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UK gallery unearths hidden Van Gogh self-portrait
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Hidden gem: Senior conservator Lesley Stevenson viewing Head of a Peasant Woman alongside an X-ray image of a hidden self-portrait of Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh in Edinburgh, the United Kingdom, in this picture released by the National Galleries of Scotland on Thursday. (AFP/National Galleries of Scotland/Neil Hanna)
A
gallery in Scotland said on Thursday it was "thrilled" to announce the discovery of a previously unknown self-portrait of Vincent Van Gogh, with his ear intact, hidden behind another painting.
The portrait was found on the back of the canvas of Head of a Peasant Woman, an 1885 work by the Dutch post-Impressionist, covered by layers of glue and cardboard.
It shows a bearded sitter in a brimmed hat with a neckerchief tied loosely at the neck. It was completed before Van Gogh cut off his left ear in 1888.
Visitors to the National Galleries of Scotland in Edinburgh will be able to see it at a forthcoming exhibition, as an X-ray image through a specially designed lightbox.
Longer term, curators are working on safely extracting it from the overlaying canvas without damaging the paintings.
Lesley Stevenson, senior paintings conservator at the National Galleries, said they were "thrilled to bits" at the find.
"When we saw the X-ray for the first time of course we were hugely excited," she said.
