During a routine inspection of the painting Still Life with Bread and Eggs by Paul Cézanne, museum director Serena Urry noticed something unusual.
For a work of art dating back to 1865, the appearance of small cracks is not surprising. However, these cracks concentrated in two specific areas rather than being evenly distributed across the canvas. Notably, the cracks revealed small bright white streaks that stood out against the artist’s introspective color palette from his so-called “dark period.”
Paul Cézanne’s Still Life with Bread and Eggs has been part of the Cincinnati Art Museum collection for nearly 70 years.
Subsequently, a local medical company was asked to bring a portable X-ray machine to the museum to capture various parts of the painting. When Urry digitally stitched the series of images together using Photoshop, she noticed “white spots” indicating a higher presence of white lead pigment. After rotating the painting 90 degrees, the director exclaimed in delight.
When held vertically, the image of a man appeared, with his eyes, hair, and shoulders visible as dark patches. Based on the figure’s body position, Urry and her colleagues at the museum believe it is indeed Cézanne himself – the artist of the valuable painting.
She stated, “Everyone assumed it was a self-portrait… He posed in a way that resembles a self-portrait: in other words, he is looking at us, with his body turned. If it were a portrait of someone other than himself, it could be facing us completely.“
X-ray image flipped horizontally for parallel comparison.
If this is accurate, it would be one of the earliest recorded depictions of the artist. He may have been in his twenties when the still life was completed. Cézanne is known to have created over 20 self-portraits, although most were completed after the 1860s, primarily drawn in pencil.
The museum curator mentioned that they are in the process of exploring the portrait. A collaboration with Cézanne experts worldwide is forthcoming to analyze the technique, helping to understand the portrait in greater detail, as well as how it was created. This information could provide further insights into the early stages of this great artist’s career.
X-ray image fully displayed showing the presence of white lead used as pigment.
The painting Still Life with Bread and Eggs was painted in a realistic style and was created by Cézanne early in his career, inspired by the Spanish and Flemish Baroque periods. Many other questions remain unanswered: the colors Cézanne used and how complete his original portrait is.
The process of scanning and deeper analysis may require transporting the artwork to another institution, presenting logistical challenges and meaning that museum visitors might miss the opportunity to see the precious painting.
