EL GRECO From Italy to Toledo

X-RAY IMAGE

Click here to make zoom on the image.

This X-ray confirms that the artist hardly made any changes while painting this work. As it is a smaller version of the same scene held at the Prado, El Greco did not work with his usual freedom because he was attempting to replicate a pre-existing model. The technical execution does not reveal the same elaborate effort put into his other paintings, which were altered during the painting process, and the X-ray image confirms this theory.
However, the X-ray also reveals a support that has sustained much more damage, especially around the edges, than the rest of the works in the museum’s collection. This may be why patches from another piece of painted canvas were added all around the edges, and a thick ground layer was applied to make them even with the original paint layer. These edges were later covered with coats of brown paint, creating a kind of painted frame around the perimeter of the scene.