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X-Rays Reveal Hidden Portrait Under Painting By Edgar Degas (npr.org)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from NPR: Using specialized X-ray imaging, a team of researchers in Australia has revealed a striking painting of a woman's face hidden under French Impressionist Edgar Degas' Portrait of a Woman. The researchers believe the auburn-haired woman in the hidden work -- which they also attribute to Degas -- is Emma Dobigny, who was reportedly one of Degas' favorite subjects and modeled for him in 1869 and 1870. "Degas painted directly on the underlying portrait with no intermediate ground paint layer using exceptionally thin paint layers, thus little pigment is present to provide hiding power," the researchers explained in the journal Nature. "The hiding power of paint layers often decreases as oil paintings age." Even as the traces of a ghostly form emerged over the course of decades, conventional imaging technology could only provide hints of what the hidden portrait looked like. Now, an enhanced process known as X-ray fluorescence elemental mapping gives a far better picture. The technique allowed the researchers to scan for the individual elements -- such as iron, zinc and copper -- found in different colors of paint. The team said the maps "can be used to deduce pigment use based on the elements observed within the context of the painting." For example, "Fe and Mn are co-located in the hidden sitter's hair [...] strongly suggesting the use of the brown pigment umber." The researchers detected cobalt in the face, and deduced that it is "probably present as a blue pigment, which is useful in defining flesh tones." This chart shows maps of elements the researchers tested in an effort to create a representation of the hidden work.
black slave discovered under george washington painting.
"it was me, i wore a mask"
I like the original, hidden portrait better. Seems warmer and more alive. The newer painting almost looks like a woman in mourning.
Better known as 318230.
He should have kept it and not painted over it.
Most of Degas' paintings depict the bodies of underage girls. It has always baffled me how the art world celebrates this pervert with pedophilic proclivities.
first known use of layers with transparency to enhance art ;)
if this is supposed to be a new economy, how come they still want my old fashioned money?
Parts of it look almost like a photograph. Amazing talent.
with his wife.
Not a bad effort seeing we have only had electricity here for 30 years.
My wife is a painter and this is just a common artist-thing: they paint so many pieces, they often run out of storage space and/or canvases, and it's really at their whim what unfinished, least-favorite or unsold works get the insult of a painting-over. Amazing job they did identifying the likely pigments and paints used by using the scans of different elements within.
It is not the first time we discover a hidden painting below a master's piece. Nowadays famous artists were poor when they painted, and canvas reuse was a common practice to save money.
When we need our paintings x-rayed we will let you know. Fuck ./ honepot sites.