Peeling back the layers of a Goya

[xchrom]

http://www.elpais.com/articulo/english/Peeling/back/the/layers/of/Goya/elpepueng/20110922elpeng_3/Ten


The portrait of Don Ramón Satué and, on the right, the work discovered under the oil paint.- RIJKSMUSEUM

A Goya on top of another Goya. That is what the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam discovered after analyzing the Portrait of Don Ramón Satué , which the Aragonese artist painted in 1823. The finding was made possible through a new chemical analysis technique based on fluorescent X-rays, known as Scanning Macro X Ray-Fluorescence Spectrometry.

Using a portable scanner, researchers peered under the layers of oil paint and found an entirely different portrait underneath - of an officer in Napoleon's army. His face, concealed until now, is not well defined. But the cavalry uniform and his medals suggest a general. It could even be Joseph Napoleon, king of French-occupied Spain and Napoleon Bonaparte's older brother.

"With the moving scanner, we can go to the museum and analyze all the layers of paint. That is how we rebuild the colors lying below the image that the public sees. And all that, without hardly touching the canvas," says Joris Dik, of the Delft Technical University, whose team has developed the technology in tandem with the Belgian University of Antwerp. The work they do is similar to an archeologist's, except they painstakingly write the history of a painting through its pigments.

For the Rijksmuseum, it's quite a discovery. The Portrait of Don Ramón Satué is the only Goya piece kept in a Dutch art gallery. Presented like a treasure, the history of this artwork is closely linked to the history of Spain. Satué was a judge and a minister of the Council of the Indies, the main administrative body of the Spanish territories in the Americas and the Philippines. He came from a family of prominent clerics and his brother was a canon of the basilica of El Pilar in Zaragoza. According to Dutch experts, Goya must have painted the French official between 1808 and 1813. After the Spanish War of Independence from France, the painting was left behind when Napoleon's troops beat a retreat in 1813.

[notadmblnd]

1. I've only known one real painter in my life, but he often painted

over his paintings. I don't know if it was because he was never happy with what he painted or if he couldn't afford canvas. But I don't think it is an uncommon occurrence.

[CTyankee]

2. Fascinating story, xchrom! I love this stuff.

A great big REC!

[xchrom]

3. thanks! nt