Scientists discover mysterious ingredient in da Vinci's paintings

Prominent artists of Western Europe, known in art history as the Old Masters (a group of artists from the Renaissance to the second half of the 19th century), used a secret ingredient in their masterpieces that scientists have finally managed to identify.

Information about this is published in Nature Communications.

As it turned out, scientists have found traces of egg yolk in outstanding paintings by artists such as Leonardo da Vinci, Sandro Botticelli and Rembrandt, which the artists probably deliberately combined with oil paint to change its properties.

Scientists claim that this ingredient was previously mistaken for contamination on the paintings. However, it has now become clear that the artists deliberately combined the components, creating a new technique for using oil paints to achieve new effects on canvas.

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Ophelie Ranke, author of the study from the German Institute of Technological Research in Karlsruhe, explained that the yolk can change the properties of paint significantly. This was tested in practical research: the scientists recreated the paint-making technique of the period using egg yolk, distilled water, linseed oil and pigment to create two significant colours, lead white and ultramarine blue.

"Our findings show that even a small amount of egg yolk can change the properties of oil paints, which demonstrates how useful it was for artists," he said.

A similar technique was used in ancient Egypt as well.

As a reminder, an ancient medical treatise was found in Japan.

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