This image of the painting shows where there is a convex warp in the poplar wood that's about 12 millimeters higher than the outside of the painting.
Not only was the depth resolution sufficient to see differences in the height around cracks, it could also resolve differences in the thickness of the varnish and even beyond to reveal the master's first conception of the Mona Lisa.
"The 3D imaging was able to detect the incised drawing to provide us with DaVinci's general conception for the composition," says Dr. Christian Lahanier, Head of the Documentation Department of the Centre de Recherche et de Restauration des Musees de France, which organized the study.
Amazingly, even at that resolution, scientists could find no brush strokes or fingerprints to help solve the mystery of how da Vinci managed to apply such thin layers of paint.
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