For decades, Paul Cézanne’s “Still Life with Bread and Eggs” (1865) hung on a gallery wall at Cincinnati Art Museum, the gift of patron Mary E. Johnston in 1955. Recently, during a routine inspection and X-ray, chief conservator Serena Urry made a startling discovery.
There, virtually staring her in the face, was the black-and-white figure of a man with dark, brooding eyes, wearing a coat or jacket. His head, face and shape of his arm are clearly visible.
Since that day about a year ago,…