5 ms·

A Mysterious Cézanne Portrait Was Hiding Under the Layers of a Still Life

37 points by Vigier 4y ago

jrmg 4y ago
“A mysterious game was hidden in the history of this app’s Git repository”
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
VWWHFSfQ 4y ago
A lot of old canvases were reused like this. There's even a hidden treasure map under the Declaration of Independence that's only visible if you look at it from a special angle under a black light.
- linux_is_nice 4y ago
  > The Declaration was carefully examined by staff when the document was re-encased in 2001, and no secret treasure map was discovered. "No, that's a Hollywood myth," Kratz said. "There is no treasure map on the back of the Declaration.
  - bell-cot 4y ago
    Actually, there was a treasure map...but General Washington had to dig up the treasure in early February 1778, so that he could meet payroll and make at least "good will" payments on overdue A/R for his Continental Army. /s
  - stronglikedan 4y ago
    Excuse me, but the highly acclaimed documentary National Treasure says otherwise.
  - Maultasche 4y ago
    Interestingly, there were multiple copies of the Declaration of Independence that were printed and distributed. The one that everyone focuses on is just the copy that the delegates signed.
    - Kon-Peki 4y ago
      Even more interesting is that people keep looking at the document itself when the hidden treasure map is under the Declaration of Independence. This is a true story - when I took my son to the National Archives in 2020 right before the pandemic, the security guard sent my son on a treasure hunt in the rotunda holding all the founding documents. He found all but one of the treasures ;)
wslh 4y ago
I think Dali intuition about the Angelus by Millet is more interesting [1]. [1] https://theo.kuleuven.be/apps/press/theologyresearchnews/2022/02/07/millets-angelus-between-fact-and-fiction/ https://theo.kuleuven.be/apps/press/theologyresearchnews/202...
swamp40 4y ago
Ugh. If they can remove the top layer, why can't they also remove the wood frame?
- grugagag 4y ago
  No, they did not remove the top layer. The procedure could be damaging and so is any attempt at removing the frame. Not saying it's not possible but is it worth it? Would it add value or substract from it? X-raying to see what's underneath is nifty but that's about it. On the outside there is a finished painting, why destroy it?
  - swamp40 4y ago
    I meant digitally. I assumed they did some kind of 3D MRI type scan. If you do that, you can easily pull off upper AND lower layers. I'm not sure how an x-ray can make paint #1 appear but paint #2 invisible - so I guess I'm missing something.
    - behringer 4y ago
      They didn't make any layer disappear. They're all there together. Although you do bring up an interesting idea, you could remove the top layer by subtracting the visible portion from the xray.
anigbrowl 4y ago
Every. Artist. Recycles. Canvases. There's no mystery here, museums push out stories like this on about a monthly basis as part of their marketing outreach, knowing that they will get hyped by news outlets that need a steady supply of content. This isn't news, it's news product, aka infotainment.
- boomboomsubban 4y ago
  I think the mystery is who the portrait is of, though the entire story is the pointless PR you're mentioning.
alphakilo 4y ago
I think Cézanne's best works being of his older age + loss of early artwork make this an interesting find He is one to have made their model sit for 150 days and not be content with the piece he produced https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2008/10/20/late-bloomers-malcolm-gladwell https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2008/10/20/late-bloomers-...

37 points by Vigier 4y ago

jrmg 4y ago

“A mysterious game was hidden in the history of this app’s Git repository”

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

VWWHFSfQ 4y ago

A lot of old canvases were reused like this. There's even a hidden treasure map under the Declaration of Independence that's only visible if you look at it from a special angle under a black light.

linux_is_nice 4y ago
> The Declaration was carefully examined by staff when the document was re-encased in 2001, and no secret treasure map was discovered. "No, that's a Hollywood myth," Kratz said. "There is no treasure map on the back of the Declaration.
- bell-cot 4y ago
  Actually, there was a treasure map...but General Washington had to dig up the treasure in early February 1778, so that he could meet payroll and make at least "good will" payments on overdue A/R for his Continental Army. /s
- stronglikedan 4y ago
  Excuse me, but the highly acclaimed documentary National Treasure says otherwise.
- Maultasche 4y ago
  Interestingly, there were multiple copies of the Declaration of Independence that were printed and distributed. The one that everyone focuses on is just the copy that the delegates signed.
  - Kon-Peki 4y ago
    Even more interesting is that people keep looking at the document itself when the hidden treasure map is under the Declaration of Independence. This is a true story - when I took my son to the National Archives in 2020 right before the pandemic, the security guard sent my son on a treasure hunt in the rotunda holding all the founding documents. He found all but one of the treasures ;)

wslh 4y ago

I think Dali intuition about the Angelus by Millet is more interesting [1]. [1] https://theo.kuleuven.be/apps/press/theologyresearchnews/2022/02/07/millets-angelus-between-fact-and-fiction/ https://theo.kuleuven.be/apps/press/theologyresearchnews/202...

swamp40 4y ago

Ugh. If they can remove the top layer, why can't they also remove the wood frame?

grugagag 4y ago
No, they did not remove the top layer. The procedure could be damaging and so is any attempt at removing the frame. Not saying it's not possible but is it worth it? Would it add value or substract from it? X-raying to see what's underneath is nifty but that's about it. On the outside there is a finished painting, why destroy it?
- swamp40 4y ago
  I meant digitally. I assumed they did some kind of 3D MRI type scan. If you do that, you can easily pull off upper AND lower layers. I'm not sure how an x-ray can make paint #1 appear but paint #2 invisible - so I guess I'm missing something.
  - behringer 4y ago
    They didn't make any layer disappear. They're all there together. Although you do bring up an interesting idea, you could remove the top layer by subtracting the visible portion from the xray.

anigbrowl 4y ago

Every. Artist. Recycles. Canvases. There's no mystery here, museums push out stories like this on about a monthly basis as part of their marketing outreach, knowing that they will get hyped by news outlets that need a steady supply of content. This isn't news, it's news product, aka infotainment.

boomboomsubban 4y ago
I think the mystery is who the portrait is of, though the entire story is the pointless PR you're mentioning.

alphakilo 4y ago

I think Cézanne's best works being of his older age + loss of early artwork make this an interesting find He is one to have made their model sit for 150 days and not be content with the piece he produced https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2008/10/20/late-bloomers-malcolm-gladwell https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2008/10/20/late-bloomers-...