Fresco from 1600s England unearthed during kitchen renovation

• 

A mural dating back over 400 years has been unearthed during a kitchen renovation in northern England.

As Luke Budworth and his partner Hazel Mooney renovated their new kitchen, they received a call from the contractor, where the latter asked if they knew "there's a painting behind here?"

By the time Budworth went to take a look, the new kitchen cabinets had already been installed and were hiding the artwork. The fitters' hazy photograph of the finding served as the only record of the discovery.

Budworth, a research data analyst at the University of Leeds, was disappointed, but had a strong hunch that a similar "bit of paneling" on the opposite side of the open-concept living space may also be concealing something.

"It was painted the same as the rest of the wall and I knew it was hollow," he said and added that "I always thought it was probably just covering some pipes."

Budworth's hunch eventually proved correct. He discovered "It was a matching piece."

Two pieces measure about 9x4 feet, and that the pieces could have been cut short by the ceiling.

"We thought maybe it was Victorian wallpaper, but it was way, way beyond how old I thought it was initially," Budworth said.

The recently discovered fresco depicts a Biblical scene in which an angel is taking a man in a cage. Also, there is a man in a white cart who "looks like he's riding to the kingdom of heaven," he said.

Budworth, who was "really excited," called Historic England, a government organization that protects the nation's historic landscape. The artwork was then inspected by a representative who also took some in-depth, expert photographs.

The artwork was created on a wall of a structure that is no longer standing, according to Budworth, who claimed that the wall paintings were completed before the apartment even existed. In other words, the structure was built around a wall that already existed.

Historic England has told the couple that the paintings are thought to have been made between 1635 and 1700, when such artwork went out of favor.

Read more: Ancient sphinx discovered in Luxor, modeled after Roman emperor