A German scholar, Christof Metzger, has published a new catalogue raisonné claiming that a portrait of Albrecht Dürer's father held by London's National Gallery is an authentic work by the master, painted in 1497. This directly challenges the gallery's long-standing position that the painting is a later copy made after a lost original.
The dispute centers on the technical and stylistic analysis of the work, with Metzger citing masterful brushwork and the National Gallery's former curator pointing to cracking and stylistic inconsistencies. The outcome matters because authenticating the painting would significantly elevate its art-historical and financial value, transforming it from a copy into a rare, personal portrait by one of the Northern Renaissance's most important artists.