Ghosts of Paintings Past: Pentimenti in Art History

<p>Nowadays we can use all sorts of techniques to look down through layers of paint to discover what lies underneath a painting. As I showed when&nbsp;<a href="https://medium.com/@marginaliant/what-does-the-national-gallerys-vermeer-exhibition-teach-us-about-connoisseurship-ca2fe58d9e2b" rel="noopener">discussing the National Gallery of Art&rsquo;s recent Vermeer exhibition</a>, techniques like x-rays can reveal how artists changed compositions in their paintings. But, did you know that sometimes you don&rsquo;t need to use an x-ray to see beneath the layers of paint? Sometimes, forms made in the lower layers of a painting show through, leaving visible what Art Historians call a&nbsp;<strong><em>pentimento</em>&nbsp;(</strong>plural<strong>,&nbsp;<em>pentimenti</em>).</strong></p> <p>Let&rsquo;s take a look at an example from one of the local collections in my area:</p> <p><a href="https://medium.com/signifier/ghosts-of-paintings-past-pentimentos-in-art-history-7b0488ede792"><strong>Visit Now</strong></a></p>
Tags: Paintings Past