Have you ever wondered how famous painters create their main canvases? In a burst of inspiration, did you write everything in a few days or perfect every detail over the years? We will never get a definitive answer. But we know one thing for sure – many artists (like real creative people) can change the vector of the work in a second and get away from the main idea.
Faced with dozens of edits by its author, the final version has reached us. But thanks to museum staff and modern technology, we have the opportunity to look back and see what legendary canvases should have looked like in reality.
In front of you are seven tables, under the top layer of which completely different images are hidden. And we assure you that even if you are not strong in the arts, there are works that everyone knows in the selection. Spoiler: The mysterious “Mona Lisa” couldn’t do without it.
Black Square by Kazimir Malevich
There has always been a lot of controversy and discussion around Malevich’s Black Square. While some say that it is a legendary work, others claim that they can draw the same by sitting in the kitchen.
But in 2015, Tretyakov Gallery employees did another study of the painting and discovered that two more works were hidden behind the square. And they belong to different areas of the picture. The bottom layer is for Cubo-Futurism, the second is for Proto-Suprematism.
“Mona Lisa” by Leonardo da Vinci
Many mysterious stories and legends are connected with this mysterious picture. One of them became known only in 2015, when the French engineer Pascal Cotte analyzed the lower paint layers of da Vinci’s work and concluded that the artist was actually painting a completely different woman. And there was no mysterious smile there. Moreover, Kott claimed that the famous portrait has more than two layers, and one of them resembles the Virgin Mary. By the way, many experts disagree with this version and believe that the lower layers are different stages of the same work.
“Old Man in Military Suit” by Rembrandt van Rijn
Dutch artist of the 17th century also sometimes hid his paintings under another layer. One of these works is “An old man in military uniform”. In 1968, scientists discovered the second layer of the picture. However, at that time, there was no technology to see the details. It was possible to do this only in 2015. Researchers scanned the centuries-old canvas and found a portrait of an unknown young man in a green suit underneath.
“Woman with an Ermine” by Leonardo da Vinci
It turned out that in the original version of Leonardo da Vinci’s painting, the most important element was absent – the ermine. This was first stated by the same French engineer Pascal Cotte. It is not known exactly why the artist decided to add an animal to the picture, but there are several versions. First, the canvas depicts the mistress of Lodovico Sforza, Duke of Milan, whose family emblem is the ermine. According to the second version, the girl was pregnant, and ermine covered her stomach.
Vincent van Gogh’s Grass Patch
In 2008, with the help of technology, scientists from Belgium and the Netherlands managed to find a portrait of an unknown woman under the painting “Patch of Grass”. By the way, Van Gogh often painted on top of other works. And he did this not because he wanted to add something to already existing canvases, but simply out of lack of money.
Many experts say that Van Gogh hides other paintings under about a third of his works.
Magical Pose by Rene Magritte
This painting of the famous surrealist was made in 1927, but after five years he disappeared without a trace. The search continued for almost a hundred years, but to no avail. Until 2013, employees of the Museum of Modern Art in New York were not able to find a fragment of the “Magical Pose” under the layer of another painting by Magritte “Portrait.” It turned out that in 1932 the artist divided the canvas into four parts and wrote completely different works on them. The second piece was found under the painting “Model in Red”, and in 2016 the third part of “Pose” was found in the gallery of the English city of Norwich. He was hiding in The Human Condition. The search only ended in 2017, when the final piece was found under Magritte’s “God is not a saint” piece.
“The Unicorn Woman” by Raphael Santi
The history of the creation of this painting is even more mysterious than the previous ones. According to some reports, the portrait of a unicorn lady was painted in 1506. In 1760 she is referred to as “Saint Catherine of Alexandria” by Perugino. But later it was proved that the author is still Rafael Santi. But the secrets don’t end there. Before the first restoration, the painting depicted a martyr’s wheel and a palm branch instead of a unicorn. In 1916, Italian art historian Giulio Cantalamessa determined that these qualities were added later. And only after the restoration in 1934-1936, researchers saw that a unicorn was painted on canvas (at that time it was a symbol of purity).
By the way, “The Unicorn Woman” was the first canvas in history for X-ray work. In the process of examining the pictures, one more fact came to light – the unicorn was later completed. In the original version, the painting depicted a girl with a dog in her arms.
Source: People Talk
