The Brontë Sisters by Patrick Branwell, their brother, in 1834. He sketched himself, then covered his face with the painting of a pillar. To see it go to The National Portrait Gallery, London, England, UK. The Gallery is easy to reach, just behind Trafalgar Square and near an underground 'tube' station.
Branwell is not the only artist who may have started to paint himself and then decided against it. Another is Rembrandt, whose supposed portrait was found under Old Man In Miliary Costume in the Getty Museum, Southern California, USA.
Old Man in Military Costume, in Getty Museum, Southern California, USA. Picture in public domain from Wikipedia.
ProblemWhich painting has one hidden underneath, which gallery can I visit to see it, and which researchers at other galleries near me or places I might visit have researched and made comments on this?
It can get quite confusing. Painters move from one place to another. The Mona Lisa is in Paris, France but Leonardo da Vinci painted it of a woman in Florence, Italy.
I have made myself this list so that I can plan a holiday to see one of these paintings, or see one of these paintings whilst I am on a holiday or business trips to one of these countries and ask if one of the speakers on the subject is on video or at the gallery so I can speak to them. I thought you would also be interested so you can do the same.
It takes a lot of time to track down every painting and its gallery. I've already spent four house, so I've put it up online for you to read but there's more to add so come back later to see if I've added anything else. By dividing it up this way it's easier to find the current location of a painting, and its history on the internet.
Mona Lisa. To see it visit Museé de Louvre, Paris, France. Another lady is painted behind her.
Painters (Alphabetically by artist)
Branwell, Patrick, (The Brontë Sisters. London, UK.)
Degas, Edgar. (Portrait of Femme. Art Institute of Chicago. USA)
Goya, Francisco de
Leonardo da Vinci. (Mona Lisa, France; Sforza Castle museum, Milan, Italy.)
Picasso, Pablo
Seurat, Georges-Pierre (Courtauld Institute of Art, London, England.)
Paintings (Alphabetically by subject)
Brontë Sisters (1834) with sketch of painter, brother Branwell, hidden behind overpainted pillar.
Dobigny, Emma (Degas painting).
Mona Lisa, France.
Painting Name
The Brontë Sisters. UK.
Crouching Woman. (La Misereuse Accroupie by Picasso. Blue Period. Germany)
Mona Lisa. (La Jioconda in Italian by Leonardo da Vinci.) France.
Portrait Of A Woman. (Portrait de Femme by Degas. Chicago.)
Galleries And Museums To Visit, by country and continent.
Courtauld Institite of Art, London, England.
The Louvre, Paris, France. (Mona Lisa.) Europe.
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia. (Degas.)
The National Portrait Gallery, London, England, UK. (Brontë Sisters.) Europe.
The Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Holland, The Netherlands. Europe.
Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart, Germany. Europe. (Picasso.)
Sforza Castle museum, Milan, Italy. (Leonardo Da Vinci.)
In the Courtauld Institute of Art in London, England, Seurat's picture shows a seated women. Behind her on the wall is a vase of flowers. It was originally a mirror showing Seurat watching the model, (rather like the painting of Las Meninas, with the royal family, and the painter at the back, and the Arnolfini marriage). However Seurat's picture did not show royalty, or even a marrried couple but the woman who was his secret mistress, Madeline Knoblock. (Her suranme has unfortunate humorous associations in English.) Having second thoughts, to avoid scandal, Seurat painted himself out of the picture. You might not know this painting, but if you know about art, you will recognize the term pointillisem, and you'll probably lean forward when you see his other better known paintings, The Bathers, featuring a rather round-shouldered boy, and Sunday afternoon on the grass, a jolly crowd.
I have mentioned Europe in case any travellers such as the British or Americans or Europeans or Asians as individual or groups want to do a multi-centre art tour of Europe.
A painting by Leonardo Da Vinci, showing trees, was discovered under twenty layers of whitewash inside Sforza castle in Milan, Northen Italy. Yes, you can visit the castle, which is a museum. Also see their website for details of the painting and opening hours. The website also has a video, although I could not get it to play the day I tried.
Places To Visit (alphabetically by country)
Australia, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne (Degas).
France, Paris, The Louvre (Mona Lisa).
Germany, Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart. (Picasso, Crouching Woman.)
Italy, Sforza Castle museum, Milan. (Painted over mural by da Vinci discovered.)
The Netherlands, Amsterdam, Holland, The Rijksmuseum.
UK - London, England, National Portrait Gallery. (The Brontë Sisters by brother Patrick.)
UK - National Gallery, London (Woman At A Window by Palma Vecchio.) By the Portrait Gallery.
USA - Art Institute of Chicago. (Degas. Portrait of a Woman.)
USA - Getty Museum, S California. (Old Man In Military Costume. Rembrandt.)
USA - Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. (Madame X by John Singer Sargent.)
Magazines and Journals
Method of Investigation
Australian Synchroton
x-ray
Researchers of Art (Art historians and gallery officials)
Kenneth Brummel, curator, Art Institute of Chicago, USA.
Dr Daryl Howard, National Gallery of Victoria, Australia.
Michael Varcoe-Cocks, National Gallery of Victoria, Australia.
Scientific Methods
Producers, sellers or distributors of methods for seeing what's underneath
Australian Synchroton
Website Stories
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-15018174
https://artlawandmore.com/2015/12/21/london-national-portrait-gallery-to-find-out-true-story-behind-bronte-sisters-portrait/
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/art-news/12057053/National-Portrait-Gallery-to-reveal-mysteries-of-shadowy-Bronte-brother.html
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/13/russia-malevich-black-square-hidden-paintings
https://www.tretyakovgallery.ru/en/for-visitors/museums/novaya-tretyakovka/
https://listverse.com/2016/03/06/10-hidden-images-discovered-beneath-famous-classic-paintings/
https://www.milanocastello.it/en (Sforza castle.)
http://blog.courtauld.ac.uk/gallery/2014/03/28/seurats-secret-self-portrait-2/
https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/research/woman-at-a-window
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/12127 (A rather censored account.)
If you Google the words hidden paintings you will come up with the stories. In Wikipedia I tried typing hidden paintings and found nothing, but when I went to the Brontë page, I came straight to the story and the picture of The Brontë Sisters. Wikipedia is a good place to go to find public domain pictures and discussion about whether a picture is in public domain, why and in which country.
I went from 10 hidden images, which reveals all the racy details, to the art galleries' websites, which sound more like family reading. For example, the Met describing Singer Sergant's portrait, Madame X, of Madame Pierre Gautreau, says she was born in Louisiana, which sounds very factual. The other website describes her strap falling off her shoulder in the original of the picture and specified she went to Paris from New Orleans, a detail which has altogether more exciting connotations. I have been to New Orleans, which has a lively night life.
I loved the side by side pictures of the earlier and repainted version of the woman at the window.
Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
If you know of any more, please let me know. My two previous posts are on the same subject. You can find me on Facebook or leave a comment on this article. If you ever need a talk on this subject, or wish to quote me, please get in touch. Meanwhile, please share links to your favourite posts.
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