Part III of a Cognitive Science Series
When we think of Leonardo da Vinci, we picture an artistic genius who painted the Mona Lisa, invented flying machines, and studied human anatomy. But what if I told you that da Vinci’s most powerful discoveries happened in the last place you’d expect—a morgue**. Yep, that’s right. Our favorite Renaissance man spent hours dissecting bodies to crack the code behind something we all do every day: smile.
Why? Because da Vinci was determined to capture human emotion like no one else had ever done before. To truly understand the muscles behind expressions—especially around the face—he needed more than just a brush and paint. He needed science. So, let’s dive into the fascinating, slightly morbid, but totally inspiring story of how da Vinci’s time in the morgue helped him create one of the most iconic smiles in history.
Depiction of a tesseract*
The Morgue: Where Science Meets Art
Yes, you read that right. Da Vinci dissected human bodies. In the basement of Santa Maria Nuova hospital in Florence, da Vinci painstakingly studied the human form—specifically the muscles that control our facial expressions. Why? Because he wasn’t just interested in how we smile, he wanted to know why we smile. He wanted to understand if the brain or spinal cord was responsible for this subtle but powerful expression. This wasn’t just for fun, though. Da Vinci was preparing for a major painting commission, The Battle of Anghiari, and he wanted to depict the full range of human emotion. He also happened to be working on a little side project you might have heard of—the Mona Lisa. By understanding how our faces move, he hoped to capture something that had never been done before: a smile that felt alive.The Art of the Smile: Why It’s More Than Just a Moment
Here’s something you probably didn’t realize: smiling isn’t a single event. It’s not like you go from not smiling to smiling in a snap—it’s a process. Da Vinci discovered that smiling happens gradually, as different muscles around the mouth and eyes work together. The smile we see in the Mona Lisa isn’t frozen in time. It’s actually somewhere in the middle of this process, like a fleeting moment that’s caught between forming and fading. Think of it like love at first sight—it’s not just one moment. It’s a series of little moments that build up until you feel that spark. Da Vinci wanted to capture that nuance. He wasn’t just trying to show a smile; he wanted us to feel like we’re witnessing something unfold in real-time.What’s a Tesseract Got to Do with It?
Okay, stay with me for a second because things are about to get a little science-y. Da Vinci’s ambition was to capture this process of smiling in a 2D painting. But here’s the thing: emotions aren’t two-dimensional. They exist in multiple dimensions—think x, y, z, and time. So da Vinci was basically trying to capture a 4D event (yes, 4D!) on a flat canvas. To help visualize this, imagine a tesseract. It’s a 4D shape, kind of like a cube, but stretched into an extra dimension. Da Vinci was trying to do the artistic version of a tesseract, capturing more than just a static moment, but the entire emotional journey of a smile. Did he succeed? Maybe not entirely, but he got pretty close.The Tricks Behind the Mona Lisa’s Smile
Let’s break down how da Vinci pulled this off. His goal was to make the Mona Lisa’s smile feel alive, and he used a few genius tricks to make that happen:- Sfumato: This is a fancy Italian word that means “to evaporate like smoke.” Da Vinci used this technique to blend colors and tones so smoothly that you can’t see any lines or edges. It’s why the Mona Lisa’s face looks so soft and lifelike, almost like she’s about to move.
- Chiaroscuro: Another Italian term (because, of course), this one refers to the contrast between light and dark. Da Vinci was a master at playing with shadows to create depth and volume, making a 2D painting feel 3D.
- Peripheral Magic: This is where it gets really cool. Da Vinci painted the area around the Mona Lisa’s mouth using different densities of paint. Margaret Livingstone, a neurobiologist from Harvard, discovered that da Vinci used high-frequency details for the mouth and low-frequency details for the surrounding areas. What does that mean? It means when you look directly at her mouth, you don’t see the smile. But when you look at her eyes or face, your peripheral vision picks up on the smile. It’s like a little magic trick for your brain, making the smile seem like it’s constantly shifting.
The Grim Side of Da Vinci’s Research
Da Vinci wasn’t just playing around with paint. He took his research to the next level by getting hands-on with human anatomy—literally. He dissected bodies and studied the jaw muscles to understand how facial expressions were controlled. One muscle he focused on was the buccinator, which controls the angle of the mouth. This deep dive into anatomy helped da Vinci figure out the mechanics of a smile. In fact, he made the first scientific illustrations of how we smile, long before there was anything like Gray’s Anatomy (the book, not the show). He was a pioneer, using art to uncover scientific truths about how our bodies work.The Mona Lisa: More Than Just a Pretty Face
Now, here’s where it all comes together. The Mona Lisa isn’t just a beautiful portrait; it’s a study in human emotion and perception. Every year, millions of people flock to the Louvre just to catch a glimpse of her enigmatic smile. But what makes that smile so compelling is that it’s not static. It’s alive, shifting, and transforming based on how we look at it. Da Vinci understood that our brains are wired to pick up on tiny facial details—like the slight upturn of a mouth or the crinkle of an eye. He knew that by capturing the process of smiling, he could create something that felt deeply human and, let’s be honest, a little magical.Final Thoughts: Da Vinci, the Original Cognitive Scientist
Leonardo da Vinci wasn’t just an artist—he was a cognitive scientist long before the term even existed. His work in the morgue, his anatomical studies, and his obsession with capturing human emotion all point to a man who was deeply curious about how we experience the world. The Mona Lisa is more than just a painting; it’s an exploration of how we perceive and process emotion. So the next time you see the Mona Lisa, don’t just think of her as a pretty face. Remember that behind that smile lies centuries of science, art, and a whole lot of dissection. Da Vinci wanted to capture something that was bigger than just a moment—he wanted to capture the entire experience of being human.Notes:
*Source of tesseract illustration is Wikipedia.org
**Facts about the life of Da Vinci in this blog post are taken from Walter Isaacson’s Leonardo Da Vinci (2017).
Be sure to check out the previous installments of this series.
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