Secret beneath mystery masterpiece revealed in Leeds

Wyndham Lewis who painted Praxitella was the founder of the radical and short-lived Vorticist movement

The story of how a lost masterpiece was hidden for more than 100 years under another famous 20th Century painting is being told in Leeds.

Atlantic City depicted an abstract vision of a modern city.

It was discovered in 2019 under a portrait called Praxitella, by Percy Wyndham Lewis, the founder of the short-lived Vorticists movement.

Two students at the Courtauld Department of Conservation in London, used X-ray analysis to find it.

A drawing of Atlantic City in a magazine is on show in a display case at Leeds Art Gallery

Praxitella has been part of the collection at Leeds Art Gallery since 1945, and was created by Wyndham Lewis in around 1921.

A spokesperson for the gallery said subtle clues, including raised paint lines and tiny surface cracks, led experts to believe there might be a second painting underneath it.

However, with no way of knowing for sure the concealed composition's true nature remained a mystery.

That was until Rebecca Chipkin and Helen Kohn were researching Praxitella, which was on loan from Leeds Art Gallery, and found Atlantic City, by Helen Saunders, the artwork which had been a secret for so long.

Glimpses of bright red through cracks in the surface paint and uneven texture were revealed through an X-ray of Praxitella

Jane Bhoyroo, principal keeper at Leeds Art Gallery, said: "Praxitella has long been one of the most renowned works in the gallery's collection and is rightly recognised as a hugely important piece in its own right.

"The discovery of a completely different work beneath it adds a whole new dimension and significance to Praxitella, giving its story even more depth and complexity."

The story of the two artworks is part of Things Left Unsaid, an exhibition at Leeds Art Gallery.