Latest technology has helped to produce the most detailed to date, color image male portrait, under the portrait of Rembrandt's "old Man in military dress" (1630-1631) from the collection of the Getty Museum in Losangeles@

that under harsternum portrait of an old man, one of the most beloved Dutch works in the collection of the Getty, there is yet another portrait, has been known since 1960-ies. However, until today to get any clear image was impossible. But the combined efforts of experts from Los Angeles, Antwerp and Delft coped with this task, through the use of two new technologies – autoradiography using neutron activation (NAAR) and macro x-ray fluorescence analysis (MA-XRF).  

First, in an x-ray managed to get the General shape of the face and figure of a man on a hidden portrait. Further, the autoradiography gave more detailed information about face shape, clothing, and chemical composition of some of the pigments used by Rembrandt. Macro x-ray fluorescence analysis showed the distribution in colorful layers of each chemical compound separately. On this basis, the scheme was made of the distribution of paint pigments. Well, for example, colorful pigment vermilion, which Rembrandt used when writing skin, rich in mercury. And x-ray fluorescence analysis of the distribution of mercury gave almost complete, detailed image of the face model. In the same way, a map of the distribution of copper (a typical component of the pigments blue and green colors) gave the image clothing. 

Obtained data were used in the preparation of experimental digital color reconstruction of the latent image. It was a young man, turned three-quarters, dressed in a voluminous green cloak. His identity is not yet established, but it is possible that this is one of the harChernykh portraits of Rembrandt ("tronie"), for which he used the facial expressions of his own Liza@

Material was prepared by Maria Onuchin, AI

Sources: artdaily.com, artinvestment.ru