Photograph long thought to be of Van Gogh is artist’s brother

Our daily round-up of news from the art world

Photograph long thought to be of Van Gogh is artist’s brother | The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam has revealed that a photograph presumed for 50 years to be a portrait of Vincent van Gogh aged 13 is in fact his younger brother Theo. Doubts about the legitimacy of the photograph’s subject arose in 2014, resulting in further research of the portrait. Both forensic evidence and a comparison with another photograph of Theo aged 32 confirmed that Van Gogh’s brother (later an art dealer) was the subject. Consequently, there is now only one known photograph of Vincent van Gogh, aged 19.

Renoir painting stolen from Vienna’s Dorotheum auction house | The oil painting Golfe, Mer, Falaises Vertes (1895), by Renoir, was stolen from Dorotheum auction house in Vienna on Monday. According to The New York Times, the landscape painting had been estimated to sell on Wednesday for up to €160,000, and was pulled from its frame on a second-floor gallery at around 5.15pm by a man with two accomplices. Austrian police are searching for the suspects, who, according to security-camera footage, made no attempt to conceal their identities.

Ivory Coast and Senegal to request the return of artefacts from France | Following France’s controversial repatriation report released last Friday, and the announcement that 26 objects would be returned to Benin, The Art Newspaper reports that Ivory Coast and Senegal will request the restitution of artefacts. Stéphane Martin, head of the Quai Branly-Jacques Chirac Museum – which holds around 90,000 sub-Saharan African objects – has opposed the repatriation report endorsed by President Macron, claiming it ‘makes museums hostage to the suffering created by colonialism’.

Head of Sotheby’s India takes ‘leave of absence’ following sexual harassment claims | Gaurav Bhatia, managing director of Sotheby’s India, has taken an ‘indefinite’ leave of absence ahead of the auction house’s inaugural sale in Mumbai today. Sotheby’s issued a statement announcing Bhatia’s leave and his ‘full cooperation’ with an enquiry after four different accounts of alleged sexual harassment surfaced on social media.

Nan Goldin awarded Royal Photographic Society’s Centenary Medal | The Royal Photogaphic Society has announced that American photographer Nan Goldin will receive its Centenary Medal and an honorary fellowship in an award ceremony tonight celebrating its 140th anniversary. Other winners presented with awards will include Mat Collishaw, Vanessa Winship, Juno Calypso and Sarah Moon.