Fake' masterpiece might be real

伦勃朗“仿作”可能是真迹

A Rembrandt painting that was thought to be a fake and was stashed¹ in a basement for decades may in fact be genuine, according to experts who believe it was painted on wood from the same tree as other 17th century masterpieces.

一幅被认定是赝品，并被藏在地下室数十年的伦勃朗画作——《大胡子男人头像》，实际上可能是真的。得出这一论断的专家称，这幅画的木板，与其它已知的两幅17世纪杰作都使用了来自同一棵树的木头。

"Head of a Bearded Man" was bequeathed to the University of Oxford's Ashmolean Museum in 1951, but the Rembrandt Research Project, a leading authority on the Dutch painter's works, determined² in 1982 that it was merely one of a number of copies.

大胡子男人头像》于1951年被遗赠给牛津大学阿什莫林博物馆，但考证这位荷兰绘画大师作品真伪的权威机构"伦勃朗研究项目"于1982年认定，这只是众多复制品中的一个。

Now, an expert has said that the wood panel on which it was painted came from the same tree used for Rembrandt's "Andromeda Chained to the Rocks" and Jan Lievens' "Portrait of Rembrandt's Mother" - two works dating to 1630 that were painted when the two artists were working in Leiden.

现在，一位专家说，画这幅画的木板与伦勃朗的《被拴在岩石上的安德洛墨达》和扬·利文斯的《伦勃朗母亲肖像》所用的木板来自同一棵树，这两幅作品创作于1630年，是这两位艺术家在莱顿工作时创作的。

Peter Klein, an expert in tree dating, analyzed³ the growth rings of the tree to determine when it was felled.

树木年代测定专家彼得·克莱因分析了这棵树的年轮，以确定它是何时被砍伐的。

"The Ashmolean's 'Head of a Bearded Man' was painted on a panel which came from an oak tree in the Baltic region, felled between 1618 and 1628, and used in two known works by Rembrandt and Lievens," Klein said in a statement.

克莱恩在一份声明中说：“阿什莫林博物馆藏的《大胡子男人头像》是在一块面板上绘制的，这块面板取自波罗的海地区的一棵橡树，于1618年至1628年间被砍伐。伦勃朗和利文斯的两幅已知作品都使用了来自同一棵树的木头。”