Pentimento (Italian, plural pentimenti), meaning to ”change one’s mind”. Pentimento is a change made by the artist during the process of painting. Our conservator has found evidence of pentimenti in the painting. Several places have been changed in the painting when it was executed.

She states, ”the artist has changed the profile and made the head smaller. The nose has also been made more crooked (it was straighter from the start). The shoulder has been moved down a bit on the left side of the painting. The baton has changed, it was bigger before, the artist has resized it and reduced the scope of it. It also looks like the portrait was originally depicted with long hair (which can be seen on the neck of the picture). The back of the head and neck have also been changed.”

Evidence of pentimenti can also help experts determine that the work was not created by a copier or forger since they are more likely to reproduce the original without making changes.