While reading this article on hidden art today, I was reminded of a painting I saw in the Norwich Castle Museum years ago. The paintings in the article were a second canvas meant to fit over another, while this one was actually partially painted over, but it still has an interesting story.
Frances Mathew Schutz in his bed, by William Hogarth, was apparently commissioned by Schutz's wife "to remind him not to party too hard" (as I wrote it on the back of the postcard I bought at the time). According to the Tate Britain website, "The canvas proved too indecorous in its imagery for Schutz’s Victorian descendants. They hired an artist to paint in a newspaper over the chamber-pot; only a recent programme of restoration returned the painting to its original state."
Okay, I'm laughing. Yes the art revealed is funny but I can just picture you at work researching various medical articles to turn up something quirky like this. Imagine the money back then to commission a work of art. They must have really wanted to make a point. I can see why the family of the man in the painting tried to undo the damage. Now I'll have to read the article to see what other art was revealed.
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