Leonardo Da Vinci used several painting techniques to achieve his distinctive style.
Leonardo da Vinci was a 15th century inventor, sculptor and artist who is generally regarded as one of the finest painters of the Italian Renaissance. Famed for such works as "The Mona Lisa" and his fresco of "The Last Supper," da Vinci used a variety of painting techniques to achieve realism in his paintings.
Underpainting and Glazing
Da Vinci was one of the first artists to use oil paints instead of the water-based egg tempera that had been traditionally used. Da Vinci even devised his own recipe for oil paints. One of his most famous techniques involving oil paints was the process of under-painting and reglazing, a time-consuming process that lent his work a high degree of realism. The first step was to create a detailed under-painting, typically in brown or gray tones, with thin layers of colored transparent glaze applied over top. As layer coated layer, the under-painting that still showed through helped to create a sense of depth.
Lighting
One of the elements that characterizes many of da Vinci's paintings is the softness of the lighting that illuminates the subject, as opposed to a brighter, harsher color palette. The effect is as if the painting takes place at twilight as opposed to during the daytime. This allowed da Vinci to keep the facial features of his subjects tonally complex, which da Vinci achieved by blending darker and lighter tones together. Da Vinci created a warm luminosity in his paintings by applying lighter colors over the darker glazes.
Sfumato
Da Vinci also employed a technique that softened the colors by using a dark glaze around the edge of objects. This technique is known as sfumato, taken from the Italian word for smoke, fumo. This produces an effect that makes the outer edges of the objects of people in the painting appear to be slightly obscured by a haze or smoke.
The Last Supper
One of da Vinci's most famous paintings is his fresco titled "The Last Supper." In this case, the techniques that created its rich, deep tones also led to its early deterioration. Typically, frescoes were painted using water-based paints applied directly to wet plaster; this method, however, did not allow the artist to make changes as he worked. Da Vinci decided to experiment with oil-based paint applied directly on a stone wall that he sealed with of a mixture of gesso (a plaster made from chalk and gypsum), pitch and mastic (both plant resins). This allowed him to modify the painting, but the painting began to deteriorate within a few years of its completion.
