The Underlying Image

Technical documentation has become an essential resource for the knowledge of the physical history of artworks. Non-invasive techniques, such as radiography (X-rays), infrared photography (IR), and transmitted infrared photography (IRT) reveal information that the naked eye cannot perceive. Through these methods, researchers can learn about the vestiges of the creative process hidden under the surface, such as preparatory drawings, particularities of an artist’s brushstrokes, revisions made to the composition, and past restorations. These resources also help researchers identify the materials employed in the making of a painting, in aspects such as the support, the preparation of the canvas or panel, the priming material, the pictorial layer, and the varnish. This information has become an invaluable tool for planning the restoration of artworks and has proved helpful in confirming attributions. All of this affirms the fundamental role that science plays in art history and conservation.

The Underlying Image presents to viewers some of the secrets concealed beneath ten paintings in the collection of the Museo de Arte de Ponce, spanning from the fifteenth to the eighteenth century. Artworks from Spain, Flanders, France, Holland, and Italy are shown alongside radiographs and/or infrared photographs that reveal traces of their creation.

This exhibition was made possible by a grant from the Samuel H. Kress Foundation. We are grateful for the collaboration of Prof. Marta Raïch Creus and Dr. Iván Rega Castro, affiliated with the Universidad de León, and Dr. Borja Franco Llopis, affiliated with the Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia in Madrid. The museum also appreciates the contributions of Dr. Jorge L. Torres Nazario, the Centros Radiológicos de Ponce, and the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Puerto Rico, Recinto de Ponce.