ART experts have experienced a “Christmas miracle” after discovering what could be a 16th century painting of a nativity scene hidden under another work of art.
Art conservators from Northumbria University have been working with The Bowes Museum to examine one of its centuries-old paintings, which depicts the beheading of Saint John the Baptist.
But they got a surprise when an x-ray of the artwork revealed another image underneath – featuring angels with halos, a baby in a
manger and the outline of what appears to a stable building.
Nicky Grimaldi, from the university, said: “It was such a lovely surprise to see the nativity scene revealed underneath the painting we see today.
“It really is quite unusual to find paintings hidden in this way and to discover a nativity scene in this detail and just before Christmas was really incredible.”
The painting is believed to be about 400 years old and belongs to The Bowes Museum, having been collected by its founders John and Josephine Bowes in the 19th century.
It is painted in a late medieval style and probably formed part of a larger altar piece. As was typical of the era it is painted onto a piece of canvas spread over a large panel made from planks of wood, usually oak, pine or even chestnut.
However, this wooden structure had deteriorated over the years, with curators at The Bowes Museum turning to experts from Northumbria University’s conservation of fine art masters course to assess the damage.
Ms Grimaldi said: “The first stage of most investigations of this kind is to carry out an x-ray to understand what is going on underneath the
layer of paint we see on the surface.
“That was when we realised there was more to the painting than we originally thought.”
The x-ray showed several figures, including the outline of what appears to be one of the three wise men, or Magi – his hands outstretched as if holding out a gift.
Also clearly visible is the outline of a baby in a manger with a halo around his
head.
Ms Grimaldi added: “It was common practice to apply gold leaf to these type of religious paintings and in the x-ray we can see that gold is present in the halo around the baby’s head.
“Incredibly we can see lines over the x-ray image which we believe to be preparatory drawings, showing where the painting was probably copied from an original drawing (cartoon).
“Those lines were subsequently filled with another paint layer such as lead white which allows them to be visible on the x-ray.”
Dr Jane Whittaker, The Bowes Museum’s head of collections, said: “We’re simply delighted and astounded to discover that this 16th century work was hiding such a wonderful secret and to find out at this time of year is really quite fortuitous.
“It’ll be really interesting to find out more about it as Northumbria University continue their investigations.”
