This is a term which describes an alteration in a painting made by the original painter. It is the part that has been painted over and which has become visible again due to some transparency in the overlying layer of paint, which may have increased over time. A single alteration is called pentimento (singular). Sometimes the underlying layer of the painting has always been visible i careful inspection. Others, especially in the underdrawing, can only be seen with modern methods such as X-rays and infra-red reflectograms and photographs.e paint over many years – usually centuries.
Pentimenti may show that a composition originally had an element, for example a head or a hand, in a slightly different place, or that an element no longer in the final painting was originally planned. The Arnolfini Portrait by Jan van Eyck 1434 is a typical example of pentimenti. The main changes were the lowering of the two faces and the alteration of the position of the female’s eyes. The male’s feet were moved three times in total. Infra-red reflectograms have revealed these alterations.
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| Arnolfi portrait - Van Eyck |
Some of Lowry’s paintings are painted over other images. The 1938 painting Head of a Man (Man with Red Eyes) when x-rayed showed a female portrait and possibly a self-portrait underneath. It would not be considered pentimenti as the subjects are totally different.
