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A scientifically colours approach |
Each color was scientifically given
with an invisible margin of error to the naked eye…
DEFINITION OF THE GLANCE OF MONA LISA
In 2004, the Mona Lisa was taken down and unframed ( !) to enable a team
of scientists to scan it in the most accurate way possible using a
spectral camera unique to the world. (The file size is more than 22
gigabytes…).
It took two years of studying the influence of time and light on the
colorimetry of the paint for the scientists to define the original
colours of Leonardo Da Vinci’s master piece.
Originally, the painting
had been very luminous, the blues of the sky had been very vivid, the
contrasts, striking and Mona Lisa’ eyes… a lot lighter! The main
pigment used for her iris is most certainly a natural dark umber from
Cyprus, probably mixed with some Sienna pigment, as suggested by the
X-ray fluorescence analysis carried out by the Louvre laboratory.
 
(Louvre Museum imposes 2 "n" on Monna LISA in French. What would be true orthography…)
We
thank all the scientists and, more particularly, Mr. Cote for having
helped us reproduce such an amazing colour accurately.
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THE BLUE PLANET
To define the colour of the earth, we reproduced this colour scientifically with the photo, taken from Apollo 17 at an altitude of 28.000 miles on the 7th of December 1972.
We selected a zone to the exact vertical of where Apollo was (off Madagascar) to minimize any atmospheric interferences.
We are grateful to the NASA for allowing us to use the colour.
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COLOR MATCHING THROUGH SPECTROCOLORIMETRY.
To reproduce the different colors as accurately as possible, each color underwent an in-depth chromatic study through spectrocolorimetry with the support of French engineers and Konica Minolta Sensing material. The reflectance curve obtained for each color is in a way its colorimetric ID.
More on the study of the colors : http://www.konicaminolta.eu/pcc/fr/
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EXCEPTIONAL DYE
To be able to define each color precisely is one thing, but to be able to reproduce it accurately is something else. We thus called upon one of the most prestigious French dyers: the Teinturerie Coquelle in Northern France.
Its engineers committed themselves to determine each color, reproducing its spectrocolorimetric curve with an error margin inferior to 1, meaning it is invisible to the naked eye. This approach to color is, to our knowledge, unique in the world. It took over 3 months for Coquelle’s engineers to establish the color formulation process.
This way, the dye color remains identical to the original subject whatever the source of light (sun, artificial light, candle, …).
Furthermore, the Teinturerie Coquelle guarantees a perfect hold of the colors over time through the quality of their dyes.
The standards for resistance to washing are the strictest in existence. So that wash after wash after wash, each Bluebretzel keeps its legendary color.
 
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