Hidden Almost In Plain Sight,

this paintings secret has now been reviled,

all images via Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, for hundreds of years the painting “Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window” painted by the 17th-century Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer, has held a secret, conservators knew the image of the Roman god of love existed after a 1979 X-ray, although it was assumed that Vermeer had altered the piece himself. Only after they performed a series of infrared reflectography imagings, microscopic analyses, and X-ray fluorescence examinations in 2017 did they realize that the Cupid was covered decades after the painter’s death, even though they still aren’t sure who marred the original piece or when,

a statement says, “When layers of varnish from the 19th century began to be removed from the painting, the conservators discovered that the ‘solubility properties’ of the paint in the central section of the wall were different to those elsewhere in the painting,” what an amazing find,

if you have time for a coffee the above video is a good watch, “Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window” will be on view in its original form for the first time in centuries as part of an expansive exhibition dedicated to the painter running from September 10, 2021, to January 2, 2022, at the Dresden museum, all of this begs the question, how many other works of art have secrets waiting to be reviled?