The Prado Museum in Madrid has what they had considered to be an inferior late-era replica of the Mona Lisa, a portrait surrounded by black. But when conservators compared infrared images of their copy with images taken in 2004 from the Leonardo's masterpiece, they found that the Prado replica closely resembled early under-drawings covered by the Mona Lisa everyone sees. Yesterday, Prado held a news conference to announce that their restoration efforts are nearly done and displayed the work in progress. The comparison is striking, showing details that might have been visible when the Mona Lisa was fresh, 500 years ago. The Guardian has more details and a high-detail portion of the apprentice's painting, believed to be by Francesco Melzi. [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief on Feb 2, 2012 - 20 comments

Gordotronic.com launched across the interwebs.... Seattle artist and record producer Gordon Raphael (The Strokes, Regina Spektor) has launched an all encompassing website featuring his own unreleased albums (7 of them) , Interviews, Art, and Video.
posted by ktrain on Jan 19, 2012 - 1 comment

Vatican Art is now viewable online at the Vatican website. View the Sistine Chapel and Raphael's Rooms in all their glory (sort of).
posted by nthdegx on Jun 25, 2003 - 5 comments