A 'New' Titian

The Spanish Museo Nacional del Prado in Madrid has been investigating one of its own paintings, long thought to have been a 17th Century copy of a lost Titian, and has concluded that Saint John the Baptist (1555) is the real deal, a genuine Titian. Restoration, x-rays, paint analysis - a preparatory layer of white lead with added calcium carbonate - and stylistic markers all reveal Titian's work. The first owner may have been Martín de Gurrea y Aragón, 4th Duke of Villahermosa, who lived from 1526 to 1581 (CLICK).