Rembrandt ’s An Old Man in Military Costume is a 380 - year - onetime masterpiece with a secret . Beneath the famous figure in the feathered cap hides a much younger man , one that researchers are unveil in color using advanced x - ray of light applied science .
Scientists first enchant puff of air of the obscure figure when scan the painting with x - ray in 1968 . But at the fourth dimension , our most advanced imaging technologies could n’t see past the painting ’s upper coats , and we only had the sketchiest thought of what that enigma person looked like . Over the preceding few year , a team of researchers at the Getty Conservation Institute has revisited the iconic Rembrandt , which lives at the Getty Museum , using a newer peter known as macro - x - shaft of light fluorescence ( macro - XRF ) . With macro instruction - XRF , scientists can scan a painting ’s chemical composition at higher resolutions than ever before , agree specific elements to paint colour . Lead , for case , indicates the presence of white , copper is associated with Amytal and super acid , and Hg intend flushed .
hug drug - ray scan of An Old Man in Military Costume . simulacrum on the rightfield is invert to highlight the hidden figure
Best of all , the intact psychoanalysis can be done on site without run ( and potentially damaging ) a thin piece of study .
The image up top , publish today in Applied Physics A , is the beneficial reconstruction to date of the young human race who lurks in the setting of Rembrandt ’s famous house painting . He ’s got brownish pilus , a collar and an Olea europaea cloak , and he ’s oriented 180 level from the old man in military attire . According toThe Getty Iris , museum curator Anne Woollet suspects this figure is an early part study by Rembrandt , a mountain lion who was known to ofttimes reuse his canvases and wood gore .
As scientist continue to study the work , they hope to reconstruct the closed book figure ’s clothing in more contingent and explore how the colors in the last painting have change over time . Me , I ’m just waiting for x - ray goggles to become a thing so I can buy a duad and take a trip Met . There could be an entire world of obscure art to explore !
[ The Getty Iris ]
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Top : Getty ’s “ provisional color reproduction ” of the conceal portrayal , via J. Paul Getty Trust . Middle image via The Getty Iris . Bottom epitome via The Getty Museum .
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