A new Titian discovery at the Prado
September 18 2012
Pictures: Prado/El Pais
Update - a few translation issues mean that I got some details in my first post wrong. Including, er, the wrong image, as the new discovery was not in fact illustrated in the El Pais story. So, sorry about that. The above photo is the correct image (I hope!), and is the best we can get for now. The only colour image I have at the moment (below) is from a screen grab from this Prado video, when the picture is seen briefly in the background of the conservation studio.
A reader in Spain kindly alerts me to an intriguing Titian discovery at the Prado, which has not made it into the wider press. In the Prado's conservation studio at the moment is a previously lost St John the Baptist by Titian (above). It was thought, mainly due to condition issues, to be a copy of a missing original. But an x-ray (below) of another version (bottom, at the Escorial, near Madrid) has revealed two whopping pentimenti - St John's right arm was originally at his chest, and also extended down to the left - which match up with the newly discovered version. The conserved picture will apparently be presented to the public this autumn, when conservation has finished. It was recently lent to the Prado by a chuch in Cantoria, in southern Spain. More details here (in Spanish).
