X-ray uncovers hidden portrait beneath famed Degas painting

SYDNEY (AP) — A powerful X-ray technique has unveiled a hidden portrait beneath a famed painting by French impressionist artist Edgar Degas, helping solve a mystery that has stumped the art world for decades.

An article published this week in the online journal Scientific Reports reveals that the long-puzzled-over image concealed behind Degas' "Portrait of a Woman" is, in fact, a portrait of another woman.

[...] traditional X-ray techniques and infrared photography weren't powerful enough to reveal any detail.

[...] the gallery teamed up with scientists from Australian Synchrotron, who spent 33 hours painstakingly scanning the painting with a high-definition X-ray beam produced by a particle accelerator called a synchrotron.