The hidden face of a woman has been found under Antonello da Messina's famous masterpiece the Annunciation, officials confirmed here Tuesday.
Officials at Sicily's Regional Art Gallery said the face turned up during high-tech probes aimed at pinning down the techniques that make his works stand out from those of his 15th-century contemporaries.
Preliminary reports of those scans emerged in December and the definitive results were released on Tuesday.
"The specialists found a very different face under the Virgine Annunciata," said gallery director Vincenzo Abbate.
"It appears to be more fearful, less docile and somehow more profound," he said.
Critics are still trying to work out the techniques behind the special appeal of Antonello's paintings, which marks him out among the Cinquecento greats and has earned him the status of Sicily's all-time greatest painter.
Last year, on the occasion of a major Antonello show in Rome, they enlisted the help of a barrage of researchers who used tools ranging from spectrometers to CAT scans and even particle accelerators.
Using a particle accelerator, in fact, Florence researchers discovered the painting technique and paints used in Antonello's Portrait of an Unknown Sailor.
By contrast, a simple CAT scan - usually employed to screen hospital patients for serious diseases - was enough to detect the face under the Annunciation, also known as the Blue Mary.
"The high-resolution images of the eclipsed Madonna show that she was painted more roughly and her face is far less serene than the final version," Abbate added.
Antonello is considered one of the most innovative and influential artists of his time although only 45 of his works have survived.
The unprecedented 2006 show of most of these, including the Virgine Annunciata (1475), proved one of the capital's most popular exhibitions in years.
Although much of Antonello's life (c. 1430-1479) remains shrouded in mystery, Giorgio Vasari's 16th-century Lives Of The Artists credits him with introducing the "secret" of oil painting to Italy.
As well as popularising little-known oil techniques, he is also credited with bringing Flemish styles to Italy.
