Cloning Van Gogh

Martin Bailey, a Van Gogh specialist, believes he has proved that a so-called missing portrait by Van Gogh, found hanging in a private collection in Oklahoma, is genuine. The portrait is of a young Glasgow art dealer, Alexander Reid, who had shared an apartment for several months with Van Gogh, in Montmartre. They became close friends and, indeed, were so alike that each could pass for the other. The work will now form the centrepiece of a Festival exhibition at the National Galleries of Scotland in Edinburgh from July to September, along with a work thought to be a self-portrait of Van Gogh, which was acquired by the National Galleries of Scotland in 1974. The exhibition will run through 7 July-24 September.