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The Woman Underneath

Her name was Claudia Maga, and she was 18. The pose matched another Klimt painting, Portrait of a Young Lady, which had been lost for decades.

“The Young Lady had a scarf and a hat but they both had in common the same glance over the left shoulder,” she said.

X-rays of the canvas showed she was right. Klimt had painted his lady on top of the lost portrait.

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“The Lady was concealing another portrait beneath it,” Maga said, “the only double portrait Klimt has ever painted.”

The gallery planned a special exhibition around the discovery.

Then, shortly before the exhibition, the painting vanished.
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