For almost a century, experts have known that Degas painted the famed portrait over another image sometime between 1876 and 1880.
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This undated copy photo provided by Australian Synchrotron and the National Gallery of Victoria shows Edgar Degas’ Portrait of a Woman.
In 2010 similar techniques were used to find a hidden Arthur Streeton self-portrait buried under layers of lead paint and, in 2015, a major project helped uncover hidden secrets in Frederick McCubbin’s The North wind.
A vague, ghostly figure has been slowly emerging, spreading an increasingly dark stain over the face of the model that replaced her. Since 1922 the faint outlines of the second painting, running in the opposite direction to the surface portrait, have been coming through the paint.
However, the hidden image “has always been considered to be indecipherable” without damaging the portrait that covered it, the research team wrote in a Scientific Reports article.
By applying a non-invasive, rapid, high-definition X-ray fluorescence (XRF) mapping technique, scientist Daryl Howard, from the Australian Synchrotron, and fellow researchers were able to reveal the hidden woman in clear detail. Instead, a newly-developed X-ray detector that uses fluorescence, called the Maia detector, is responsible for the depth of the scan. The striking image, thought to be of model Emma Dobigny, remained obscured since Degas painted over it over a century ago.
For nearly a hundred years, viewers have speculated over a shadowy figure that appears to be slowly emerging from behind a famous Degas portrait.
False color reconstruction of Degas’ hidden portrait (detail).
The name of the black-clad woman who supplanted her on the canvas, however, remains unknown.
“Portrait of a Woman” as it undergoes scanning with the synchrotron.
Reusing canvases wasn’t an uncommon practice for artists low on funds and reluctant to waste resources (and it still isn’t), but it’s only been in recent years that we’ve been able to see the artworks painted over. The process took just 33 hours.
The colours, however, have to be inferred.
“Cobalt is probably present as a blue pigment, which is useful in defining flesh tones”, wrote the team, while “mercury is predominant in the facial area and would most likely correspond to the red pigment vermillion, which would contribute to a pink flesh tone”. Degas, for example, appears to have originally given the woman pixie-like ears, but later reworked them to a more conventional shape.
“We respect Degas’ choices, and honour his final composition for a unique work in its own right”, said Dr Varcoe-Cocks. Degas lived from 1834 to 1917 and painted some of the most handsome works of art during his lifetime.
In 2008, a researcher in the Netherlands used an advanced X-ray technique to show that Vincent van Gogh’s 1887 work “Patch of Grass” was actually done over an earlier painting of a woman’s face.
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The technology “will significantly impact the ways cultural heritage is studied for authentication, preservation and scholarly purposes”, the team concluded.
