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 <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’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’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 <strong><em>pentimento</em> (</strong>plural<strong>, <em>pentimenti</em>).</strong></p>
<p>Let’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>