DANVERS — A mystery has been solved at Christ the Redeemer Anglican Church on Elliot Street.
After asking the public for information about a painting found behind the church’s boiler, the work’s creator has been identified as 73-year-old Robert Hanlon of Gloucester.
Hanlon based the piece on Michelangelo’s Pietà, a statue of Christ being removed from the cross that he saw at the Florence Duomo Museum while on vacation in Italy. The back of the canvas was inscribed with that inspiration and the initials “R.H.” – the only clue parishioners had as to the origin of the painting.
Before Hanlon stepped forward, some thought the painting might have dated back to the church building’s Catholic period in the late 20th century. But Hanlon said he created the painting and a copy of it about 2007, and based it on a sketch he did at the museum.
It was the first of thousands of paintings he has sold since.
“I had no painting training in my life,” Hanlon said. “I was just messing around with paint, and it looks very cartoonish to me now.”
Hanlon was a furniture maker and ran a custom furniture business in Essex with his wife for years.
While furniture making wasn’t his passion, the business led him to a love of painting. The couple had a gallery long before he became an artist, and he began dabbling in the craft by adding painted details to old boards layered with paint that he came across through work.
Hanlon then started scraping the paint off of the boards completely to make them his own canvases. That’s likely why his painting at Christ the Redeemer Church looked older than it really was.
Hanlon remembered hanging the painting in his home for a few years before bringing it to Christ the Redeemer Church, which opened at the site in 2009.
His wife had joined the parish briefly after its split from Christ Church in Hamilton. He built the altar, a baptismal piece and other furniture for the new church at the time.
“But I didn’t mean to give them my painting. I really have no idea how it happened to stay there,” Hanlon said.
Recently, a friend informed his wife that the church had his painting and was seeking its story.
“I am happy I get to see the first thing that I did,” Hanlon said. “Older pieces often look a lot more childlike and unedited, but they make me laugh. I have a feeling this one might, too.”
The painting will be on display at the church as part of its opening art exhibit on Nov. 1 at 6:30 p.m. The event follows the church’s annual musical requiem service beginning at 5 that evening.
Contact Caroline Enos at CEnos@northofboston.com .