The oracular smile on the look of the " Mona Lisa " has return esteem and give-and-take for one C .
But another feature article in Leonardo da Vinci ’s portraitsis now make a buzz — the eye .
Researcher Christopher Tyler , writing in the Oct. 18 , 2018 emergence of the medical journal JAMA Ophthalmology , said da Vinci may have had a rarefied eye disorder squall exotropia . Tyler said that may have contributed to his unusual ability to produce three - dimensional scenes on two - dimensional paper or canvas .
Exotropia is a form of strabismus , a condition in which a person’spupilsdo not describe up while focusing on an physical object .
One student of a someone with exotropia shift outward , vitiate the person ’s deepness percept . The three - dimensional perspectives in a rural scene , for good example , are receive by the mental capacity as a prostrate range , or a monocular simulacrum . Normal vision registers the vista as a binocular , 3 - 500 image .
Tyler is a professor in the School of Health Sciences at the University of London , and he also serves as a squad loss leader studyingdepth perceptionat San Francisco ’s Smith - Kettlewell Eye Research Institute . He based his enquiry on examinations of six art pieces :
Tyler appraise the educatee , irises and eyelids of each eye in these graphics and describe that each prove an exotropic inclination with a pupil in one heart turning outwards .
If da Vinci ’s condition were intermittent , Tyler suggested , he would be able to consider an objective with binocular vision when his eyes were focused and with monocular vision when they were unlax . Such a status would contribute to his unparalleled power , for his time , to interpret 3 - D object and tantrum into two - dimensional picture on insipid Earth’s surface .
Similar study ofself - portraitsby the Dutch artist Rembrandt and photos of numerous more late artist show signs of them having had a condition calledamblyopia , also calledlazy eye .
Tyler ’s hypothesis may not be conclusive , but it is something to keep your eye on .
