Scientist finds secret Renaissance ingredient

"How did paintings by Tintoretto and other Venetian Renaissance artists get their special glow?

Using an electron microscope, Barbara Berrie, senior conservation scientist at the National Gallery of Art, discovered one of their secrets: tiny bits of glass the artists mixed with their pigments.

"By looking beyond the limits of their usual practice and transforming materials from other trades to their painting, the great artists of the Renaissance created a palette that gave them an immediate and lasting reputation as brilliant colorists," Berrie said."