Inside the world of hidden Renaissance portraits: ‘It’s very playful’

A new exhibition at the Met looks at the practice of hiding portraits attached to other portraits and the many reasons artists chose to be secretive with their workDuring the Renaissance in Europe, a curious genre of portraiture rose to prominence and thrived: that of the so-called hidden portrait. Generally these portraits were complemented by either a cover that fit over the portrait or an obverse side on the back of the portrait, containing puzzle-like clues, symbols, or a secondary portrait