The Holy Family with Saint Anne and the Young Baptist and His Parents by Jacob Jordaens

Jacob Jordaens painted this crowded Holy Family in 1639, and then he painted over two of the figures. X-ray imaging at the Metropolitan Museum of Art revealed a young servant who once stood beside Zechariah, and a second female figure to the left. Jordaens, it turns out, couldn't stop editing.

The painting gathers three generations. The Virgin Mary in red anchors the center, her own mother Saint Anne behind her, and the Christ Child standing luminous between them. On the right, young John the Baptist kneels with his lamb, while his mother Elizabeth gazes down. Look at the upper right corner: Zechariah, John's father, covers his face with his hand. He is weeping. This is a biblical moment, his speech taken until John's birth, but artists rarely show the grief so plainly.

Jordaens became Antwerp's leading painter after Rubens and Van Dyck died, but he never chased their courtly ambitions. He stayed in Antwerp his whole life and painted for wealthy merchants and local churches. His realism is unsentimental: Saint Anne's weathered face, the wicker basket hanging overhead like any Flemish kitchen, the deep brown shadow passages he used to bury his second thoughts.

Next time you visit the Met, stand close and look into the darkness at the upper left. You are looking at a painter changing his mind, four centuries ago.

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