:33:37,100 She says the science of anatomy is beautiful. 605 00:33:37,130 --> 00:33:38,100 Would you like me to cut that? 606 00:33:38,130 --> 00:33:39,300 Yes, please. 607 00:33:39,330 --> 00:33:41,130 Though the process often is not. 608 00:33:41,170 --> 00:33:42,070 Nice. 609 00:33:42,100 --> 00:33:44,400 You've beautifully preserved 610 00:33:44,440 --> 00:33:45,810 that tiny little vessel. 611 00:33:47,310 --> 00:33:50,940 Leonardo dissected 30 bodies. 612 00:33:50,980 --> 00:33:52,410 And with no refrigeration, 613 00:33:52,450 --> 00:33:55,480 it would have been especially unpleasant. 614 00:33:55,520 --> 00:33:57,980 The intestines would've been a particular problem 615 00:33:58,020 --> 00:33:59,890 because they contain a lot of bacteria. 616 00:33:59,920 --> 00:34:02,060 And even after death, 617 00:34:02,090 --> 00:34:05,590 the intestines become inflated, and larger and larger. 618 00:34:05,630 --> 00:34:07,890 That's where things were going to go bad quickest, 619 00:34:07,930 --> 00:34:09,900 and smell the worst. 620 00:34:13,400 --> 00:34:17,540 It's a very messy business. 621 00:34:18,840 --> 00:34:20,570 Many of the drawings 622 00:34:20,610 --> 00:34:22,540 from Leonardo's messy dissections 623 00:34:22,580 --> 00:34:25,750 today live on in the most refined of places: 624 00:34:25,780 --> 00:34:27,750 Windsor Castle, 625 00:34:27,780 --> 00:34:31,250 just outside of London. 626 00:34:31,290 --> 00:34:34,250 Steps away from where Prince Harry and Meghan Markle 627 00:34:34,290 --> 00:34:36,260 posed for their wedding photos, 628 00:34:36,290 --> 00:34:42,760 more than 200 Leonardo drawings are secured in the Print Room. 629 00:34:42,800 --> 00:34:47,630 Martin Clayton is the curator of those drawings. 630 00:34:48,740 --> 00:34:50,370 He couldn't help himself 631 00:34:50,410 --> 00:34:52,110 making a beautiful drawing. 632 00:34:52,140 --> 00:34:55,170 But what most interested Leonardo was the structure, 633 00:34:55,210 --> 00:34:57,080 the machinery of the body. 634 00:34:57,110 --> 00:35:01,080 And this particular drawing is one of the finest examples 635 00:35:01,120 --> 00:35:03,820 of Leonardo trying to understand how the shoulder works 636 00:35:03,850 --> 00:35:06,420 purely in mechanical terms. 637 00:35:08,690 --> 00:35:09,836 There's no mystery of the body. 638 00:35:09,860 --> 00:35:11,890 The body is a machine that can be looked at 639 00:35:11,930 --> 00:35:15,130 and analyzed in purely objective terms. 640 00:35:17,170 --> 00:35:22,030 The beauty of Leonardo's drawings is undeniable. 641 00:35:22,070 --> 00:35:23,770 But in light of all that we've learned 642 00:35:23,810 --> 00:35:26,770 with the help of tools like the MRI, 643 00:35:26,810 --> 00:35:30,310 did he get it right? 644 00:35:30,350 --> 00:35:33,980 If I were asked to grade his anatomical drawings, 645 00:35:34,020 --> 00:35:36,450 they would go from A to F. 646 00:35:38,650 --> 00:35:39,990 His drawing of the muscles, 647 00:35:40,020 --> 00:35:42,320 of things that he was directly observing 648 00:35:42,360 --> 00:35:44,490 and giving functional sense to, 649 00:35:44,530 --> 00:35:48,190 those I would give an A-plus. 650 00:35:48,230 --> 00:35:53,330 In terms of some of the organs, I could not do so. 651 00:35:55,240 --> 00:35:58,270 One of Leonardo's most ambitious anatomical drawings 652 00:35:58,310 --> 00:36:01,610 is called the "Great Lady." 653 00:36:01,640 --> 00:36:04,310 It is considered a masterpiece, 654 00:36:04,350 --> 00:36:08,150 but for Van Houten, it's a bit of a mess. 655 00:36:08,180 --> 00:36:10,650 The feature I went to right away 656 00:36:10,690 --> 00:36:12,250 are strange structures 657 00:36:12,290 --> 00:36:16,460 flying out from the sides of the uterus. 658 00:36:16,490 --> 00:36:19,990 They reminded me of carrots with tops. 659 00:36:20,030 --> 00:36:24,760 These strange sort of horn-like structures 660 00:36:24,800 --> 00:36:26,970 are ligaments observed by Leonardo in a cow. 661 00:36:27,000 --> 00:36:29,700 Leonardo assumed 662 00:36:29,740 --> 00:36:31,380 that all mammals have the same structures. 663 00:36:32,940 --> 00:36:35,440 He's sort of feeling his way into a field 664 00:36:35,480 --> 00:36:38,210 that had never been illustrated before. 665 00:36:38,250 --> 00:36:42,220 Leonardo's ground-breaking dissections 666 00:36:42,250 --> 00:36:45,150 certainly informed his art. 667 00:36:47,290 --> 00:36:52,690 He returned to this painting, "Saint Jerome," after 20 years, 668 00:36:52,730 --> 00:36:57,660 revising the neck to accurately portray the muscle beneath. 669 00:37:03,140 --> 00:37:06,610 He did not revisit one of his earliest paintings, 670 00:37:06,640 --> 00:37:08,270 "Ginevra de' Benci," 671 00:37:08,310 --> 00:37:09,510 and it shows 672 00:37:09,540 --> 00:37:14,550 in what has been called the flatness of her face. 673 00:37:14,580 --> 00:37:16,780 But by the time of the "Mona Lisa," 674 00:37:16,820 --> 00:37:21,550 Leonardo's knowledge of anatomy is beautifully convincing. 675 00:37:23,830 --> 00:37:26,730 One intriguing page of Leonardo's notebooks 676 00:37:26,760 --> 00:37:29,730 shows several illustrations of human lips 677 00:37:29,760 --> 00:37:31,630 in exaggerated expressions, 678 00:37:31,670 --> 00:37:35,840 done from dissections. 679 00:37:35,870 --> 00:37:40,370 And it shows how each muscle and each nerve affects the lips, 680 00:37:40,410 --> 00:37:44,680 and at the very top is this tiny faint sketch, 681 00:37:44,710 --> 00:37:46,850 and you see the first sketch 682 00:37:46,880 --> 00:37:49,880 of what will be the smile of the "Mona Lisa." 683 00:37:56,720 --> 00:37:58,490 Anatomy and his painting technique 684 00:37:58,530 --> 00:38:02,460 explain in part how Leonardo infused the "Mona Lisa" 685 00:38:02,500 --> 00:38:05,500 with a lifelike quality. 686 00:38:05,530 --> 00:38:07,030 But to complete the illusion, 687 00:38:07,070 --> 00:38:10,700 he needed to explore another area of science: 688 00:38:10,740 --> 00:38:14,840 how humans see. 689 00:38:16,310 --> 00:38:21,250 Among the many aspects in which Leonardo 690 00:38:21,280 --> 00:38:22,696 was using his knowledge as a scientist 691 00:38:22,720 --> 00:38:25,080 to become a better painter 692 00:38:25,120 --> 00:38:26,890 is optics. 693 00:38:26,920 --> 00:38:29,890 And optics is called by Leonardo 694 00:38:29,920 --> 00:38:31,590 "perspectiva"... perspective. 695 00:38:35,560 --> 00:38:37,160 It's basic geometry, 696 00:38:37,200 --> 00:38:39,870 because when you have an object with parallel lines, 697 00:38:39,900 --> 00:38:43,740 they will seem to vanish into a point, 698 00:38:43,770 --> 00:38:46,870 which is called the vanishing point. 699 00:38:46,910 --> 00:38:48,140 Leonardo was fascinated 700 00:38:48,180 --> 00:38:51,980 by many aspects of how we perceive our world. 701 00:38:52,010 --> 00:38:56,480 He even studied the composition of air 702 00:38:56,520 --> 00:38:58,150 to determine how atmosphere affects 703 00:38:58,190 --> 00:39:01,420 the appearance of objects in the distance. 704 00:39:01,460 --> 00:39:04,420 Leonardo is trying to capture the complexity of the world. 705 00:39:04,460 --> 00:39:09,500 But how can you paint something that you cannot see, 706 00:39:09,530 --> 00:39:14,300 like the transparency of air? 707 00:39:14,340 --> 00:39:17,700 Leonardo not only looked at mathematical perspective, 708 00:39:17,740 --> 00:39:20,940 but he looked at how colors change as you get further away, 709 00:39:20,980 --> 00:39:22,880 how the sharpness of something changes 710 00:39:22,910 --> 00:39:25,180 as you get further away from it. 711 00:39:27,380 --> 00:39:30,920 And did Leonardo also discover tricks of perception 712 00:39:30,950 --> 00:39:33,820 to pull off the greatest illusion of all: 713 00:39:33,860 --> 00:39:35,390 that elusive smile? 714 00:39:39,660 --> 00:39:43,430 She's looking out, and her smile is a reaction 715 00:39:43,460 --> 00:39:46,570 triggered by the arrival of somebody. 716 00:39:46,600 --> 00:39:51,140 This is the fiction that the painting tries to establish. 717 00:39:51,170 --> 00:39:54,940 The great artists know how to draw you in, 718 00:39:54,980 --> 00:39:57,210 but not to tell you what to think. 719 00:39:57,250 --> 00:39:58,380 They offer the tease. 720 00:40:00,450 --> 00:40:02,550 The ambiguity of Mona Lisa's smile 721 00:40:02,580 --> 00:40:06,850 is indeed part of her allure. 722 00:40:06,890 --> 00:40:10,660 How did Leonardo pull that effect off? 723 00:40:12,960 --> 00:40:15,160 That is a question that intrigued 724 00:40:15,200 --> 00:40:18,330 neurophysiologist Margaret Livingstone. 725 00:40:18,370 --> 00:40:20,870 She studies the human visual system: 726 00:40:20,900 --> 00:40:23,940 how our eyes and brain operate together 727 00:40:23,970 --> 00:40:25,740 to make sense of the world. 728 00:40:25,770 --> 00:40:27,010 As a neurophysiologist, 729 00:40:27,040 --> 00:40:29,640 I actually learn a lot from artists, 730 00:40:29,680 --> 00:40:31,380 because they study how we see. 731 00:40:31,410 --> 00:40:32,550 I study how we see. 732 00:40:34,080 --> 00:40:37,780 A lot of good art takes advantage 733 00:40:37,820 --> 00:40:40,490 of the computations your brain makes 734 00:40:40,520 --> 00:40:43,460 by exaggerating things 735 00:40:43,490 --> 00:40:45,006 that your visual system finds important. 736 00:40:45,030 --> 00:40:50,000 Human vision is among the best in the animal kingdom. 737 00:40:52,130 --> 00:40:53,530 The center of our retina 738 00:40:53,570 --> 00:40:56,140 is packed with special photoreceptors 739 00:40:56,170 --> 00:40:59,510 that enable us to see details, or sharpness. 740 00:41:02,680 --> 00:41:05,540 But away from the center... toward the periphery... 741 00:41:05,580 --> 00:41:08,280 there are fewer of those types of receptors. 742 00:41:10,750 --> 00:41:15,220 We can see movement, but not detail. 743 00:41:15,260 --> 00:41:17,560 Okay, now I want you to close your eyes. 744 00:41:17,590 --> 00:41:21,430 I'm going to put up two version of the "Mona Lisa," 745 00:41:21,460 --> 00:41:22,330 one accurate and one distorted. 746 00:41:22,360 --> 00:41:23,800 To illustrate, 747 00:41:23,830 --> 00:41:25,900 Livingstone enlists her colleague Peter 748 00:41:25,930 --> 00:41:29,470 to see if he can spot a fake "Mona Lisa" 749 00:41:29,500 --> 00:41:31,300 using just his peripheral vision. 750 00:41:31,340 --> 00:41:32,386 Okay, briefly open your eyes 751 00:41:32,410 --> 00:41:34,110 and look at the yellow spot, 752 00:41:34,140 --> 00:41:36,680 then close them right away. 753 00:41:36,710 --> 00:41:40,580 And point to which is the accurate reproduction. 754 00:41:42,650 --> 00:41:44,150 Open your eyes and see 755 00:41:44,190 --> 00:41:46,350 whether you chose the correct one. 756 00:42:06,440 --> 00:42:08,910 Point at the real version. 757 00:42:13,580 --> 00:42:14,580 Can I keep that? 758 00:42:18,690 --> 00:42:22,690 Peter got only one of four "Mona Lisas" right, 759 00:42:22,720 --> 00:42:26,660 and Livingstone says that's not unusual. 760 00:42:26,690 --> 00:42:30,660 Most people don't know how bad peripheral vision is, 761 00:42:30,700 --> 00:42:32,460 because as soon as something happens 762 00:42:32,500 --> 00:42:33,600 in their peripheral vision, 763 00:42:33,630 --> 00:42:34,700 they look at it, 764 00:42:34,740 --> 00:42:35,976 and then they bring the high-resolution part 765 00:42:36,000 --> 00:42:37,470 of their visual system onto it. 766 00:42:39,070 --> 00:42:41,970 In fact, our eyes are constantly moving... 767 00:42:42,010 --> 00:42:47,510 three times a second, filling in the details. 768 00:42:47,550 --> 00:42:50,780 The effect got Livingstone thinking: 769 00:42:50,820 --> 00:42:52,320 could this explain 770 00:42:52,350 --> 00:42:55,320 why the "Mona Lisa" sometimes seems to be smiling, 771 00:42:55,360 --> 00:42:57,090 and sometimes not? 772 00:42:58,530 --> 00:42:59,760 Using a photo app, 773 00:42:59,790 --> 00:43:04,700 she blurs the image, like in our peripheral vision. 774 00:43:04,730 --> 00:43:06,500 So I filtered the image 775 00:43:06,530 --> 00:43:08,400 in such a way that it would look 776 00:43:08,440 --> 00:43:09,846 like what you would see to your peripheral vision, 777 00:43:09,870 --> 00:43:11,700 knowing what I know about processing. 778 00:43:11,740 --> 00:43:14,340 The result? 779 00:43:14,380 --> 00:43:16,640 She's grinning from ear to ear. 780 00:43:16,680 --> 00:43:19,410 As you look at the "Mona Lisa," 781 00:43:19,450 --> 00:43:23,120 your eye moves around the painting. 782 00:43:24,850 --> 00:43:26,390 When you look away from her mouth, 783 00:43:26,420 --> 00:43:28,790 it enters your peripheral vision, 784 00:43:28,820 --> 00:43:33,790 and Mona Lisa appears to smile. 785 00:43:33,830 --> 00:43:38,160 But look directly at the mouth, and the smile vanishes. 786 00:43:42,900 --> 00:43:44,270 She seems like she's alive, 787 00:43:44,310 --> 00:43:45,970 because she looks different 788 00:43:46,010 --> 00:43:47,410 depending on where you're looking. 789 00:43:50,440 --> 00:43:51,880 Leonardo's paintings come alive 790 00:43:51,910 --> 00:43:54,280 because he understands human emotion, 791 00:43:54,320 --> 00:43:59,720 and because he has a good feel for the underlying science. 792 00:43:59,750 --> 00:44:01,690 That combination comes together 793 00:44:01,720 --> 00:44:04,920 year after year as he's doing the "Mona Lisa" 794 00:44:04,960 --> 00:44:08,060 to make it such an interactive painting. 795 00:44:13,600 --> 00:44:14,770 Back at the Louvre, 796 00:44:14,800 --> 00:44:17,100 Cinzia Pasquali has removed 797 00:44:17,140 --> 00:44:18,900 the old yellowed varnish from "Bacchus," 798 00:44:18,940 --> 00:44:25,040 uncovering the brilliant original colors. 799 00:44:25,080 --> 00:44:27,710 It reveals an atmospheric perspective 800 00:44:27,750 --> 00:44:30,780 that suggests Leonardo's touch. 801 00:44:30,820 --> 00:44:34,390 Taking off these layers of darkened and yellowed varnish, 802 00:44:34,420 --> 00:44:37,720 we were able to rediscover the original forms, 803 00:44:37,760 --> 00:44:39,430 the quality of the blue. 804 00:44:39,460 --> 00:44:40,590 It's a wonderful blue. 805 00:44:40,630 --> 00:44:44,330 And see how the painter represent these cities 806 00:44:44,370 --> 00:44:47,630 with that effect of humidity, 807 00:44:47,670 --> 00:44:52,240 of what Leonardo called the atmospheric perspective. 808 00:44:52,270 --> 00:44:55,540 But Pasquali's investigation 809 00:44:55,580 --> 00:44:56,616 has also uncovered details 810 00:44:56,640 --> 00:44:59,480 like the harsh shading in the face, 811 00:44:59,510 --> 00:45:00,680 that don't show 812 00:45:00,720 --> 00:45:05,850 the characteristic sfumato fingerprint of Leonardo. 813 00:45:05,890 --> 00:45:07,350 I can't see Leonardo's touch. 814 00:45:07,390 --> 00:45:11,420 This is a little mechanical. 815 00:45:11,460 --> 00:45:15,560 This line for the shadow is so hard, you know. 816 00:45:15,600 --> 00:45:18,930 Leonardo don't do this. 817 00:45:20,100 --> 00:45:21,870 Pasquali and the team at the Louvre 818 00:45:21,900 --> 00:45:24,470 have solved a centuries-old mystery. 819 00:45:26,110 --> 00:45:30,180 The "Bacchus" cannot be attributed to Leonardo. 820 00:45:34,220 --> 00:45:38,250 But that doesn't mean he wasn't involved. 821 00:45:38,290 --> 00:45:41,120 Very often, his apprentices are actually painting the pictures, 822 00:45:41,160 --> 00:45:44,290 so he would conceive the general design of the work, 823 00:45:44,330 --> 00:45:45,890 and then the manual execution 824 00:45:45,930 --> 00:45:48,460 would be delegated to members of his workshop. 825 00:45:53,170 --> 00:45:54,870 The restoration has succeeded 826 00:45:54,900 --> 00:46:00,810 in bringing much of the original beauty back to this painting. 827 00:46:00,840 --> 00:46:04,110 But it also raises an intriguing question: 828 00:46:04,150 --> 00:46:08,810 should the same thing be done to the "Mona Lisa"? 829 00:46:10,450 --> 00:46:12,820 You have to imagine that under that varnish, 830 00:46:12,850 --> 00:46:16,390 you could see a wonderful blue sky. 831 00:46:16,420 --> 00:46:20,360 Probably also the face or the hand are more pink, 832 00:46:20,390 --> 00:46:23,700 like natural skin. 833 00:46:23,730 --> 00:46:27,700 If we could just take that varnish off, 834 00:46:27,740 --> 00:46:30,770 we could see it the way Leonardo really did it. 835 00:46:30,810 --> 00:46:35,210 But I think French governments have fallen for less cause 836 00:46:35,240 --> 00:46:36,456 than trying to take the "Mona Lisa" out of circulation 837 00:46:36,480 --> 00:46:37,780 and clean it. 838 00:46:40,080 --> 00:46:42,350 Perhaps there is another way. 839 00:46:42,380 --> 00:46:46,650 Could she be given a digital makeover? 840 00:46:46,690 --> 00:46:51,390 That is what Pascal Cotte is trying to do. 841 00:46:51,430 --> 00:46:53,060 He has analyzed the "Mona Lisa" 842 00:46:53,090 --> 00:46:56,700 with a remarkably powerful camera and lights, 843 00:46:56,730 --> 00:46:59,100 which he demonstrates using a replica. 844 00:47:01,940 --> 00:47:03,240 We make the measurements 845 00:47:03,270 --> 00:47:07,910 in the basement of the Louvre, inside the laboratory. 846 00:47:07,940 --> 00:47:09,580 It's very emotional, 847 00:47:09,610 --> 00:47:11,940 to have the painting in your hands 848 00:47:11,980 --> 00:47:13,410 without the frame. 849 00:47:13,450 --> 00:47:14,780 You can look at this painting 850 00:47:14,820 --> 00:47:17,620 under this very intense light, 851 00:47:17,650 --> 00:47:22,150 that reveal everything that you cannot see usually. 852 00:47:27,360 --> 00:47:30,600 Cotte's extremely detailed scan of the "Mona Lisa" 853 00:47:30,630 --> 00:47:34,430 and his analysis of the optics and chemistry of paint 854 00:47:34,470 --> 00:47:38,540 reveal how the colors may have changed over time. 855 00:47:42,510 --> 00:47:46,010 It's not just the varnish that yellows and darkens, 856 00:47:46,050 --> 00:47:50,480 but the pigments and oil in the paint itself. 857 00:47:50,520 --> 00:47:54,420 Cotte's challenge is to reverse-engineer 858 00:47:54,460 --> 00:47:56,120 the effects of that aging. 859 00:47:56,160 --> 00:47:59,420 This is not just photoshopping it 860 00:47:59,460 --> 00:48:00,990 and messing around with the colors, 861 00:48:01,030 --> 00:48:05,060 which you and I could do and get tolerable results, 862 00:48:05,100 --> 00:48:07,030 but this is based on pigment analysis. 863 00:48:09,540 --> 00:48:12,440 First, Cotte determines how much the varnish has darkened, 864 00:48:12,470 --> 00:48:17,810 and with his computer, peels it away. 865 00:48:20,580 --> 00:48:24,280 Next, he identifies what the color of each pigment 866 00:48:24,320 --> 00:48:27,020 would have looked like 500 years ago, 867 00:48:27,050 --> 00:48:32,160 and recreates them to see the colors just as Leonardo did. 868 00:48:32,190 --> 00:48:35,230 For example, we know that Leonardo make the sky 869 00:48:35,260 --> 00:48:37,860 with white lead and lapis lazuli. 870 00:48:37,900 --> 00:48:41,470 So, we have software 871 00:48:41,500 --> 00:48:43,870 that remove the wrong colors 872 00:48:43,900 --> 00:48:45,970 to obtain the genuine color. 873 00:48:47,210 --> 00:48:49,510 Then, pixel by pixel, 874 00:48:49,540 --> 00:48:52,610 Cotte restores those colors. 875 00:48:54,980 --> 00:49:00,250 Suddenly, a greenish sky becomes brilliantly blue, 876 00:49:00,290 --> 00:49:04,660 and a bit of flush comes back to Lisa's cheeks. 877 00:49:04,690 --> 00:49:08,830 Finally, as the French say: 878 00:49:08,860 --> 00:49:11,930 voilà. 879 00:49:11,970 --> 00:49:15,400 Suddenly, she doesn't look like a submarine goddess. 880 00:49:15,440 --> 00:49:17,270 She looks as if she's in the fresh air, 881 00:49:17,300 --> 00:49:18,840 which is just terrific. 882 00:49:21,210 --> 00:49:24,910 Cotte's restoration has brought Lisa back to life, 883 00:49:24,950 --> 00:49:27,050 at least digitally... 884 00:49:27,080 --> 00:49:32,020 closer to the state that Leonardo saw her, 885 00:49:32,050 --> 00:49:36,090 allowing us all to see the painting's legendary beauty 886 00:49:36,120 --> 00:49:39,490 and the science it took: 887 00:49:39,530 --> 00:49:44,560 the geometry and optics of perspective; 888 00:49:44,600 --> 00:49:47,700 the anatomy behind her face; 889 00:49:47,740 --> 00:49:50,840 and the sfumato soft lines, 890 00:49:50,870 --> 00:49:55,810 capturing the mystery and movement of life. 891 00:49:55,840 --> 00:49:59,440 But even with all the modern insights, 892 00:49:59,480 --> 00:50:01,910 the "Mona Lisa" is vastly more 893 00:50:01,950 --> 00:50:06,650 than the sum of her scientific parts. 894 00:50:06,690 --> 00:50:10,590 Pinning down exactly why we are so drawn to her 895 00:50:10,620 --> 00:50:15,630 ultimately remains as elusive as her smile. 896 00:50:19,700 --> 00:50:21,800 Three years before his death, 897 00:50:21,840 --> 00:50:23,770 Leonardo was invited to France 898 00:50:23,800 --> 00:50:28,110 to live and work for the king. 899 00:50:28,140 --> 00:50:31,910 He crossed the Alps by horse or mule, 900 00:50:31,950 --> 00:50:36,450 carrying three paintings. 901 00:50:36,480 --> 00:50:39,850 Those paintings, including the "Mona Lisa," 902 00:50:39,890 --> 00:50:42,090 now hang at the Louvre, 903 00:50:42,120 --> 00:50:44,490 where the doors are about to open 904 00:50:44,530 --> 00:50:48,790 on the 500-year blockbuster Leonardo exhibition... 905 00:50:48,830 --> 00:50:52,160 a celebration of a genius who fused together 906 00:50:52,200 --> 00:50:56,100 the worlds of art and science. 907 00:50:56,140 --> 00:50:58,840 Leonardo is an Italian Renaissance painter, 908 00:50:58,870 --> 00:51:02,540 but his genius is universal, and it speaks to everybody. 909 00:51:06,710 --> 00:51:08,650 Leonardo wanted you to forget 910 00:51:08,680 --> 00:51:12,280 that you're looking at pigments on a piece of wood. 911 00:51:14,460 --> 00:51:15,820 The idea is 912 00:51:15,860 --> 00:51:21,060 that you're looking at a real living, breathing being. 913 00:51:25,370 --> 00:51:27,930 The key to Leonardo da Vinci 914 00:51:27,970 --> 00:51:30,700 is that he doesn't make a distinction 915 00:51:30,740 --> 00:51:33,410 between the beauty of nature that he studies in his science 916 00:51:33,440 --> 00:51:35,570 and the beauty of his art. 917 00:51:41,650 --> 00:51:46,020 He could have spent more time just being a painter. 918 00:51:46,050 --> 00:51:47,450 But had he done that, 919 00:51:47,490 --> 00:51:49,790 he wouldn't have been Leonardo da Vinci, 920 00:51:49,820 --> 00:51:52,760 and he wouldn't have painted the "Mona Lisa." 921 00:52:18,290 --> 00:52:20,720 To order this "NOVA" program on DVD, 922 00:52:20,750 --> 00:52:25,560 visit ShopPBS or call 1-800-PLAY-PBS. 923 00:52:25,590 --> 00:52:30,560 This program is also available on Amazon Prime Video.