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by jacquesm 1441 days ago
Yes, but not non-destructively. This has been done to some paintings where the painting 'underneath' was considered to be far more valuable (either monetary or historically). Personally I think this should never be done but obviously opinions on such stuff differ.

See:

https://artenet.it/en/removal-of-overpaint/

When the chemical properties of overpaint and underlayer are close this can get extremely hairy, removal speeds of a few square centimeters per day are not unheard of, you need to patience of a monk for this sort of thing.

1 comments

Unless I misunderstood the article the self portrait is on the reverse side of the canvas and can't be seen because someone glued cardboard over it.
That may make recovery much more tractable depending on the glue used. The cardboard itself is likely not going to pose a big challenge.