X-Ray of Picasso Painting Reveals Hidden Female Portrait Beneath de Soto's Image

Researchers have found a hidden image of an unknown woman under Pablo Picasso's painting Portrait of Mateu Fernandez de Soto, painted in 1901, ArtNews reports.  

The discovery was made by experts from the Courtauld Institute in London using an infrared camera and X-ray scanning.  

The work depicts a Spanish sculptor who was a friend of Picasso. His suicide was a heavy blow to the artist. Beneath this portrait, experts discovered another image - a female portrait, which was probably created a few months before the artist transformed it into the now-famous painting.  

In the hidden image, the woman has a chignon hairstyle, popular among Parisian women in the early twentieth century. She is reminiscent of the characters in other works by Picasso from the same period, including Absinthe Lover and Woman with Arms Crossed.

Barnaby Wright, deputy director of the Courtauld Gallery, noted that experts had already assumed the presence of another image under the canvas.  

‘Now we know that it is a figure of a woman. You can even begin to distinguish her outline just by looking at the painting with the naked eye,’ he explained.  

The Courtauld Institute hopes that further research will help to learn more about the woman depicted, although there are no guarantees of her identity.  

The painting ‘Portrait of Mateu Fernandes de Soto’ will be on display at the Courtauld Gallery in London from 14 February to 26 May.