Miscellaneous - This Day That Age   

dated July 8, 1959: Mystic wedding painting

One of the most famous paintings in the Vatican, the “Mystic Wedding of Saint Catherine,” attributed to Murillo, has been found to be a fake, Vatican officials said on July 5. The painting was regarded as one of the 17th century Spanish painter’s masterpieces. Recently, officials said, when the painting was taken to the Vatican laboratories for cleaning, another painting, only partially completed, showing a landscape with figure, appeared underneath. Officials said expert study revealed that this painting had been exposed to the air for at least 100 years before being painted over. The age of the covered painting was pin-pointed to around 1600. As Murillo died in 1682 after several years of inactivity, the fake was probably done two decades after his death by someone who mastered his technique with “astonishing skill.”

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