New York’s Met determines Velazquez is authentic

Experts at New York’s Met­ro­pol­itan Museum of Art have determ­ined that a 1624 por­trait pre­vi­ously attrib­uted to a fol­lower of the Span­ish painter Velazquez was done by the mas­ter himself.

The museum said the por­trait of King Philip IV, which went on dis­play on Tues­day, is authen­tic, revers­ing a 1973 find­ing that it had been done by an assist­ant to Velazquez.

Por­trait of Philip IV (1656) in the National Gal­lery, London

The experts reached their con­clu­sion after remov­ing paint and var­nish that had had been added to the dam­aged can­vas over the years, the museum said.

The Met had down­graded the pic­ture, determ­in­ing it was likely done by an assist­ant or fol­lower study­ing under Velazquez in his work­shop, the Met said, con­firm­ing a story first repor­ted in the New York Times on Tuesday.

Quite large at 6.5 feet tall by more than 3 feet wide, the por­trait of an 18-year-old king under­went a res­tor­a­tion a year ago in which cur­at­ors, con­ser­vat­ors and schol­ars became con­vinced it was authen­tic, in part by using X-ray technology.

via New York’s Met determ­ines Velazquez is authen­tic | Reuters

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