A painting bequeathed to the British National Trust has been identified as a self-portrait of Rembrandt van Rijn, refuting prior beliefs that the work was done by one of his students, or perhaps a copy.  Donated in 2010, the work was recently rexamined by Rembrandt expert Ernst van de Wetering, of the Rembrandt Research Project, and who was immediately convinced that the work was by the famous Dutch artist.  This new discovery raises the estimated value of the work to £20 million.  “Over the past 45 years we have gathered far more knowledge about Rembrandt’s self-portraits and the fluctuations in his style,” said Van de Wetering. “In 2005 I published an analysis of the genesis of the painting on the basis of an x-ray. This analysis and newly found circumstantial evidence remarkably increased the likelihood that the painting was by Rembrandt himself.”
Read more at The Guardian
