Researchers in Cyprus discovered a portrait that has been hidden for centuries beneath a 1570 oil painting.

A newly discovered renaissance portrait, painted by Master Titian an artist from Venice, produced hundreds of paintings until his death in 1576. His portrait is now on display in the city of Limassol.

The work shows an unknown male figure with a thin mustache, standing near a stack of papers - an image somewhat similar to the scene of Jesus Christ, bound and wearing a crown of thorns, that Titian later painted over it.

Professor Nikolas Bakirtzis, who leads a team at the Cyprus Institute, a non-profit educational body, thinks the paintings hold a mystery.
Using non-invasive techniques, researchers at the Andreas Pittas Art Characterization Laboratories at the Cyprus Institute reconstructed the buried portrait.

Bakirtzis suggests that Titian incorporated elements from an earlier painting into his new work, notably using the man's jawline to outline the ropes binding Christ's wrists.
 

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