Art researchers at Amsterdam's Van Gogh Museum said Tuesday they have "discovered" a work by Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh -- long thought to have been a self-portrait -- was in fact a picture of his younger brother Theo.
"According to current opinion, Vincent van Gogh never painted his brother Theo, on whom he was dependent," the Van Gogh Museum said in a statement.
But senior researcher Louis van Tilborgh now believed the 1887 painting of a man wearing a light-coloured hat and a dark blue jacket was in fact Van Gogh's brother Theo, Vincent's junior by five years.
"The conclusion is based on a number of obvious differences between the two brothers," said the museum, pointing out dissimilar features including the neatness of the subject's beard and his round-shaped ear, "something Vincent did not have."
"The form and colour of Theo's beard, more ochre than red, is also an indication" as well as the man's "eye-colour and the style in which he was dressed supports the new insight," the museum said.
"The portrait matches pictures of Theo," Van Tilborgh told the Dutch news agency ANP.
Theo van Gogh died six months after his older brother shot himself in a wheatfield at the age of 37 in Auvers, France, in July 1890.
The new investigation's results are published in a 600-page catalogue, put together by Van Tilborgh and three other researchers at the museum, which houses the largest collection of Van Gogh's paintings and letters.

具體中文報道如下：

梵高曾為他的弟弟西奧畫過多幅素描，西奧也是梵高一生最信賴的人，是他的經(jīng)濟支持者。過去不少人都好奇，以他們兄弟兩人這么親密、友好的關(guān)系，為何不見梵高為弟弟畫肖畫像。

而最新研究指出，一幅一直被認(rèn)為是梵高自畫像的作品，“主人公”其實正是他的弟弟西奧。據(jù)悉，這幅被鑒定為畫于1887年的作品，最近在荷蘭阿姆斯特丹博物館公開展覽。

專家指出，梵高兄弟兩人的體型很像，但兩人仍有一些差異。例如，西奧的耳朵比梵高圓一點，西奧的胡子偏黃褐色，而梵高的胡子則是赭紅色。此外，西奧的兩頰有棱有角，而梵高的腮幫比較圓。

梵高一生多半的時間都深受憂郁癥之苦，1890年他在小麥田中舉槍自殺身亡，年僅37歲。

（以上中文報道摘自中國新聞網(wǎng)）