X-rays reveal hidden Van Gogh self-portrait

There was a hidden self-portrait on the back of the painting that was discovered during a cataloging procedure. The X-ray analysis of Head of a Peasant Woman was being conducted as part of a cataloging exercise to prepare for an upcoming exhibition. The X-ray image can be viewed through a lightbox at the center of the display.

X-ray techniques can be used to analyze and restore paintings because the rays' higher frequencies allow them to pass right through the paintings without damaging them. Anything that has been painted over a canvas can be seen with an X-ray.

In 1979 a team of Dutch and French scientists used high-energy X-rays to reveal the image of a love interest under the painting.

We reported last year that researchers were able to see through the upper layers of the painting of the famous portrait of the Lavoisier's in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Evidence of a carbon-based black underdrawing and dark shapes was found in the reflectogram. To map out the distribution of elements in the paint, the team used a combination of X-ray and X-ray fluorescence.

Head of a Peasant Woman (1885).">

Europeans used X-ray analysis to reconstruct a hidden portrait of a peasant woman in a Van Gogh painting. When he created Patch of Grass, the artist had painted over it. X-rays from the atoms on the canvas can be picked up by a detector. Scientists can identify the distribution of each element in the painting by looking at its X-ray signature.

Van Gogh used the reverse side of the canvas to paint. Martin Bailey wrote in The Art Newspaper.

The Edinburgh painting is not van Gogh’s only double-sided painting with reused canvas. In 1929, the Dutch conservator Jan Cornelius Traas removed cardboard backing from three Nuenen paintings, revealing hidden portraits on the reverse. And we can report that it has long been suspected that there could be something on the hidden side of Head of a Peasant Woman.

The Head of a Peasant Woman was one of Van Gogh's more modest works and was donated to the National Galleries in 1960. According to the museum, experts now believe it's part of a series of studies Van Gogh made in connection with a larger painting.

Head of a Peasant Woman alongside an X-ray image of the hidden Van Gogh self-portrait.">

The small painting was subjected to X-ray analysis by the museum. The X-ray image showed a portrait of a man in a brimmed hat with a neckerchief that was very similar to Van Gogh. The portrait was covered with layers of glue and cardboard in the early 20th century and may have been used to secure it before it was hung for an exhibition.

Go and see! We don't see much of the peasant woman, but what we do see is the lead white that he used for his face, which shows up after the X-ray. A new work is amazing. The benefit of technological analysis, that we can still find new things, is a huge bonus and anything that gives us more info about the artist is a huge bonus.

The next step is to find a way to remove the layers of glue and cardboard from the self-portrait. The self-portrait was taken more than a century ago. Stevenson said it was like stepping into the unknown. The challenge will be to remove the glue from the oil paint layers.

There is a listing image by Neil.