Portrait of Mary Queen of Scots discovered under 16th-century painting

An unfinished portrait of a woman believed to be Mary Queen of Scots has been found hidden beneath another 16th-century portrait during a significant research project recently conducted at the National Galleries of Scotland (NGS) and the Courtauld Institute of Art.

The ghostly image of a woman, which shows compelling similarities to other, near-contemporary depictions of Mary Queen of Scots, was revealed by X-ray photography during an examination of a portrait of Sir John Maitland, 1st Lord Maitland of Thirlestane, which is attributed to Adrian Vanson.

The portrait was one of a number of works by the portrait painters Adrian Vanson and Adam de Colone, two Netherlandish artists who worked in Scotland at the end of the 16th century and beginning of the 17th century, to be examined by conservator Dr Caroline Rae, the Courtauld Institute of Art’s Caroline Villers Research Fellow, who recently undertook a collaborative research project in conjunction with NGS.

Mary Queen of Scots portrait discovery

 Dr Rae discovered the concealed portrait while conducting a technical examination using X-radiography (X-ray), a technique that can penetrate through paint layers but which is stopped by pigments containing heavy metals such as lead white (a white pigment that was commonly used throughout Europe at the time). The X-radiograph revealed the presence of lead white depicting a woman’s face and the outline of her dress and hat beneath the upper layers of paint.

Portrait clues

An exciting revelation

Dr Caroline Rae said: “Technical examination of works of art, in conjunction with art historical and documentary research, forms the pillars of technical art history. Using technical art history, it is possible to illuminate artists’ materials and techniques for the first time in centuries, to discern copies and forgeries and to explore questions of authorship and workshop practice.

(Image: Adrian Vanson’s Sir John Maitland, 1st Lord Maitland of Thirlestane (1589) and an X-ray view which reveals a portrait hidden underneath the top paint layers. Courtesy of National Galleries of Scotland. Maitland portrait copyright National Trust images)