Nearly 125 years after Pablo Picasso painted one portrait, high-tech imaging tools have revealed a secret — another, earlier portrait concealed beneath.

X-ray and infrared imaging has revealed a long-hidden painting beneath "Portrait of Mateu Fernández de Soto," providing researchers with new insights into the artist's blue period

"Picasso often reused his canvases at this time because he did not have much money," the institute explained Historians recently made an unexpected discovery while examining one of Pablo Picasso’s paintings.

A previously unknown painting by Pablo Picasso has emerged from the shadows of history, hidden beneath a Blue Period masterpieces.

A portrait of a mystery woman was found under one of Pablo Picasso’s earliest Blue Period paintings, revealed using imaging technology. Courtauld Institute of Art conservators took x-ray and infrared images of the 1901 painting “Portrait of Mateu Fernández de Soto‚” a portrait of Picasso’s Spanish sculptor friend.

Under the painting of a Spanish sculptor is the outline of a woman, according to new infrared images. The artwork will be displayed in London.

Conservators at London's Courtauld Institute used x-ray and infrared images to reveal the previously unseen works

Experts analyzing the painting have several theories about why this unidentified woman has remained submerged for more than a century.