Australian researchers have revealed thanks to X-ray an unprecedented portrait of French impressionist painter Edgar Degas that was hidden behind another of his paintings, as published today in the journal Scientific Reports.
after the painting “Portrait of a woman,” painted in the late 1870s, a previous work in which the face of a young woman who could be Emma Dobigny model in other paintings by Degas, the researchers appears hid.
“it is truly exciting to be able to discover a new work of art by Degas that the whole world can see,” he told the BBC Daryl Howard, co-author of the study.
specialists known for some time that “Portrait of a woman” was painted over another work due to a dark spot in the picture has become more evident as the oil has been aging.
conventional X-rays had revealed the shadow of a silhouette under the table, but a more advanced technique is needed to see the old image without damaging the paint.
to achieve this, the researchers used the synchrotron Australia, an accelerator that generates X-rays much more power, able to penetrate deeper into the layers of oil.
with this technology were able to detect the metallic elements in pigments he used Degas and reconstruct the original portrait that the artist decided to cover with a new job.
the old portrait was unfinished, after several attempts artist recompose parts of the image with which did not seem satisfied.
Michael Varcoe-Cocks, chief curator at the National Gallery of Victoria in Australia, where it is exposed picture, said that “it is always an exciting time to see something created by an artist’s hand that nobody had seen so far. “
” the image has always been partially visible in the second painting, so the process has been as exposing the hidden hand behind a veiled curtain “Varcoe-Cocks said.
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