This 17th-century portrait of a couple bears a heartbreaking secret of a family tragedy
A 17th-century painting hides a tragedy, with someone painted over to help cope with grief. Know how AI helped to recover this 400-year-old artwork.
Mourners cherish pictures of the deceased as gentle reminders of their memory, but sometimes, the grief of losing someone, especially a child, becomes so unbearable and devastating that it drives them to erase such reminders altogether, to prevent anything from triggering the pain.
One such family painting from the 17th century tells the story of a similar sorrow, where a child was intentionally removed from a finished portrait, indicating the great depth of pain that was too much to face.
What was the painting?
In 1633, a Dutch artist who goes by the name Rembrandt painted a Baroque oil on canvas painting, which was titled ‘A Lady and a Gentleman in Black’. The painting shows a man standing beside a woman, dressed in a wide-brimmed hat, ruffled collar and black overalls. The woman also wore a lavish outfit with the signature voluminous, ruffled collar around her neck, similar to the man's. This painting was stolen in 1990 from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. It was one of the thirteen works stolen. Sadly, they have not been recovered, and only empty frames remain where the paintings used to hang on the museum walls.
However, long before the theft in 1976, an X-ray taken in 1976 revealed hidden traces beneath the visible paint. During a restoration process, an X-ray was done, and the alteration was accidentally discovered. It showed a small boy, previously invisible to the naked eye, was painted over and concealed within the portrait. While it is not known exactly when or why the boy was removed from the visible painting, it was done to help the patrons of the artwork cope with their grief.
Family reunited
The HEU team utilised AI super resolution to enhance the X-ray image with the help of the painter Mariano Sangalli. He used period clothing references to get it accurate. The final work was completed on Valentine's Day, February 14, 2022, as per the teia.art website. The child is tucked between the standing man and the seated woman. It is one of those rare moments where technology and artistry come together to recover long-lost stories, giving closure.
Internet reactions
Mae Sharifi, who regularly shares intriguing art and history facts on Instagram, posted about this painting on August 7th, highlighting that it’s more than just a portrait of a regular couple.
The comment section buzzed with emotion as one user wrote, “This broke my heart,” while another added, “I’m not crying, you’re crying.”
But of course, not everyone was on the same page. They shared their theories. One user speculated, “Or maybe the kid grew up to be a pain, and the family just wanted him erased.” Another wrote, “What if they erased him because they hated him?”
