diff --git a/Tests/test_image.py b/Tests/test_image.py
index 83dac7080..d1a385a35 100644
--- a/Tests/test_image.py
+++ b/Tests/test_image.py
@@ -94,6 +94,18 @@ class TestImage:
         # with pytest.raises(MemoryError):
         #   Image.new("L", (1000000, 1000000))
 
+    def test_direct(self):
+        # Test that a directly instantiated Image()
+        # is given a core image during load()
+        im = Image.Image()
+        assert im.im is None
+
+        im.load()
+        assert im.im is not None
+
+        # Test equality
+        assert Image.Image() == Image.Image()
+
     def test_repr_pretty(self):
         class Pretty:
             def text(self, text):
diff --git a/src/PIL/Image.py b/src/PIL/Image.py
index a79666d7a..89034da3a 100644
--- a/src/PIL/Image.py
+++ b/src/PIL/Image.py
@@ -826,6 +826,10 @@ class Image:
         :returns: An image access object.
         :rtype: :ref:`PixelAccess` or :py:class:`PIL.PyAccess`
         """
+        if self._mode == "":
+            # This image was instantiated directly
+            self._mode = "1"
+            self.im = core.new(self.mode, self.size)
         if self.im is not None and self.palette and self.palette.dirty:
             # realize palette
             mode, arr = self.palette.getdata()