[CPProt.net] Two museum Rembrandts 'are fake'

[Museum Security and Cultural Property Protection (Ton Cremers)]

Two museum Rembrandts 'are fake'  

Two oil paintings purported to have been the work of Rembrandt have been
shown to be fakes, the director of the museum where they are kept has said. 
The works were donated to the municipal museum in Faro, southern Portugal,
in 1944 and were displayed for 25 years despite doubts over their
authenticity. 

Tests have now shown the 17th Century Dutch master could not have painted
them, Dalia Paulo told AFP news agency. 

This was because they used pigments not available until the 19th Century. 

Anniversary plans 

The paintings, one a supposed self-portrait of Rembrandt and the other said
to depict one of his friends, were donated to the state-run museum by
Portuguese diplomat Amadeu Ferreira de Almeida. 

They were on display at the museum, which was visited by 22,000 people last
year, from 1973 until 1998. They were not tested for authenticity until last
year. 

Ms Paulo said: "We felt it was time to have the tests done. We could not
delay any longer." 

The 112-year-old museum plans to put the "fake" self-portrait back on
display in July to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Rembrandt's birth. 

The museum's collection includes several works by European painters of the
16th to 19th Centuries, as well as a large collection of Islamic art and
Roman mosaics. 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/