An Artist Noticed a Leak in His Studio. The Repairs Revealed a Mysterious Ancient Engraving Hidden Inside the Walls

The artist Jean Charles Blais has been creating colorful, abstract works in his studio in southern France for 35 years. As he recently said in an interview with Opera Gallery, which represents him, “When I work, I just want to be surprised.”

Recently, Blais had such a surprise—but not while painting. He noticed a leak in his studio, a repurposed chapel in Vence, France. When a contractor removed part of the wall’s plaster, searching for water, he found an engraved stone: a Roman inscription dating to the first or second century C.E.

The inscription is written in Latin, and it reads “CONIVGI ET VALERIAE APRONIAE.” Roger Tomlin, a historian at the University of Oxford, thinks the engraving is likely part of an ancient funerary epitaph.

Per ARTnews’ Tessa Solomon, Tomlin says that in a typical Roman funerary inscription, the name of the dead came first, followed by the name of the inscription’s dedicatee. “Conivgi” is a Latin word that can mean “wife” or “husband,” but experts are unsure about the identity of “Valeriae Aproniae.”

The name “Valeria” is common in the western Roman world, and it’s especially widespread in the Maritime Alps, near modern-day Vence, as epigraphist Stéphane Morabito says in a statement from Opera Gallery. He adds that roughly ten inscriptions or fragments have been found in the region, and many of them are linked to the “Valerii” family.

The inscription dates to between 100 and 300 C.E., during the Roman Empire’s occupation of France. The Romans annexed what is now the south of France—where modern Vence lies, just west of the Italian border—in 125 B.C.E.

The ancient Romans have a reputation for detailed epitaphs. Many of the funerary engravings that have been found are much longer and more detailed than the one in Blais’ studio. Some include the deceased’s age, profession and even details of their life story. As the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Christopher Lightfoot wrote in 2009, “The language of Roman funerary texts demonstrates the human, compassionate side of the Roman psyche, for they frequently contain words of endearment and expressions of personal loss and grief.”

ARTnews reports that experts aren’t planning to remove the stone from the wall. However, they will be searching the area for similar archaeological discoveries.

Blais, 68, has been a successful artist for more than 40 years. He’s known for collecting, manipulating and painting over found advertisements, newspapers and other “unconventional items,” per Opera Gallery. As Blais tells Artnet’s Verity Babbs, “An antique stone in my workshop is more than just a surprise; it’s a twist of fate!”

“I work with layers of printed images superimposed over time, referencing the imagery and texts of various campaigns,” says Blais in the statement. “My process involves painting and removing layers of paper to reveal and transform what is buried, evoking a connection to ancient gestures—a coincidence that is both astonishing and familiar.”

Sonja Anderson | READ MORE

Sonja Anderson is a writer and reporter based in New York City.