First Antarctica painting on show

The painting of Antarctic icebergs was revealed only thanks to an x-ray

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The first painting of Antarctica, which has been hidden under another painting for the last 200 years, is going on public view in London.

The painting was the work of artist William Hodges, who joined Captain Cook's second epic voyage in 1772.

The oil painting, later painted over with a view of a New Zealand harbour, is one of 80 Hodges' paintings on show at the National Maritime Museum.

An X-ray of the painting is being shown to prevent damage to the artwork.

The New Zealand landscape which covered the iceberg painting has not been damaged

In pictures

"He was undoubtedly the most unjustly neglected British painter of the 18th Century," said naturalist Sir David Attenborough, launching the exhibition on Monday. It is on public view from Tuesday.

Hodges' painting, which shows the icebergs in the water, is the first eye-witness view of the southern continent ever captured.

Hodges' work has not been on public show since 1795. The artist, who was the son of a London blacksmith, was 28 when he joined Cook's exhibition to Antarctica.

"These pictures are absolutely lyrical. They show the southern ocean paradise as it was, almost untouched by outside influence," Sir David said.

"This is the real thing, not someone's overactive imagination."

Like the icebergs, the landscape of New Zealand's Pickersgill Harbour was painted on the voyage, not from memory. Canvases were often re-used on long voyages.

Hodges' work fell into obscurity after his suicide in 1795, when he lost all his money in a bank crash.

Hodges was married three times, with his last wife dying soon after his own death, leaving behind five destitute children.