Degas painting x-ray clip art

          Scanning technique picks out elements in pigments used for hidden composition, revealing portrait resembling French model Emma Dobigny.

        1. Portrait of a Woman.
        2. A novel image processing methodology utilising these maps to produce a false colour representation of a “hidden” portrait by Edgar Degas.
        3. Art.
        4. Degas' use of thinned paint expanded the creative possibilities of brushwork and color; for instance, the figure's left arm is formed by the negative space.

          5. A novel image processing methodology utilising these maps to produce a false colour representation of a “hidden” portrait by Edgar Degas....

          X-Rays Reveal 'Lost' Portrait by Edgar Degas Behind 19th-Century Painting

          A hidden portrait of a mysterious woman has been found under a painting by the French artist Edgar Degas, according to a new study.

          Researchers used X-rays to peer through the layers of one of Degas' paintings, uncovering the "lost" work, which the artist later covered with another painting.

          The researchers made the discovery by scanning the painting with X-rays to map metallic elements in the pigments on the canvas.

          Data from the scan were used to build a 31-megapixel image of the hidden portrait in almost photographic detail. [See Photos of the Hidden Portrait Found Behind Edgar Degas' Painting]

          "There has been a long-running question about what was underneath this picture," study lead author David Thurrowgood, a conservator at the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery in Australia, told Live Science.

          "The question has been asked since the 1920s, and we are pretty excited to finally give the answer."