Glossary · Technical Analysis
Pentimento
An alteration made by the artist during the creation of a work — from Italian pentirsi, "to repent." Pentimenti are windows into the artist's creative process, revealed by infrared imaging and X-ray analysis.
Definition
A pentimento (plural: pentimenti) is any change in composition, form, or detail that an artist made while working — a repositioned hand, a shifted horizon line, an abandoned figure. As paint becomes translucent with age, some pentimenti become visible to the naked eye. Others are detected through infrared reflectography or X-ray imaging, which can see through finished paint layers to reveal earlier states underneath.
Leonardo's works are particularly rich in pentimenti. His habit of thinking through a composition on the panel itself — rather than executing a fixed cartoon design exactly — means his paintings contain traces of multiple decisions. The Mona Lisa shows a shifted position of the hands. The Lady with an Ermine shows the ermine was added after the figure was initially painted without it.
Significance for Attribution
Pentimenti are valuable evidence in attribution studies. The process of revision — how a composition evolves — can indicate whether the master or a follower made the work. Assistants typically copied final designs; Leonardo himself revised as he worked.
Examples in Leonardo's Works
- Mona Lisa: Earlier hand position visible under current placement; an earlier column capital at the left edge
- Lady with an Ermine: The ermine is a late addition; under-image shows the sitter without it
- Virgin of the Rocks (Louvre): Angel's pointing finger shifted; background altered significantly from early state