Who ever said Art History was dull? It seems to be an extremely plastic discipline, these days. For example, a soon-to-be-released biography has cast suspicion over the age of the painting "Bust of Christ", attributed to Rembrandt and in residence at Harvard's Fogg Art Museum. The book has built a substantial case for the painting being executed by "colorful Hollywood artist, bon vivant, and art forger John Decker" in 1939, according to the article Alex Beam wrote for the Boston Globe. Naturally, there are two evidentiary sides to this, and both are deftly covered by Beam.

And over in Italy, the Umbrian city of Gubbio is quite confident it has an early, over-painted Raphael on its hands. Discovered in the Santa Maria dei Servi church, the linen "banner" has been undergoing a slow restoration. The painting contains the same lead-tin yellow pigment used in the (authenticated) Citta del Castello banner, and the robe of one uncovered figure is trimmed with a series of "R"-s and "V"-s. I had to grin at that last part. It would be typical of (even a young) Raphael to promote himself where and whenever he could work it in.