00:00Beneath the paint a hidden story is waiting to be revealed.
00:07He would often say there's more to this story but I'm not going to tell you.
00:12Conservators and scientists are turning detective at the Canberra Museum and Gallery
00:16forensically examining Sydney Nolan's Ned Kelly series.
00:20You can actually see textual sort of inconsistencies through the paint layer
00:24and they give you some clues that there's something underneath.
00:27Using imaging technology normally reserved for crime labs and medical research,
00:31the team can see through the paint to reveal what's buried underneath.
00:35Infrared reflectography is a camera technology like photographic work
00:40except that unlike visual light that we can see with our cameras and our eyes,
00:44this particular camera can see with infrared light so it can see through a surface.
00:51And they're uncovering hidden figures, words and newspaper clippings unseen by anyone
00:56but the artist himself.
00:58This recent one that we got, we have seen an early composition,
01:02it's not making sense, we're going to try and turn it upside down
01:06and see maybe he painted it the other way around.
01:08There's always things that are hidden, things that are new to find in his paintings.
01:13So sometimes when we find these things it just opens up new possibilities,
01:17new mysteries, new questions.
01:19It's part of a larger project celebrating 50 years since Nolan gifted his works to the nation.
01:25He too was very interested in science so I think he would appreciate,
01:29you know, new science, new technologies being used to find out new things about his paintings.
01:35Iconic images with surprising secrets.
01:37Iconic images with surprising secrets.
01:38Iconic images with surprising secrets.
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