"Using state-of-the-art multispectral imaging, researchers believe the panel once formed part of the famous Dance of Death sequence. The Dance of Death panels, painted around 1500, depict skeletal Death confronting figures of power such as a king, emperor, cardinal, and pope. These striking images, housed at Hexham Abbey, highlight a powerful medieval theme: the inevitability of death, regardless of rank or station."
"For centuries, art historians speculated that a fifth introductory panel once existed, showing the "caller" who summoned figures into the dance. Evidence included an 18th-century sketch by antiquarian John Carter and references in Charles Clement Hodges's 1888 monograph on the abbey. The rediscovery came in 2017, when a panel unseen since the 1990s was found in the abbey's triforium, a rarely visited upper gallery. Though badly discoloured, it was given over to specialists for investigation."
"The Hexham Abbey Conservation Group enlisted Dr Charis Theodorakopoulos, a heritage scientist at Northumbria University, who used an advanced XpeCAM camera system developed by XpectralTEK. This non-invasive imaging process works across the electromagnetic spectrum, from near ultraviolet to infrared, allowing researchers to peer beneath centuries of grime and varnish. By merging images taken at red, green, and blue wavelengths, Dr Theodorakopoulos revealed the faint figure of a man in Tudor dress-believed to be the elusive "caller" panel."
A wooden panel missing for more than 30 years was rediscovered at Hexham Abbey and may belong to the medieval Dance of Death series painted around 1500. The Dance of Death depicts skeletal Death confronting figures of power and emphasizes the inevitability of death across ranks. Historical evidence long suggested a fifth introductory "caller" panel, supported by an 18th-century sketch by John Carter and references in an 1888 monograph. The panel surfaced in 2017 in the abbey's triforium, was discoloured, and underwent specialist study. Non-destructive multispectral imaging using an XpeCAM system revealed a faint Tudor-dressed figure and medieval pigments beneath varnish.
Read at Medievalists.net
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