[MSN] Verdict on Van Gogh painting left hanging. EXACTLY one year after British art experts suggested it was a fake, the National Gallery of Victoria's Head of a Man, attributed to Vincent Van Gogh, is still in Amsterdam undergoing authentication tests.

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Verdict on Van Gogh painting left hanging
By Corrie Perkin
August 01, 2007 01:30am

EXACTLY one year after British art experts suggested it was a fake, the National Gallery of Victoria's Head of a Man, attributed to Vincent Van Gogh, is still in Amsterdam undergoing authentication tests.

The 33cm x 40cm work, supposedly painted by the 19th century impressionist artist in Paris in 1886, was sent to the Van Gogh Museum following its loan to the Dean Gallery, a public institution, in Edinburgh last year.

It was during that exhibition, Van Gogh and Britain: Pioneer Collectors, that The Sunday Times in London published claims by Van Gogh specialists that the work had been incorrectly attributed.

"It's clear to me it isn't a Van Gogh," Sunday Times art critic Frank Whitford said at the time.

Expert Tim Hilton added: "It isn't convincing as a work by Van Gogh's brush at that date, but whoever did it was a talented person."

Last August, the NGV responded swiftly to the claims, saying it welcomed discussion of provenance and would conduct examinations of the painting on its return to Melbourne.

When the Edinburgh exhibition closed in September, the NGV arranged for it to travel home via Amsterdam, for testing by Van Gogh Museum experts rather than the NGV's own state-of-the-art conservation department.

The Amsterdam museum, which opened in 1973, has a strong academic and research arm and declares on its website it "wants to contribute to the study of 19th century art by stimulating and presenting in-depth research in general and research about the life and work of Vincent Van Gogh in particular".

The use of Amsterdam's Van Gogh specialists is important to the provenance debate: their opinion carries enormous weight.

That it has taken more than eight months to secure a result is puzzling, especially given the NGV's international reputation.

Last night, a spokeswoman for the Van Gogh Museum said: "We do not comment on these matters which relate to the National Gallery of Victoria painting."

An NGV spokeswoman said "conclusions and materials are being finalised with the Van Gogh Museum, and the timeframe for announcement is very soon".

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