https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/s13360-024-05749-0
Regular Article
Discovery of a painting inspired by Ancient Egypt on the reverse of Train du Soir (1957) by Paul Delvaux
1
CEA-Centre Européen d’Archéométrie, Université de Liège, 4000, Liège, Belgium
2
Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels, Belgium
3
Vrij Universiteit Brussel, 1050, Ixelles, Belgium
Received:
1
July
2024
Accepted:
15
October
2024
Published online:
28
October
2024
As part of the project on the technical study of the works of Paul Delvaux, a Belgian Surrealist painter known for his dreamlike and enigmatic compositions, the painting Train du Soir (Evening Train) from 1957 belonging to the collection of the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium (RMFAB) was studied in situ with imaging methods (high-resolution photography, infrared reflectography, X-ray radiography) and non-invasive analytical techniques (MA-XRF and Raman spectroscopy). This composition deals with one of the artist’s favorite subjects, a railway station. On its reverse, a composition is hidden under a thick layer of white paint, reveled by infrared reflectography. Unlike the front painting, the composition of the reverse deals with a subject much less known to the artist: ‘Ancient Egypt’. Indeed, out of all his painted work, only one oil painting represents it, La Légende Egyptienne (The Egyptian Legend) from 1953. In addition a Paul Delvaux’s drawing book dated 1953, now belonging to the RFMAB collection, contains the sketch of the discovered painting. Considering all these elements, an understanding of the process of creation, elaboration and destruction of the painting by Delvaux will be discussed in this paper. Furthermore, a virtual colorized model will be proposed, built on the basis of the infrared reflectography, the elemental information provided by MA-XRF analysis, and the microscope examination of the painting surface.
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© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Società Italiana di Fisica and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2024. Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
