Scientists Race to Save Fading Da Vinci Self-Portrait

One of painter extraordinaire Leonardo Da Vinci's masterpieces, believed to be a self-portrait, is literally fading fast and scientists are racing against time to save it.

Dating back to the 1500s, the artwork, drawn in red chalk, is crumbling and yellowing due to centuries of humidity, but scientists may have found a solution in a new kind of breakthrough technology, according to a study published in Applied Physics Letters.

The technique involves identifying the culprit of the paper's yellowing, without compromising the original drawing. Humid conditions are giving the paper a yellow and brownish tinge, which is reducing the contrast between the colors of chalk and paper, diminishing the visibility of the drawing.

Paper degradation experts from Italy and Poland were brought in to determine whether after conservation measures had been taken, the portrait's aging process had slowed, or if it will continue down its self-destructive path.

"During the centuries, the combined actions of light, heat, moisture, metallic and acidic impurities and pollutant gases modify the white color of ancient paper's main component: cellulose," Joanna Łojewska, a professor in the Department of Chemistry at Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland, explained in a stament.

"This phenomenon is known as 'yellowing,' which causes severe damage and negatively affects the aesthetic enjoyment of ancient art works on paper."

Yellowing is a result of "chromophores within cellulose absorbing the violet and blue range of visible light and largely scattering the yellow and red portions," said Professor Olivia Pulci from the University of Rome Tor Vergata, according to the American Institute of Physics, through Red Orbit. Experts had to quantify how many such molecules were in Da Vinci's work.

It involves obtaining "optical reflectance spectra" - the measure of the proportion of light or other radiation striking a surface which is reflected off it - of paper samples in the near-infrared, visible, and near-ultraviolet wavelength ranges.

Their technology was successful at ascertaining the state of degradation of Da Vinci's portrait - the chromophores of which are similar to those found in other ancient and modern works also exposed to humidity.

"Now our approach can serve as a precious tool to preserve and save not only this invaluable work of art, but others as well," fellow researcher Adriano Mosca Conte noted.