Seeing the light ... a Courtauld 'fake' which may be a Vermeer

Original: new tests suggest the Procuress is a real Vermeer
12 April 2012

A painting believed to be a fake for the past 50 years is now thought to be an original by the Dutch master Vermeer after scientific tests.

The Procuress, which was donated to the Courtauld Institute of Art as a forgery painted by the 20th c entury counterfeiter Han van Meegeren, could in fact date from some 300 years earlier.

Forensic analysis has now revealed the canvas is old enough to date from the 17th century and there is no evidence of modern pigments in the paint.

The findings challenge the provenance of two other works which have been claimed as the original. One is owned by the Rijks Museum in Amsterdam and the other was bought by Boston's Museum of Fine Arts after emerging from an English private collection in 1949.

It would be a major coup for the Courtauld if it is proven to be by Vermeer, a great of the Dutch Golden period. He painted Girl With A Pearl Earring and was famed for his use of light.

The painting was donated to the gallery in 1960 as a Van Meegeren, a Dutch painter who is considered one of the best art forgers of the modern age.

Courtauld's painting may have once hung in Vermeer's home in Delft. The painting was donated to the Courtauld by Professor Geoffrey Webb, senior arts officer in Germany after the Second World War. He was given the work as a gift in the Netherlands after helping with restitution of art.

Caroline Campbell, a curator at the Courtauld, believes it is "likely to be a 17th century painting".

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