Hosted at the Limassol Municipal Arts Center – Apothikes Papadaki in January 2025, Unseen Gaze brought together heritage science and fine art to reveal a lost Renaissance painting buried beneath Titian’s Ecce Homo. Through advanced stratigraphy analysis and non-invasive digital imaging, researchers at the Andreas Pittas Art Characterization Laboratories (APAC Labs)—part of the Science and Technology in Archaeology and Culture Research Center (STARC) at the Cyprus Institute—uncovered a fully completed, previously unknown portrait of a man hidden beneath the visible surface layer.

The exhibition explored a cyclical dialogue between scientific discovery and artistic creation. In collaboration with artist Erato Hadjisavva, the hidden male portrait was recreated using dataset insights from APAC Labs, demonstrating how modern technology can both expose centuries-old secrets and inspire contemporary studio practice. Visitors navigated the journey of discovery through high-resolution digital displays, methodology breakdowns, and custom analytical instruments co-developed by APAC Labs and the Center for Research and Restoration of the Museums of France (C2RMF).