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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Lifestyle
Dalya Alberge

A £2.5m dud? Fresh doubt cast on authenticity of National Gallery Rubens

Peter Paul Rubens Samson The National Gallery Christopher Brown Delilah Gallery Christopher Wright Michael Daley
Two women look at the painting
Visitors looking at Samson and Delilah, long believed to be by Peter Paul Rubens, at the National Gallery in London. Photograph: Mariano Garcia/Alamy

It is an unwelcome question, but an important one: did the National Gallery buy a £2.5m dud?

This has remained the suspicion of many experts since one of Britain’s premier cultural institutions acquired Samson and Delilah, a long-lost masterpiece by the Flemish artist Peter Paul Rubens, in 1980.

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