COUPLE FINDS 400 YEAR OLD PAINTINGS AFTER STARTING TO RENOVATE THEIR HOME
In December 2022 in northern England, a young couple and their dog moved out of their flat to allow workers to come in and convert their kitchen. Luke Budworth, 29, and Hazel Mooney, 26, were surprised by a call from a worker asking about a painting behind the cabinets.
Before that, they didn't know about its existence. It turned out that this was not an ordinary picture, and a big surprise awaited the couple. After the opening, the couple returned home. The workers had finished their work and the new cabinets now covered the mural, but Budworth surmised that the mural might span a wall in an open-plan apartment. The couple removed some of the plaques to ensure it was correct.
The fresco continued along the top of the wall. "It was painted the same as the rest of the wall and I knew it was hollow," Budworth told CNN. "I always thought it was probably just blocking some pipes."
The painting shows biblical scenes, with the text running underneath. It measures approximately 9 feet by 4 feet and is truncated from the ceiling. Experts from historic England were called in to investigate. They photographed and examined the fresco and determined that it dates from between 1635 and 1700, making it almost 400 years old. The day before, Francis Quarles published a book entitled Emblems. Scenes from this work are shown in the picture.
However, around 1700 this style of frieze fell out of fashion. A Grade II listed Georgian building in the historic Micklegate area of York, it was built in 1747. This odd timeline suggests that the wall that supported the work was removed from another building and then the current house was built around it.