Odnalezienie zaginionego obrazu autorstwa Andrzeja Wróblewskiego pod tytułem Portret z wnętrzem podczas prac konserwatorskich przy obrazie Pejzaż górski

Recently, more than 50 years after the artist’s death, the work of Andrzej Wróblewski has been re-discovered. Exhibitions and catalogues of his works are very popular and paintings are particularly sought after. In this renaissance of Wróblewski’s art, the unexpected finding of his missing painting is a significant event. Not every day a conservator is privileged to participate in such a discovery and it is my great pleasure to describe the process in this article. From the very beginning of the conservation process on oil painting Mountain Landscape there was a strong indication, that under the thick layer of average quality painting something far more interesting is hidden. Firstly, on the back of the canvas there was a figure of a standing man (painted in the window of the stretcher), in terms of its technique and artistic value far more superior to the Mountain Landscape. Secondly, in the corner of the back there was a paper label, with a phrase: Andrzej Wróblewski, “Portrait with the interior” and information that the painting was purchased on February the 7th 1953 at the exhibition in Kraków, Poland. It was very unlikely the sticker had been placed there by accident, and if it had concerned the painting on the back, it would have been located elsewhere. Therefore, it seemed very probable that under a thick layer of landscape, there was a painting by Andrzej Wróblewski. In this article the process of uncovering of the Portrait with the interior is described in detail, the conservation methods are explained, and the inquiry into documents and catalogues that helped to authenticate the painting before the start of a risky reconstruction. In the end, the conservation of one painting by an amateur painter uncovered a missing Portrait with the interior (on the front, under the layers of paint). Additionally, the painting on the back was identified as Wróblewski’s work. Finally, visible fragments of paint layer on the edges of the canvas, on the back (hidden under the stretchers), indicates the possible existence of a third painting of the same artist.