A still life once thought to be by Vincent van Gogh but later downgraded to the work of an anonymous artist because of doubts about its authenticity is indeed by the tormented Dutch impressionist, researchers said Tuesday, March 20, AP reported.
The process leading to the confirmation reads like a cold case detective story, with a new X-ray technique helping experts re-examine what they already knew about the painting and draw on a growing pool of scholarly Van Gogh research.
A detailed X-ray of an underlying painting of two wrestlers and knowledge of the painter's period at a Belgian art academy combined to lead a team of researchers to conclude that "Still life with meadow flowers and roses" really is by Van Gogh.
The painting is owned by the Kroeller-Mueller Museum in the central Netherlands and was being hung there Tuesday among its other Van Gogh works.
There was no real eureka moment for the team of experts studying the still life and the underlying image of wrestlers, said Louis van Tilborgh, a senior researcher at Amsterdam's Van Gogh Museum who took part in the confirmation process. "All the pieces just fell into place," he told AP in a telephone interview.
Having models pose half naked was a defining characteristic of the Antwerp academy where Van Gogh studied in early 1886. So was the size of the canvas, the Kroeller-Mueller Museum said in a statement.
Vincent wrote to his brother about needing the large canvas, new brushes and paint. Theo helped the penniless artist buy the materials and a week later Van Gogh wrote back that he was delighted with the painting of two wrestlers.
Van Tilborgh said the brush strokes and pigments in the wrestlers painting also corresponded with what experts now know about Van Gogh's work in Antwerp. The wrestlers also help explain the "uncharacteristic exuberance" of the floral still life, the Kroeller-Mueller Museum statement said – Van Gogh had to cover up all of the old image with his new work.
The painting, on a 100 centimeter by 80 centimeter (40×31 inch) canvas, was bought by the Kroeller-Mueller Museum in 1974 as a Van Gogh. The work was thought to come from the artist's period living with his brother Theo in Paris from late 1886.
