Mona Lisa (1503-1517)
“In a break with the Florentine tradition of outlining the painted image, Leonardo perfected the technique known as sfumato, which translated literally from Italian means "vanished or evaporated." Creating imperceptible transitions between light and shade, and sometimes between colors, he blended everything "without borders, in the manner of smoke," his brush strokes so subtle as to be invisible to the naked eye.” - “Leonardo’s masterful technique” PBS Treasures
When painting the world famous ‘Mona Lisa’, Leonardo applied sfumato to the portrait. Leonardo broke away from the Medieval tradition of painting images with distinct outlined figures by instead developing sfumato. This Italian based technique allowed Leonardo to subtly blend and blur sharp lines, or light and shade, with two (or more) different colours to create one tone, and gave depth to the Mona Lisa and her surroundings (“The Impact of Leonardo Da Vinci Paintings” Davincilife). Leonardo was the most successful in using this technique and was envied by his contemporaries, such as Raphael and Michelangelo.