WEST HAVEN, CONN. Forensic scientist says photograph is of van Gogh

Some in the art world have their doubts.
WEST HAVEN, Conn. (AP) -- The forehead, the shape and size of the eyes, even individual hairs matched up, making forensic scientist Albert Harper sure he had discovered an original photograph of famed artist Vincent van Gogh.
The photograph -- found in the early 1990s at an antiques dealer-- bears a striking resemblance to van Gogh's self-portraits, said Harper, director of the Henry Lee Institute of Forensic Science.
A system of overlaying the images for comparison is on show at a new exhibit, "Discovering Vincent van Gogh: A Forensic Study in Identification," at the Seton Gallery at the University of New Haven through March 4.
The van Gogh museum in Amsterdam has rejected the conclusion, but Harper and his colleagues are convinced.
The photo dates to 1886 and is of an older man wearing a plain suit and small bow tie. He has light eyes, a well-kept beard and a thin, long nose. His hair is neatly combed back and he has a distinct widow's peak.
Found at antique dealer's
"I saw it and thought it was van Gogh right away, and the more I looked at it, the more I was sure," said artist Tom Stanford, who discovered the photograph while flipping through an album of cabinet card photographs (mostly of clergymen dating back to the late 19th century) at an antiques dealer's shop in Massachusetts.
He bought the photograph for $1 and then immediately took it to photo historian Joseph Buberger, who has previously worked with photographs of Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant and Gen. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson.
Buberger began researching the artist and found that van Gogh's collection of more than 40 self-portraits bore a close resemblance to the photograph. One self-portrait, a simple sketch completed in 1887 in Paris, particularly stood out.
By overlaying the images on a computer, the researchers were able to see exactly where the two differed and where they matched. The system, which was developed by Allen Phillips, manager of Collection Imaging at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford, sizes and aligns the features of the images.
"Even the most minute detail matched up, even the smallest hairs on the beards matched up," Harper said.
Evidence cited
Buberger said he believes it is entirely possible that van Gogh drew and painted his self-portraits based on the photograph. He points to the time period -- van Gogh did most of his self-portraits at the time the photograph was taken -- as evidence. Also, after searching through databases, Buberger matched the photographer's name, "Victor Morin," which is printed on the front of the photograph, with an old studio in Brussels, where van Gogh spent much of his time.
Even more, the research team claims that the only authenticated photographs of van Gogh's face -- at ages 13 and 19 -- are actually pictures of his brother, Theo. The photographs, which were taken in 1866 and 1873, don't match van Gogh's self-portraits, Buberger said.
"The face structure, nose and eyes, nothing fits," he said.
The van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam did not accept the photo as an image of van Gogh. Curator Louis van Tilborgh told The Associated Press in a telephone interview that the museum receives more than 300 items a year that are believed to be photos, paintings and drawings of the artist; he couldn't remember the photograph in question.
Philip Eliasoph, a professor of art history at Fairfield University, said that although the connection between the photograph and the self-portrait is "quite plausible," it is difficult to say the photograph is absolutely of van Gogh.
"There is such a thing as a period look," Eliasoph said. "You might say that looks like van Gogh, but guess what? There were a lot of guys walking around looking just like that. They had their hair cut and their beards trimmed all the same way."
Harper hopes the exhibit, which demonstrates in detail the 10-step overlay of the images, will be evidence enough. There were no immediate plans to take the show elsewhere.