X-Ray Images Show Hidden Features in Painting of the Enigmatic John Dee

John Dee was a scholar, philosopher, navigator, doctor, and astrologer to Queen Elizabeth I of England. He is often remembered as an enigmatic man who repeatedly crossed the line between science and occultism. Recent X-Ray imaging of a painting entitled “John Dee Performing an Experiment before Elizabeth I” by Henry Gillard Glindoni provides a hidden image that highlights the mystical side of the famous historical figure.

The Guardian reports that the x-ray imaging commissioned for the recent Royal College of Physicians', exhibition “Scholar, courtier, magician: the lost library of John Dee,” revealed that Dee was originally standing in a circle of human skulls.

Detail of skulls discovered in Glindoni’s painting of John Dee. (National Gallery, London/Wellcome Library)

The original painting may have been a more accurate representation of Dee and his interests. Examining the life of John Dee, Ancient Origins’ writer Ryan Stone wrote that: