The painting, which depicts the biblical story of Susanna, was in such poor condition that it was almost unrecognizable.
Royal Collection TrustConservator Adelaide Izat work on the rediscovered picture , Susanna and the Elders .
Around 200 years ago , a picture by one of the most historied female artist of the 17th hundred , Artemisia Gentileschi , was misattributed to a manlike artist . It was afterwards forgotten and tucked by in a storeroom in Hampton Court Palace — until artistry historians rediscover it decades later . However , it was in such poor consideration that it was hardly recognizable .
Curators from the King ’s Royal Collection Trust were at last able to identify the rarefied Artemisia piece by matching it to a description encounter in the armoury of King Charles I.
Royal Collection TrustConservator Adelaide Izat working on the rediscovered painting, Susanna and the Elders.
“ It ’s once in a generation that we might do across something of this importance that we have n’t register , ” Anna Reynolds , deputy surveyor of the King ’s Pictures , told theTelegraph .
A team led by nontextual matter historian Niko Munz had been looking into what had happened to Charles I ’s collection after his execution in 1649 . Their enquiry find that the Billie Jean King had own seven picture by Artemisia Gentileschi , but only one , ego - Portrait as the Allegory of Painting ( La Pittura ) , was thought to have survived .
“ We had the description and we had other address in inventories , but the painting that was in storehouse really did n’t look like an Artemisia Gentileschi because it was so heavily overpainted and the varnish was so discolored , ” Reynolds said .
Royal Collection TrustSusanna and the Elders by Italian artist Artemisia Gentileschi.
Gentileschi had , in fact , painted the subject six times over the course of her career , and the unique room in which she depicted the renowned biblical prospect was partly what enabled conservator to identify the painting .
Gentileschi ’s Susanna is show cowering , with her eubstance turned away from the valet de chambre . In contrast , many of her male coeval often describe the scene in a more sexualized mode .
“ It ’s hard not to register into that national , ” Reynolds said . “ It ’s about a charwoman being spied on and effectively blackmail if she does n’t agree to their advances . She ’ll be accused of adultery , which in itself would result to the death penalty , but she is finally proven innocent , and becomes a symbol of truth and innocence . ”
Royal Collection TrustSusanna and the Elders as it appeared when it was rediscovered (left) compared to the now-complete restoration (right).
Royal Collection TrustSusanna and the Elders by Italian artist Artemisia Gentileschi .
There may be a personal reason for Gentileschi ’s depiction of Susanna in this agency . As Reynolds explained , when Artemisia Gentileschi was just 17 years old , she was violate by another artist , Agostino Tassi , who had been exploit in her founder ’s studio . At his trial , Gentileschi was forced to take the stand against him and was “ tortured ” to try that she was differentiate the truth .
As Reynolds toldThe Guardian , “ [ Gentileschi ] seems to have felt a tightlipped kinship with Susanna . ”
In the five years since its rediscovery , Gentileschi ’s painting has undergo extensive regaining work .
“ We were going through the inventories and Dr. Niko note one that was like something kept in the Hampton Court store for more than 100 years , ” Reynolds said . “ It was unbelievably brown and color , as often pass with organic varnish . Its size had also been increase with strip of sewn - on canvas , which could have been the reason for all the over - house painting . It was only once we started to see the oeuvre underneath that a few special element stand out . ”
One of the biggest hint was the use of lead tin atomic number 51 yellowed key , which had been one of Gentileschi ’s favorites to use .
Royal Collection TrustSusanna and the Elders as it come out when it was rediscovered ( left ) compared to the now - complete restoration ( right hand ) .
conservator now have some sense of what likely happened to the painting . They believe the musical composition was first commissioned by Charles I ’s wife , Henrietta Maria of France . A 1639 inventory by the Billie Jean Moffitt King ’s surveyor , Abraham van der Doort , shows that the painting ab initio hang above a open fireplace in the queen ’s withdrawing chamber at Whitehall Palace .
Around 1660 , curator believe the house painting was move to Somerset House and place above another open fireplace . By the late 18th century , though , interest in Baroque paintings had for the most part fallen away , and Gentileschi ’s celebrity had set out to wane .
The house painting was later moved to Kensington Palace , as evidenced by a watercolor of the queen ’s sleeping accommodation in 1819 , which depicts Susanna and the Elders propped against a wall .
The house painting was transferred once again , this time to Hampton Court Palace , though it no longer had its frame . An 1862 armory describe the work as being “ in a regretful state , ” and it was sent for return , which is when the additional layers of varnish were applied .
By then , Gentileschi ’s picture had already lost its attribution , and the oeuvre was largely disregarded .
“ This over rediscovery of an artist as crucial as Artemisia having been drop off is really quite unusual , ” Reynolds say . “ I intend it ’s linked to the fact that her report in the eighteenth one C declined . She really was a trailblazer , she was very unequalled , partly because the opportunities for training women artists just were n’t the same as they were for man . ”
Paintings curator Adelaide Izat told theTelegraphthat when the painting came into her studio apartment , it was “ the most heavily overpainted canvas I had ever find out , its surface almost completely obscured . ”
Izat continued , “ It has been incredible to be involve in returning the painting to its true position in the Royal Collection , allowing viewers to revalue Artemisia ’s artistry again for the first metre in centuries . ”
After learning about the rediscovery of the long - lost Artemisia Gentileschi picture , show about the recent listing ofBob Ross ’ first on - air paintingfor nearly $ 10 million . Or , learn about the“cursed ” painting that was returned to a UK thrift shop double — then sold online for $ 2,000 .
