New discoveries of previously unknown paintings by major artists were announced this week.

In Madrid, the Prado and the Instituto Cervantes announced the discovery of an unknown painting of Saint Jerome reading a letter by 17th-century French artist Georges de La Tour: www.artdaily.com/section/news/index.asp

In Bremen, restorers at the local Kunsthalle discovered an unknown work by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch while working on Munch's painting entitled 'The Dead Mother'. The second canvas, hidden beneath the aforementioned painting, depicts a naked adolescent girl sitting slumped in a chair while three enormous mask-like disembodied heads look down at her. The museum has (oh so imaginatively!) titled this 'Girl and Three Heads of Men' and dated it 1898. Art historian Barbara Nierhoff speculates that Munch may have laid 'The Dead Mother' atop this painting simply because he didn't have another frame. abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory

Both newly discovered paintings are unsigned and attributions have been made based on style and technique.