Art conservators in the UK discovered a hidden whale on the canvas of a nearly 400-year-old Dutch painting after it was cleaned, Live Science reported.
Viewers of the original "View of Scheveningen Sands," completed in 1641, saw a beach scene in The Hague with several people standing around a large, dark-colored whale that washed ashore.
But sometime during the 18th century, an unknown person painted over the stranded whale. Its existence remained a secret for 150 years until a conservation student at the University of Cambridge's Fitzwilliam Museum recently uncovered it.
"It seemed a very unassuming painting depicting a very calm beach scene set in the winter," conservation student Shan Kuang said according to Live Science. "There were clusters of people gathered. It was unclear why they were there, but it didn't seem too out of normal."
Kuang was in the process of removing a coat of varnish from the yellowing oil-painting when the outline of a person floating on the water began to appear, Live Science reported.
As she continued cleaning, Kuang uncovered what looked like a sail next to the person. Thinking it was "extremely peculiar and unexpected," Kuang continued cleaning.
When she finished, the floating person turned out to be standing on top of an enormous whale, right next to its fin.
Drawing a beached whale nowadays may not seem all that exciting. But the painter, Dutch marine artist Hendrick van Anthonissen, completed it during a time there was widespread fascination with whales in the Netherlands, researchers said according to Live Science. Early 17th century records show there were a string of whales that were stranded on beaches in area.
Researchers are not certain why the painting, which the Fitzwilliam Museum museum acquired in 1873, was covered up.
"In the previous centuries, paintings were often elements of interior design that were adapted to fit certain spaces- or adjusted to suit changing tastes," Kuang said, Live Science reported. "It's possible that the whale was removed because the presence of a dead animal was considered offensive- or perhaps without the whale it was more marketable."
