What materials did Leonardo da Vinci use to create the Mona Lisa?

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Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci, oil painting showing a woman with a slight smile and folded hands, seated before a distant, hazy landscape. — Mona Lisa *Mona Lisa*, oil on wood panel by Leonardo da Vinci, 1503–19; in the Louvre, Paris.

Leonardo da Vinci created the Mona Lisa using oil paint applied to a poplar wood panel.1

Unlike the fast-drying tempera common at the time, the use of oil paint allowed Leonardo to apply the medium in multiple, thin, translucent layers or glazes. This technique was essential for his skillful execution of sfumato, a method of blending tones to blur hard outlines and create gradual shifts from light to dark. By building up these delicate glazes over several years, he was able to achieve the soft, modeled appearance of the sitter's face and the harmonious transitions characteristic of the work.2345