Scientists discovered the previously unknown self -portrait of the brush Van Gogh. He was hiding behind the well -known canvas of the artist “Portrait of a peasant in a white cap”, which is stored in the National Gallery of Scotland.
BBC writes that, according to representatives of the national galleries of Scotland, the incredible find was made by chance. On the eve of the opening of the exhibition dedicated to the impressionists, the curators decided to take the X -ray picture of the work of Van Gogh in 1885 at the Royal Scottish Academy in Edinburgh. To their greatest surprise on the back of the canvas, covered with several layers of glue and closed cardboard, a drawing was revealed, which is almost certainly a self -portrait of the artist himself. In all likelihood, the image was sealed in the preparation of the picture for the exhibition, held at the beginning of the 20th century.
On the detected portrait, a sitting bearded man in a hat with fields and a carelessly tied cervical scarf is visible. His left ear is clearly visible: Van Gogh cut him off his mastikhin in an impulse of anger three years later after writing a “portrait of a peasant woman in a white cap.”
Theoretically, the self -portrait can be peeled off from the portrait of a peasant woman, however, the process of removing glue and cardboard requires painstaking work of restorers. Now experts are exploring the possibility of such a separation without damaging the main portrait.
According to the senior curator of the French painting of the national galleys of Scotland, Professor Francis Faul, such incredible discoveries are extremely rare. “We managed to discover the unknown work of Vincent Van Gogh, one of the most important and famous artists in the world,” says Professor Faul. “This is a huge gift for Scotland, which will forever be in charge of national galleries.”