Painting hidden for 400 years used as album cover

The X-ray revealed a number of figures depicted in the nativity scene

A painting which had been hidden for about 400 years before being discovered in 2019 is being used as the cover art for a new album.

Art conservators discovered the secret artwork when X-raying a painting owned by the Bowes Museum in Barnard Castle, County Durham, to determine whether there was any damage to its wooden frame.

Underneath the work depicting the beheading of John the Baptist, the team found an image detailing a nativity scene.

A former touring guitarist of the American rock band MGMT is now using this hidden painting as the cover for his latest album.

The John the Baptist painting is believed by conservators to be about 400 years old and probably formed part of a larger altar piece.

It is unknown who painted both the John the Baptist painting and the hidden nativity scene.

The X-ray appears to show a baby in a manger, angels and one of the three wise men or Magi.

The painting of John the Baptist is about 400 years old

The nativity scene features on the cover of Hank Sullivant's latest album The Color of Heaven.

He said when he found the image it "immediately appealed" to him.

"The section with the crib was very luminous and seemed to reflect the sound we had been seeking to create through our music," he said.

Nicky Grimaldi at Northumbria University, who discovered the nativity scene, said it was "wonderful" that the painting which had been hidden for so many years was now being seen by people around the world through Mr Sullivant's music.

"We know nothing about the artist who painted the nativity scene, and only have this ghostly X-ray image to go by – but it still gives us a tantalising glimpse of what the original painting would have looked like," she said.