synopsis: Paintings by medieval masters are not only beautiful but also an important monument of Czech art. However, we often do not know much about their creation. Thanks to modern scanning methods using infrared light, it is now possible to reveal and photograph the underdrawing, the layer invisible to the eye, on seven hundred-year-old paintings and thus literally look under the hands of the masters during their creation.

Using the method of infrared reflectography, the „invisible“ lower layers of the paintings has been documented and made it possible to study and compare images of underdrawings of masterpieces. The underdrawing was to remain hidden from the viewer, as its function was purely practical. However, its documentation and study today offers an extraordinary research benefit and an unplanned aesthetic experience. The revealed underdrawing reveals much about the artistic qualities of its creators, bears witness to the changes in composition and detail during the creation of a painting, and contributes to the refinement of the attribution of authorship of individual works.

Through the surviving paintings and their freshly revealed secrets of underdrawing, we go back in time to the world of medieval painting workshops and learn much that is hidden not only to the eye.