Authentic or Forged?
	Vermeer 'forgery' reinstated A PAINTING of a seated young woman - once dismissed as a fake - has been confirmed to be the work of the Dutch master Johannes Vermeer.Researchers have spent more than ten years studying the painting, which has languished in near-obscurity for much of the 20th century. Young Woman Seated at the Virginals is thought to have been painted around 1670, and it is estimated it will fetch more than £3 million when it is auctioned at Sotheby’s. The painting, just 10in by 8in, now takes its place alongside 35 works that had previously been thought to be the artist’s entire output, including Girl With A Pearl Earring. The painting was believed to be a Vermeer for much of its early life, until a famous court hearing in 1947, when Han van Meegeren, a master forger, said he had sold seven fake Vermeers to unwitting museums and collectors. Young Woman Seated at the Virginals was one of a number of paintings that were "deattributed" as a result of the hearing.Young Woman Seated at the Virginals was dismissed and largely forgotten until it caught the eye of the late Belgian collector and dealer Baron Frederic Rolin in 1960. In 1993, he showed it to Gregory Rubinstein, Sotheby’s Old Masters specialist, who persuaded Baron Rolin to leave the painting with him while he undertook some research. Mr Rubinstein said: "It wasn’t clear to me whether this was a real Vermeer - but that certainly seemed to be a possibility and one, I felt, that needed to be properly explored." It was discovered that the pigments matched those that characterised Vermeer’s work, and which set him apart from his contemporaries. The use of lead-tin yellow showed it was a 17th-century work and not painted after that time when the pigment fell out of use. Green earth pigment was also found in the flesh tones, and ultramarine was used, both of which were Vermeer traits. The dimension of the canvas and its structure - warp and weft were even instead of uneven - matched Vermeer’s Lacemaker, suggesting both canvases were prepared at the same time. ANGUS HOWARTH Wednesday, 31st March 2004 The Scotsman