It was found thanks to an X-ray examination of the work ‘Cabeza de mujer campesina’
An unknown self-portrait of Vincent van Gogh has been found on the back of another painting of his authorship in the National Gallery of Scotland, thanks to an X-ray study carried out by experts on the occasion of an exhibition, according to British media ‘TheGuardian’.
The self-portrait was covered in layers of glue and cardboard on the back of the 1885 work “Head of a Peasant Woman,” discoverer Lesley Stevenson, curator of paintings at the National Galleries of Scotland, has revealed. “It was absolutely exciting,” he said.
“The X-ray plates were processed in an old-fashioned darkroom and when I looked at the images I realized I was looking at the face of Van Gogh himself,” Stevenson said.
The curator has reported that the painting was donated in 1960 by a lawyer from Edinburgh, Scotland, and that it was being X-rayed as part of a cataloging exercise for a Royal Scottish Academy exhibition devoted to French Impressionism to be held from 30 July to November 13.
Later research suggests that the painting is part of a series of experimental self-portraits (five similar works are on display at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam) painted on the backs of earlier canvases from his Nuenen period in the south of the country (1883–18). 1885). There he did a series of preparatory farmer studies for De Aardappeleters.
The experts, according to ‘The Guardian’, will begin by revealing the self-portrait, which is in an uncertain state beneath layers of glue and cardboard, preserving the original painting. “It’s like stepping into the unknown. The challenge will be to remove the glue from the oil paint layers, taking advantage of the difference in solubility between animal glue and oil-based paint,” Stevenson said.
Source: La Verdad

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