HOUSTON (AP) — A Rice University professor’s sleuthing is credited with helping the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam authenticate a long-lost Vincent Van Gogh painting that spent years in a Norwegian attic.
Don H. Johnson is a Rice professor emeritus of electrical and computer engineering. A university statement says his X-ray analysis of the canvas behind the previously unknown “Sunset at Montmajour” (mahnt-mah-ZHOOR’) and comparison with a Van Gogh in the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston led to follow-up studies by the Dutch museum.
That led to authentication of the first full-size canvas by the Dutch master to be discovered since 1928. Johnson says the Van Gogh Museum’s announcement last week caught him by surprise.
The Dutch museum said the painting will be on display from Sept. 24.