The Vatican announced this weekend that it had uncovered a newly identified painting by the master Mannerist El Greco, hidden for years beneath a forgery. The small oil-on-board work, The Redeemer (c. 1590–95), was discovered in the Pope’s home and is now part of a two-artwork exhibition, “El Greco in the Mirror: Two Paintings in Dialogue,” at the Papal Palace of Castel Gandolfo.
Although the painting has a fresco-like appearance, it is in fact a canvas mounted on board. Conservators identified the original work only after removing later overpainting that had obscured the image for decades. Scientific testing then confirmed that the underlying composition is by El Greco and dates to the 1590s.
According to the Vatican Museums, the painting had remained in the Holy See’s collection for 59 years before restorers realized that a true El Greco was concealed beneath the forged surface. The discovery was made during conservation work at the Vatican Museums’ Painting and Wood Materials Restoration Laboratory.
In the Castel Gandolfo exhibition, the newly revealed painting is displayed alongside another El Greco work, giving visitors the chance to compare the artist’s method across two related pieces. Vatican officials called the discovery a rare opportunity to examine both the painter’s technique and the later alterations made to the object.
The restored work will remain on view as part of the exhibition, which emphasizes both the rediscovery itself and the conservation process that brought the hidden image back into view.
