Correspondent in Rome
Updated:25/01/2021 14:04h
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A mysterious figure has appeared in the famous painting of the «Virgin of milk” of Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (1618-1682), which has been kept for centuries in the Galleria Corsini, one of the two headquarters of the National Galleries of Ancient Art in Rome (the other is Barberini).
Until now nothing was known about the secret figure that was hidden in this canvas (164 x 108 cm), which the Sevillian painter painted in 1675. The painting has been restored and in the X-ray analysis a previous painting has appeared in an advanced state of composition that represents Saint Francis in prayer.
Paintings are not uncommon, particularly in the seventeenth century, in which
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