Reuters
[ Source : Reuters ]
Researchers in Cyprus have discovered a hidden portrait that lay undetected for centuries beneath a 1570 oil painting by Renaissance master Titian, a rendering of which is now on display in the city of Limassol.
The newly discovered work shows a unidentified man with a thin moustache, quill in hand, standing next to a stack of papers or books – a prosaic image compared to the scene of Jesus Christ, bound and wearing a crown of thorns, that Titian later painted over it.
The painting “holds a secret, and the secret is that there is, unknown until now, a painting underneath,” said Professor Nikolas Bakirtzis, who leads a team at the Cyprus Institute (CyI), a non-profit educational body.
The finished artwork, called Ecce Homo – meaning “Behold, The Man” in English – shows Jesus standing next to Pontius Pilate, who presided over the last stages of Jesus’ trial before he was crucified.
