Art Unvailed
Van Gogh
"Head of a Peasant Woman"
In 2022, Lesley Stevenson, a conservator at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, x-rayed a work by Van Gogh, “Head of a Peasant Woman,” ahead of an exhibition — a routine step that normally does not reveal much.
Hidden under layers of glue and cardboard was another painting on its reverse — a portrait of a man in a hat with a scarf tied around his throat. It was a self-portrait by Van Gogh.
Hover your cursor over the painting to expose the veiled Underdrawing.
Edvard Munch
"Madonna"
National Museum of Norway conservator Thierry Ford and photographer Børre Høstland, discovered a latent drawing while performing a routine maintenance on this painting ahead of the museum’s reopening. Their finding, made possible through infrared reflectography, effectively proved long-held suspicions about the existence of such sketches below the artwork’s surface.
The discovery reflected the struggle the Norwegian master had painting the original composition. This underdrawing truly is a haunting find.
Hover your cursor over the painting to expose the veiled Underdrawing.
Agnolo Bronzino
"Portrait of Cosimo I de' Medici as Orpheus"
As stated by Mark Tucker Director of Conservation at the Philadelphia Museum of Art:
"One of the most exciting moments in the examination of a painting is discovering that there is something hidden beneath the image normally visible. We may find drawing an artist made to set out their composition before painting, known as underdrawing. Or the artist may have made changes to their initial idea as they worked (pentimenti in Italian). Sometimes there is an altogether different painting hidden underneath. The discovery of underdrawing or of pentimenti gives a fascinating window onto the creative process and mindset of the working artist".
Hover your cursor over the painting to expose the veiled Underdrawing.
