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.

具体中文报道如下：

梵高曾为他的弟弟西奥画过多幅素描，西奥也是梵高一生最信赖的人，是他的经济支持者。过去不少人都好奇，以他们兄弟两人这么亲密、友好的关系，为何不见梵高为弟弟画肖画像。

而最新研究指出，一幅一直被认为是梵高自画像的作品，“主人公”其实正是他的弟弟西奥。据悉，这幅被鉴定为画于1887年的作品，最近在荷兰阿姆斯特丹博物馆公开展览。

专家指出，梵高兄弟两人的体型很像，但两人仍有一些差异。例如，西奥的耳朵比梵高圆一点，西奥的胡子偏黄褐色，而梵高的胡子则是赭红色。此外，西奥的两颊有棱有角，而梵高的腮帮比较圆。

梵高一生多半的时间都深受忧郁症之苦，1890年他在小麦田中举枪自杀身亡，年仅37岁。

（以上中文报道摘自中国新闻网）