Left: Infrared image of Portrait of Mateu Fernández de Soto
Right: X-ray image of Portrait of Mateu Fernández de SotoDepartment of Conservation, The Courtauld Institute of Art, London
Posted on 02/12/2025 11:26:28 PM PST by SunkenCiv
Conservators at The Courtauld Institute in London have discovered an image of a mystery woman hidden beneath one of Picasso's most famous Blue Period paintings. The unknown image was discovered when The Courtauld took x-ray and infrared images of Portrait of Mateu Fernández de Soto (1901), revealing the outline of an unidentified woman with a distinctive chignon hairstyle, which was fashionable in Paris at the turn of the century.
But the research also revealed evidence of another head at an even lower level in the painting, suggesting the canvas was much reused and painted over -- something Picasso, like other impoverished artists, would often do to save money...
The analysed painting shows Picasso's sculptor friend Mateu Fernández de Soto sitting at a table. De Soto arrived in Paris late 1901 and was staying in the studio with the artist where the portrait was made...
According to the Smithsonian Magazine, researchers have discovered hidden underpaintings in several works dating from Picasso's Blue Period such as The Soup (1903) ans Crouching Beggarwoman (1902). An X-radiograph of the latter, taken by the Art Gallery of Ontario, showed, for instance, the landscape of the Horta Labyrinth park in Barcelona.
(Excerpt) Read more at theartnewspaper.com ...
Left: Infrared image of Portrait of Mateu Fernández de Soto
Right: X-ray image of Portrait of Mateu Fernández de SotoDepartment of Conservation, The Courtauld Institute of Art, London
The Smithereens - Blue Period (acoustic) | 2:54
Soft Rock Kid | 1.91K subscribers | 630 views | March 29, 2019
Looks like a creepy skull with square eye sockets in the top right portion of the x-rayed canvas.
VEry cool discovery. I have often painted over a previous painting simply beczuse materials are expensive and time consuming to make znd prep. I usually sand down the paint layer a bit first though but it doesn’t ob,iterate the painting altogether
I wonder if Picasso tried selling the earlier painting(s?) and they didn’t sell, so he gave it one more try?
BOGO special?
LOL
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Sounds reasonable. I think maybe a number of artists probsbly did that.
My wife is an artist and this is very common. Oh yeah, there is a reason that the earlier painting was removed-the original sucked.
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