Modigliani painted his ex

london - Experts in the British Tate Gallery have discovered another work under a painting by the Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani. When they examined the painting Portrait of a Girl from 1917 with X-rays, they discovered that there was another portrait underneath.

Probably that is a picture of Beatrice Hastings with which Modigliani had a stormy relationship for a short time, which ended in 1916. 'It is very interesting to think that he might have painted her away', says curator Nancy Ireson in The Guardian.

Who is the girl who is now 'in the lead' is not known. Modigliani (1884-1920) is best known for his painted nudes and some elongated portraits of mostly ladies, who are sometimes auctioned for tens of millions.