A self-portrait of Dutch post-Impressionist artist Vincent van Gogh has been uncovered hidden behind one of his paintings. The image was hidden behind cardboard and layers of glue https://t.co/PEz0MFk2fB 1/4 pic.twitter.com/IlEoPU2TGD
— Reuters (@Reuters) July 14, 2022
The famous Dutch artist Vincent Van Gogh was never commercially successful during his lifetime. So, like a lot of starving artists, he reused canvases, painting over them repeatedly. Nonetheless, art convervators at the National Galleries of Scotland were surprised to find a rather complete self-portrait hidden in Van Gogh's 1885 work Head of a Peasant Woman.
The conservators x-rayed the painting in preparation for an upcoming exhibition on Van Gogh's work. Most artists who reuse canvases paint over previous works. But in this case, Van Gogh's self-portrait was painted on the back of Head of a Peasant Woman, then covered the self-portrait with layers of glue and cardboard.
-via Nag on the Lake