Lower-layer Image ofbyPablo Picasso: Report and Analysis of Infrared
Reflectance Imaging Spectroscopy
Kuwana Ayakai, John K. Delaneyii, Kathryn A. Dooleyiii, and Soeda Kazuhoiv

Objective of Paper
The purpose of this paper is to report new findings from an
infrared imaging survey conducted in May 2022 on(1902) by Pablo Picasso [Fig. 1], which is in thecollection of the Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art. Basic
information on the work is as follows:
Artist:

Pablo Picasso (1881-1973)

Fig. 1,
1902, Aichi Prefectural Museumof Art.

Title:
Date:

1902

Medium:Oil on canvas

Dimension:

60.3 x 52.4 cm

Accession Number:

FO198700001000

Acquisition Date:

31 March 1988

Provenance of the Painting
Pablo Picasso returned to Barcelona from Paris around the 18th of January 1902, sharing
a studio on Nou de la Rambla with his friend Ángel Fernández Soto and others, andremained there until the 18th of October of the same year. Although this work is not
dated, it is believed to be one of a series of paintings produced during the above period,
based on the characteristics of its colour tone and motif.
The model has not been identified.
The earliest known exhibition to date where the work
was exhibited, is Picasso Exhibition at Galeries Georges
Petit in Paris (16 June - 30 July 1932, work no. 11) [Fig. 2].
The exhibition was a major retrospective, in which theartist himself selected works to summarise his career
spanning almost 30 years at the age of 50, and included

Fig. 2 Installation view of thePicasso Exhibition, Georges Petit
Gallery, 16 June ‒ 30 July 1932.

i Conservator, Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art
ii Senior Imaging Scientist, National Gallery of Art, Washington
iii Imaging Scientist, National Gallery of Art, Washington
iv Curator, Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art
11225 paintings, 7 sculptures and 6 illustrated books.1 The exhibition also travelled to
Kunsthaus Zürich in September of the same year with almost the same content, whichbecame Picassoʼs first solo museum exhibition (11 September - 30 October 1932, work no.
17).
Picasso kept the painting in his possession afterwards. After Picassoʼs death, his

granddaughter Marina inherited it and the Marina Picasso Foundation took care of it.2
In 1988, Tōkai Bank (now MUFG Bank) learned of Marinaʼs intention to part with thework. The company purchased it for approximately 1.4 billion yen on condition that it be“displayed in a public exhibition space”3 and donated it to Aichi Prefecture to be part ofthe museum collection of Aichi Prefectural New Art Gallery (provisional name at thetime), the construction of which was being planned.4 In 1992, the Aichi Prefectural

Museum of Art (APMoA), the successor of Aichi Prefectural Art Gallery opened withthis work as one of its centrepieces.5

Current Condition and Conservation History
The painting shows evidence of lining,
retouches, and varnish application,
but it is not clear when or by whomthese were done. A review of the
published illustrations shows nosignificant difference between thecurrent painting and the colour
illustration in the catalogue6 of theFig. 3

exhibition held at the Palazzo Grassi

1981.

Illustration inin 1981, when it was in the Marina,

Fig. 4Illustration in, 1966.

Picasso Collection. However, the colour illustration in,7 also published in 1981 [Fig. 3], and the black-and-white reproduction in the 1966

catalogue raisonné8 [Fig. 4], show flaking at the top edge of the painting and next to thewomanʼs right eye, and patches of slightly different colour throughout the background.
These seem to have been suppressed by the thick layer of varnish on the present
painting.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

12

Tobia Bezzola et al.,1932, exh. cat., Kunsthaus Zürich,
Munich, Prestel, 2019;, Musée national Picasso, Paris, 2017.
ʻKen Shin Bunka Kaikan no Medama ni,ʼ, 31 March 1988.
ʻMado,ʼ
, 31 March 1988.
ʼ14 Oku en no Pikaso Aichiken Shin Bijutsukan ni,ʼ, 31 March 1988.
ʼ14 Oku en Pikaso Kizō,ʼ, 31 March 1988.
, exh. cat., Palazzo Grassi, 1981, p. 89.
Josep Palau i Fabre, Picasso,, Rizzoli, 1981, p. 294.
Pierre Daix, Georges Boudaille et. al.,,Evelyn, Adams & Mackay, 1966, p. 209.

Previous research has found that this varnish layer contains

dark pigment particles throughout.9 Furthermore, microscopic

examination of a recent sample of a varnish flake taken fromwithin the forehead of the woman revealed that the varnish
itself had a light green tint [Fig. 5]. This may be due to thecolour migration of the fine Prussian blue pigment particles
used in the painting onto the varnish, which then penetrated theyellowed varnish over time, making it appear to have a lightgreen colour. In any case, these dark pigment particles and thelight green colour of the varnish must have had some effect on
the appearance of the painting, but further investigation isrequired to determine the composition of the varnish and cause

Fig. 5 Microscopic imageof a varnish flake. (x150,
Keyence Digital Microscope
VHX-8000, recorded by
Tokyo National ResearchInstitute for Cultural
Properties, 24 November2022)

of colouring. It should be noted that, both paintings from thesame period that Picasso himself kept for a long time, do notshow the same thick varnish application as in.
An X-ray transmission image of[Fig. 6]shows traces of cutting on the left, right, and lower sides of theoriginal canvas. In fact, the present canvas has no margins itself,
and the margins of the backing cloth are nailed onto the wooden
frame. The glue used for the backing appears to be wheat andanimal glue, 10 and the sides of the canvas are covered withbrown paper tape for reinforcement. This method of treatment
is not particularly unusual and it is difficult to identify the
restorer from this information. Whoever the restorer was, it canbe presumed that the restoration work was done before theFig. 6 X-ray transmission
image. (voltage: 50Kv,
current: 3mA, distance:
150cm, transmission time:
30 sec., resolution: 25µm /recorded by Nara National
Research Institute forCultural Properties andTokyo National ResearchInstitute for Cultural
Properties, 27 December
2015)

Palazzo Grassi exhibition in 1981, as its catalogue shows the illustration after retouching.

Possible Reuse of the Canvas

According to John Richardson, in his Blue Period, Picasso often reused canvases.11
Recent research into the works of the Blue Period has indeed reported a number of
instances of canvas reuse.
In, too, visual observation with raking light has detected

9

Nagaya Natsuko, ʻPikaso saku Aoi Katakake no Onna Kagaku Chōsa ni tsuite no Chūkan Hōkoku,ʼ, vol. 24, 2018, p. 26.
10 From the investigation of the condition of the painting by Sōkei Bijutsu Gakkō Shūfuku Kenkyūjo (now
Yūgengaisha Shūfuku Kenkyūjo 21), 1990.
11 John Richardson,, Tetsuo Kinoshita trans., Hakusui-sha, 2015, p. 308; Anatoli
Podoksik,, Cercle dʼArt, 1989, pp. 149, 163.
13

physical traces of brushwork, which clearly does not relate
to the painted composition of this work [Fig. 7]. This unevensurface created by the brushstrokes are also recognisable
as shades in the X-ray image [Fig. 6]. As these uneven parts
do not form a concrete image at first glance, the possibility
that they are shadows of the ground layer cannot be ruledout. But on the other hand, as the direction of the strokes
varied and the mottling was large and uneven for theprimer, it was also considered that they were intended toform some kind of image. Therefore, in addition to X-ray,infrared, and ultraviolet imaging, APMoA conducted

Fig. 7 Photographic image withraking light (from the top).

terahertz spectroscopic imaging measurements in 2018, but
no distinct image representing an additional now-hidden

painted composition could be found in either investigation.12
Attempts were also made to observe the underlying layer
through the paint cracks found across the surface of thepainting, but no clear colours could be seen in these cracks
as the painting is covered by thick varnish. A black line
was observed inside one paint crack in the raised area ofFig. 8 Black line observed inside
a crack.

paint that extends from the right chin of the woman to thelower left, but whether this was an intentional black line or
not has not been determined at this stage [Fig. 8].
In 2021, the APMoA had the opportunity to exhibit
as part of the exhibition.13 One of the institutions to which

the painting was loaned, The Phillips Collection, is locatedin Washington D.C., which is also home of the National

Fig. 9 Survey at the Phillips
Collection (25 May 2022).

Gallery of Art. The National Gallery has had success in recent years in investigating theearlier painted compositions beneath some of Picassoʼs Blue Period works using infrared
reflectance imaging spectroscopy with a high sensitivity infrared hyperspectral

camera.14 During this recent analysis, APMoA requested the National Gallery and The
Phillips Collection to carry out a study of, using this hyperspectral

camera. In May 2022, the survey was carried out in The Phillips Collectionʼs
12
13
14

14

Nagaya, op. cit.

. Art Gallery of Ontario, Canada: 6 October 2021 - 4 January 2022; Phillips
Collection, Washington D. C., US.: 26 February - 12 June 2022.
For the details of hyperspectral infrared optical investigation, see John K. Delaney et. al., ʻVisible andinfrared imaging spectroscopy of paintings and improved reflectography,ʼ
, 4 and 6, 2016;
Patricia A. Favero et. al., ʻReflectance imaging spectroscopy and synchrotron radiation X-ray fluorescence
mapping used in a technical study of, 5, 13, 2017.

conservation studio [Fig. 9] by scientists from the National Gallery and the results arereported in the next section.

Examination and Results
The analysis of the data obtained with the infrared reflectance imaging spectroscopy
revealed the presence of lines of paint, which appears to be a painted sketch of a humanfigure, in the approximately the centre of the canvas [Fig. 10] [Fig. 11]. These paintedlines are beneath theandpartially overlap with the head of the woman. A
detail from this area shows paint that has dripped
downwards [Fig. 12]. This dripping of paint cannot
be seen on the surface of the canvas and thus
appears to be in the underlying paint lines. The
fact that the drips are in the lower paint layer andare not smudged strongly suggests that the paintforming the lines of the lower layer was allowed todry sufficiently before

waspainted on top. It also shows thatwas then painted without rotating thecanvas as is often done when re-using a canvas. As
mentioned above, the paintingʼs canvas shows

Fig. 10 Minimum Noise Fraction transformed
infrared image (1000-1650nm).

evidence of having been resized to its current formby trimming three sides, the left, right, and bottom
sides, but the fact that prior painted sketch islocated almost in the centre of the canvas suggeststhat the resizing of the canvas likely was done
before the sketch was painted.
The brushstrokes seen in the mathematicallyprocessed infrared reflectance images of thesketch do not overlap with the brushstrokes
observed in the X-ray image [Fig. 6] describedabove. 15 On the other hand, the white-looking

areas in the infrared reflectance images, which areprominent on the right side of the canvas, coincidein many parts with the brushstrokes observed in
15

Fig. 11 Dotted lines added and brightness
adjusted by the authors on Fig. 10.

Similarly, Hiroshima Museum of Artʼs recent hyperspectral camera survey of(1902)
also detected strokes that did not appear in the previously recorded X-ray images. Patricia Favero, John K.
Delaney, and Kathryn A. Dooley, ʻTechnical Note: Recent studies of,ʼ Kaori Taguchi
trans.,, exh. cat., Pola Museum of Art,
2022, pp. 263-264.
15

the X-ray image and these brushstrokes appear to have been
cut off at the edge of the canvas. It is, therefore, possible that
there is another earlier painted layer on this canvas which waspainted before the canvas was resized. To summarise, it ispresumed that Picasso first painted the unidentified image on alarger canvas than the current, then cut down the left, right,
and bottom edges of the canvas, then subsequently painted the
newly found sketch of the figure in the processed reflectanceFig. 12 Partially magnified
image of Fig. 11.

images, allowing a certain amount of time for the paint to dry, and finally painted.

Analysis
The discovery of the painted sketch of the human figure can be a starting point for
further research. We pick up motifs similar to what these lines show from Picassoʼsworks of the same period and others, and present very brief comparisons and analyses.
If we assume that this image on a lower layer depicts a single human figure, and thatthe current orientation of the canvas is correct for this image too as described above,

Fig. 13, 1902, Ink andcoloured pencil on paper, 14x 9 cm, Private collection.

Fig. 16, 1902, Ink
and watercolour on paper, 31 x
24.6 cm, The Picasso Estate.

16

Fig. 14, 1902, Ink on paper,
21.5 x 17 cm, Musée national
Picasso-Paris.

Fig. 17Lower-layer Image of, before 1903, 95.3 x
94.6 cm, The Metropolitan Museumof Art.

Fig. 15, 1902, pencil
on paper, 20 x 20 cm, Private
Collection.

Fig. 18, 1903, oil oncanvas, 196.5 x 129.2 cm, The
Cleveland Museum of Art

the figure appears to have a rather unnaturally bent back and bowed head, looking
down towards the crossed legs. Although no image exactly corresponding to this can befound in the existing works by Picasso, figures in a similar posture appears in the 1902

drawings listed in Figures 13 to 1616, in the lowe-layer
image of(1903) and in two

paintings within the painting(1903).

If one looks at the gesture of this figure, especially theway it bends down and focuses on its crossed legs, one
can imagine it taking off or putting on something such asslippers, socks or stockings. In the works of ToulouseLautrec, Degas and Bonnard, who are believed to havegreatly influenced Picasso during this period, there are
frequent images of women dressing themselves orFig. 19, 1901, Pastel on
cardboard, 26 x 28 cm, John A. Beck
Collection, Houston.

relaxing in private and closed spaces such as dressing
rooms or bedrooms. The women in these pictures are notconscious of the gaze of others and these images often

suggest the voyeuristic perspective of the artist/viewer.17
Picasso had employed a similar motif the year before heproduced[Fig. 19] [Fig. 20], so it is

not surprising that the figure on the lower level in thiscanvas shares a similar motif. The Hellenistic sculpture

Fig. 20, 1902, Charcoaland coloured pencil on paper, 8 x 12
cm, Private collection.

[Fig. 21],
which was well known among Picassoʼscontemporary artists, 18 was later
referenced by Picasso in(1906) [Fig. 22] from his Rose Period andin one of his masterpieces from his
Neoclassicism Period,(1921) [Fig. 23]. It is
possible to see a reflection of this typeof classical representation of the humanbody in the figure on the lower layer.
On the other hand, if the painted

Fig. 21, Roman era,
Capitoline Museums.

Fig. 22, 1906,
Oil on canvas, 151.5 x 93.7
cm, The National Gallery,
Washington.

16

Enrique Mallen, ed.,, https://picasso.shsu.edu/, Sam Houston State University, 19972023.
17 Susan Behrends Frank, ʻ, The Art Galleryof Ontario, DelMonico Books, 2021, pp. 24-51.
18 For its influence on works by Pierre Bonnard, for example, see Sarah Whitfield, ʻFragments of an Identical
World,ʼ
, The Museum of Modern Art, 1998, pp. 9-31.
17

lines on the lower layer constitute more than one figure or
image, it is necessary to consider similar motifs for eachpart, ignoring the consistency of the lines as a whole. But inorder to do so, the number of motifs to be considered will,of course, increase dramatically. In this paper, we focus on
the largely curved back and head of the upper body, andthe gently bent arms, which are the most distinctive
features of this figure. This posture strongly suggests a
kinship with a number of examples representing the Blue
Period, such as(1901) [Fig. 24],
(1901) [Fig. 25],

(1901), andFig. 23, 1921, Pastel on paper, 66 x
50.8 cm, Berggruen Museum.

(1902). The proportions of the head, the curvedback and the arms falling from it in, inparticular, overlap in many ways with the lower-layer
figure in question, if one disregards the difference indimensions of the picture plane of the two.
Let us consider a few more possibilities. On the wall ofPicassoʼs studio at 10 Nou da la Rambla in Barcelona, there
was a photographic reproduction of Auguste Rodinʼs(prototype: 1880) [Fig. 26].19 This is thought to be

the illustration that accompanied the essay on Rodin by
Joaquim Cabot y Rovira in201901)[Fig. 27].

, 68 (15 January

The resemblance between the side view ofFig. 24, 1901,
Oil on canvas, mounted on
cardboard, 49.5 x 25.7 cm,
Metropolitan Museum of Art.

and the our lower-layer figure is also well
worth noting. Picasso is believed to have seen Rodinʼsworks some time during his first trip to Paris from October
to December 1900. Picasso produced drawings of some ofRodinʼs works in the same year and was continuouslyinterested in the sculptor from then on.
Other cases we cannot rule out are where the lowerlayer image is not by Picasso himself. For example,(1903, Oil on canvas, 40.3 x 35.6 cm, Metropolitan
Museum of Art) is known to have been painted over alandscape by Joan González.21

Fig. 25, 1901, Oil on canvas, 46.2
x 33 cm, Private collection.

(1902, Oil on canvas, 101.3 x 66

cm, Art Gallery of Ontario) had an X-ray image taken in 1992 that reveals the presence
19
20
21

18

Ann Temkin and Anne Umland,
Joaquim Cabot y Rovira, ʻAugust Rodin,ʼGary Tinterow and Susan Alyson Stein ed.,Museum of Art, New York, 2010, pp. 57-58.

, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2015.
, núm. 68, 15 Janer, 1901, pp. 2-4.
, The Metropolitan

of a landscape on the lower level(identified in a 2018 survey as
depicting the labyrinth of Horta,
outside Barcelona), the date andartist of which are unknown.22

The painted sketch of the humanfigure found in this survey consistsof only a very simple outline anddoes not appear to have been
worked on enough to be called aFig. 26

Pablo Picasso,
on Studio Wall, 1902, Gelatine
silver print, Musée national PicassoParis.

Fig. 27
68, 15 January 1901.

,

finished work. It seems that Picasso painted this lower-layer image and then, as
mentioned above, left enough time for the dripping paint to dry out before painting the
motif ofon top. In addition, the head contour of the woman

partially overlaps with the line of the lower-layer image, which shows Picasso thatreused the existing lines while creating the new image. Among the examples of Picassoʼsreuse of canvases in the Blue Period, there are a number of works that partially use thelines of the drawing underneath, such as(1902, oil on canvas, 100.0 x

69.2 cm, Detroit Institute of Arts), in which the head of the figure in the lower layer
overlaps with the outline of the womanʼs hair on the surface of the canvas23.

is also one of them: the line of the hill in the underlying landscapepartially coincides with the outline of the woman on the surface of the canvas. In thisrespect,

is also a valuable example that gives insight of part ofPicassoʼs image-making process.

Acknowledgements
For help with the hyperspectral camera photography and subsequent image analysis, weare grateful to Patricia Favero, Conservator of the Phillips Collection, for her invaluable
help and useful advice. We are also grateful to Inuzuka Masahide and Chi Chih lien ofTokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, for their assistance with theanalysis of the varnish and for their technical advice on the analysis of the infrared
reflectance spectral images.
(Translated by Nakanishi Sonoko and David Hall)

22

Emeline Pouyet, et. al., ʻNew Insight into Pablo Picassoʼs(Barcelona, 1902) Using
X-ray Fluorescence Imaging and Reflectance Spectroscopies Combined with Micro-analyses of Sample,ʼ
, vol. 2, issue 8, article no. 1408, 2020.
23 Ann Hoenigswald, “Works in Progress: Pablo Picassoʼs Hidden Images,” Marilyn McCully ed.,, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1997, pp. 299-309.
19