A painting, an X-ray and a surprise

As art restorers in London inspected a 230-year-old painting by master landscape artist William Hodges, they noticed the canvas was thicker in some areas than others.

Using an X-ray machine, they peered behind the lush greens of New Zealand and discovered the oldest known painting of Antarctica.

The X-ray revealed two icebergs, painted during Capt. James Cook’s historic expedition below the Antarctic circle. Until the National Maritime Museum in London made the discovery last year, historians believed that only sketches of the frozen continent had been produced.

“In the history of art, there’s nothing comparable,” said Angus Trumble, curator at the Yale Center for British Art, where the Hodges painting and the accompanying X-ray are on temporary display for their only U.S. appearance.

Art historians have only been able to speculate about why Hodges endured frigid temperatures, fog and wind to capture the first image of the frozen continent, only to paint over it months later.