According to this story by Marcel Michelson, from Reuters.
DELFT, Netherlands (Reuters) - An art restorer says he has solved a centuries-old mystery with the discovery of the studio of the 17th-century Dutch master Johannes Vermeer.Ironically, Daan Hartmann had been working in the same studio for over two decades before he made the Vermeer link.
....Hartmann, 60, is one of the few experts who can tell a real Vermeer from a fake. The art world was scandalized in 1945 when art dealer Han van Meegeren confessed to forging some Vermeers which museums had declared genuine.
Hartmann said his father had always believed that one Vermeer in a Rotterdam museum was fake but had not dared to speak out.
Earlier this year Hartmann, who runs the small gallery and Vermeer museum shop near Delft's central square, was contacted by a rich American family to check the authenticity of a Vermeer that was coming up for auction at Sotheby's in London.
"Young Woman Seated at the Virginals" was sold for some $30 million in July, 10 times the auctioneer's estimate.
During his research into the history of the painting Hartmann stumbled on clues to the location of the studio and checks in the local registry clinched the find.
Records showed Vermeer had rented the building which has three large bay windows that are seen on several of his paintings. The penny dropped.
Wow.
And hey: have I really scooped the arts bloggers on this story? Seems so...anyway, just another reminder that Out of Lascaux is due to return after the New Year, which by now is but a matter of days.
(Hat tip to lewrockwell.com)
Posted by Craig Ceely at December 27, 2004 11:51 AM