Museum’s Rembrandt knockoff turns out to be the real thing

Thanks to modern technology and some expert detective work, a nearly 400-year-old painting that had long been attributed to an unknown artist in Rembrandt’s workshop has now been judged to have been a work of the Dutch master himself.

Braintree, MA - November 23, 2018: Alexandria Tartt, 17, of Randolph, takes a nap while shopping with family at South Shore Plaza in Braintree, MA on Black Friday, November 23, 2018. Tartt arrived at 12:30 AM. (Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff) section: metro reporter:

NESTOR RAMOS

In a city where something is always for sale, where can we check out?

Walking around Boston these days, from the Museum of Science to the Greenway and beyond, it can start to feel like someone is always trying to sell you something.

Visitors looked over the “Seeing Is Deceiving” exhibit at the Museum of Science.

The Museum of Science ranks among the best in the nation. The accolades don’t come without turmoil

The museum is embarking on a 10-year renovation plan despite its lack of a president, employee discontent, and the challenges of museum management.

Art expert Stephane Pinta points to a 13th century painting by Italian master Cimabue in Paris, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2019. A rare 13th century painting by Italian master Cimabue has been found in a French kitchen, and is now expected to fetch millions of euros at an upcoming auction. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

Masterpiece found in French woman’s kitchen sells for $26.6m

The painting, discovered earlier this year, was attributed to the 13th-century Italian painter Cimabue.

Latest Art headlines

Winds of war

Fuller Craft Museum’s new exhibit is a barrel of monkeys

Monkeys are taking over a gallery at the Fuller Craft Museum, starting Feb. 15, for an exhibit called “The Great Monkey Project.”

Specialists say Vincent van Gogh self-portrait is genuine

After years of doubts about its authenticity, specialists in Amsterdam have confirmed that a Vincent van Gogh self-portrait was indeed painted by the Dutch master.

Heirs introduce the digital world to Jerome Liebling photography ‘that no one knows’

Heirs hope a deal with Getty Images will promote the photographer’s later and lesser known works.

Galleries

At Anthony Greaney, an installation built from shards of childhood memories

The collaborative work is woven with colors, photos, and designs representing the artists’ very different histories.

Winter arts guide 2019

//c.o0bg.com/rf/image_90x90/Boston/2011-2020/2019/01/24/BostonGlobe.com/Arts/Images/interartsweb-02.jpg Check out the Winter Arts Guide 2019

Upcoming concerts, shows, performances in theater, music, dance, art, and television.

More Art headlines

Simon Dinnerstein (1943–), The Fulbright Triptych, 1971–74 Oil on wood panels, 79.5 x 168 in. (overall, separately framed), Palmer Museum of Art, the Pennsylvania State University, Purchased with funds provided by the Friends of the Palmer Museum of Art, 82.14

Art Review

Simon Dinnerstein’s ‘Fulbright Triptych’ is a rich, realistic monument to family life

The enormous piece is packed with detail and art history references.

BJM’s “Dance Me” takes its name from Leonard Cohen’s “Dance Me to the End of Love.”

Dance Review

BJM — Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal tries to dance Leonard Cohen

What makes choreographing Cohen easy is that his music usually has a strong dance pulse. What makes it hard is that his lyrics often go where bodies can scarcely follow.

Lovers of slime can gear up and get drenched at NYC pop-up

Slime, the bedazzled, stretchy sensation that has spawned its own social media influencers and fans of all ages, is taking up residence in New York City.

Guy Bourdin,

MIT’s ‘The Polaroid Project’ traces the pre-digital influence of instant photo technology

Polaroid founder Edwin Land understood the importance of cultivating cultural cachet.

“Hitting the Numbers” by Lennon Michelle Wolcott Hernandez.

Galleries

At Gallery 263, colorful art made from Post-Its, pens, and paper clips

Artist Lennon Michelle Wolcott Hernandez found inspiration (and raw materials) in the office.

“I and I (Missed Twice) SW1-XY” by Kanishka Raja, the subject of the exhibition “I and I” at the Davis Museum at Wellesley College.

Art Review

At the Davis Museum, the late Kanishka Raja’s kaleidoscopic visions of East and West

The museum offers a deeper look at an artist who crisscrossed boundaries.

MFA curator Dennis Carr

NAMES

MFA curator Dennis Carr leaving for California’s Huntington Library

He has been named chief curator of American art at the Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, in San Marino, Calif.

The Ticket: What’s happening in the local arts world

This week’s picks from Globe critics.

Boston, Ma., 02 / 03/ 09: Institute of Contemporary Art Museum,exhibit of Shepard Fairey, his first solo museum show with Obama HOPE, 2008 over the artists shoulder.. .( David L. Ryan Globe staff photo ) section : ARTS slug : 06fairey reporter Sebastian Smee 27yearend 27art Library Tag 01032010 Ed-Oped

Milestone mural brings Shepard Fairey back to Providence

The celebrated street artist returns to his artistic birthplace to paint his 100th mural, open an art retrospective, and speak at his alma mater, the Rhode Island School of Design.

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Artist Savanna Nelson loves her colors to be bright and fluorescent

A recent graduate of the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Nelson majored in painting and art history, two fields of study that have fueled her creative process.

11 October 2019, US, New York: The paintings

murray whyte

At the new MoMA, African Americans and women get better play... but hopefully there’s more to come

The legendary museum cut a narrow line through art history. It now cuts a broader swath, with more to come.

18spongebob - Beau Bradshaw as Patrick Star, Lorenzo Pugliese as SpongeBob SquarePants, Daria Pilar Redus as Sandy Cheeks and The Company of The SpongeBob Musical (Jeremy Daniel)

Things to Do

The Weekender: SpongeBob sings, Almodóvar returns, and Holzer takes over

The Globe's picks for the best ways to spend your weekend.

Karl Blossfeldt,

Photography review

At the deCordova museum, finding nature and artifice in ‘All the Marvelous Surfaces’ photography show

Karl Blossfeldt’s plant studies are the launching point for the new show.

DELSONIDO will appear at Mass MoCA on Dec. 7.

5 reasons for music-lovers to hit the Massachusetts museum circuit this season

The concert scene is better than ever at the state’s largest art museums.

Three jazz photography shows where what you see is what you hear

The Museum of African American History and Harvard’s Cooper Gallery showcase jazz photography.

Galleries | Cate McQuaid

Photographer Shellburne Thurber finds beautiful glimmers, bursts of light in her family’s New Hampshire lake house

Light and shadow move through this gorgeous installation at Krakow Witkin Gallery.

A work from Sophie Calle’s “What Do You See?” at the Gardner Museum.

Globe Magazine

Things to do in Greater Boston this fall and winter

Your seasonal calendar of events, music, theater, and more.

“To them like water (Strand),” by Zoë Charlton.

Galleries

At Brown University, ‘Fertile Ground’ exhibition rethinks the art world’s romance with Mother Nature

Women of color find oppression and grief where male artists traditionally found mystery and desire.

ARLINGTON, MA -- 11/12/11 -- A view of the front yard on the grounds of the Cyrus E. Dallin Art Museum. The Cyrus E. Dallin Art Museum held an open house for the public on November 12, 2011in anticipation of Dallin's 150th birthday. (Kayana Szymczak for the Boston Globe) Library Tag 11202011 Globe West

7 New England museums focused on one artist

From Edward Gorey to Norman Rockwell, individual artists are soloists and stars at these small museums.

Boston, MA., 09/24/2019, MassArt is opening a new museum in February. Lisa Tung is the director of the MassArt Art Museum. Suzanne Kreiter/Globe staff

Meet the ‘dogged, tenacious champion’ who spent 11 years building Boston’s newest art museum

Lisa Tung envisioned a museum on the grounds of MassArt, a place to train a new generation of museum professionals.

The Ticket: What’s happening in the local arts world

MUSIC

Sophie Calle’s “What Do You See?”

At the Gardner Museum, seven favorites from 25 years of artists-in-residence

“In the Company of Artists” celebrates the museum’s residency program with an exhibition of highlights.

Avital Sagalyn (with her 1972 paintings of the Basilica di San Marco) at the Fine Arts Center of the University Museum of Contemporary Art at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

‘I felt it wasn’t good enough’: In her 90s, a Massachusetts artist is finally ready for her first solo show

It took a lifetime to convince Avital Sagalyn to share her work.

Daniela Rivera: Labored Lanescapes (where hand meets ground) installation view. Photo credit: Charles Sternailmolo. Left: Donde el cielo toca la tierra #2 [Where the Sky Touches the Earth #2], 2019, oil on canvas, 12’ x 30’. Center: Donde el cielo toca la tierra #1 [Where the Sky Touches the Earth #1], 2019, oil on canvas, 12’ x 20’. Right: Donde el cielo toca la tierra #3 [Where the Sky Touches the Earth #3], 2019, oil on canvas, 12’ x 30’.

New England’s most fascinating museum shows for fall

A packed season brings reappraisals of all-American favorites and solo shows for tomorrow’s art stars.

Meryl Streep and Jeffrey Wright in

Things to Do

The Weekender: Global grifters, the other Schumann, and ‘The Lion King’

The Globe’s picks for the best ways to spend your weekend.

Art Review

Yale exhibition celebrates John Ruskin, the most titanic of Victorian titans

“Unto This Last: Two Hundred Years of John Ruskin” observes the great critic’s bicentenary.

With various culture wars raging, the MFA’s 150th anniversary brings the chance to reengage.

As museums evolve, the MFA marks 150th anniversary by embracing change

Museums have watched their relevance wane for decades as the world shifted around them. With various culture wars raging, the MFA’s 150th anniversary brings the chance to reengage.

Firelei B‡ez, ICA Watershed installation rendering, 2019. Courtesy of the artist and James Cohan, New York. Rendering by Nate Garner.

Dominican multimedia artist Firelei Báez named ICA Watershed artist for 2020

Báez will create an architectural sculpture that imagines ancient ruins below the venue.

Protected artworks on shelves at the Louvre Conservation Center, which was inaugurated in Lievin in northern France on Tuesday.

Louvre opens huge outpost to protect art from flooding

The Louvre opened a new sprawling art conservation center Tuesday some 120 miles from Paris to protect the museum’s priceless artworks from its flood-prone storage reserves.

Gregory Ruffer has resigned as chief executive of the Boston Center for the Arts.

Boston Center for the Arts head resigns amid allegations of inappropriate conduct

Gregory Ruffer stepped down following allegations of inappropriate conduct while he worked as a professor at a Florida college years ago, according to the center’s board of directors Sunday.

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John Gallagher

Gallagher’s paintings are case studies in color, texture, and experimentation.

The Ticket: What’s happening in the local arts world

This week’s picks from Globe critics.

Winslow Homer: Eyewitness -- August 31, 2019-January 5, 2020 -- University Research Gallery (Room 3600, Level 3), Harvard Art Museums. Caption: Winslow Homer, Prisoners from the Front, 1866. Oil on canvas. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Mrs. Frank B. Porter, 1922, 22.207, TL42108. Photo: © The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Image source: Art Resource, NY.

Art Review

Harvard rethinks Winslow Homer’s Civil War legacy with provocative ‘Eyewitness’ show

The quintessential American artist cut his teeth as a Civil War illustrator, but did he ever really move on?

Gordon Matta-Clark, Conical Intersect, 1975 © The Estate of Gordon Matta-Clark / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York Courtesy The Estate of Gordon Matta-Clark and David Zwirner

Art Review

At the Rose Art Museum, remembering the 20th century’s torch-wielding ‘anarchitect’ Gordon Matta-Clark

Gordon Matta-Clark left an outsize legacy by dismantling buildings around the world.

Names

Shepard Fairey returns to Providence — and RISD — this month

Some giant news in the contemporary art world: Acclaimed street artist Shepard Fairey, who got his start at the Rhode Island School of Design, returns to Providence this month where he’ll paint his 100th mural.

Sakurako Konishi, left, and Masataka Kubota in

Things to Do

The Weekender: GlobeDocs, presidential drama, spooky sounds, and a love supreme

The Globe’s picks for the best ways to spend your weekend.

Yayoi Kusama’s

ICA contends with museum world rarity: Scalped tickets for hit Yayoi Kusama show

The museum is responding with a daily release of first-come, first-serve tickets.

Selections from King’s Chapel Library (above and top right) were stored at the Athenaeum in a bookcase built in 1883.

Art Review

At the Boston Athenaeum, a 17th-century book collection makes you think: Which titles matter most today?

The Boston Athenaeum solicited libraries of essential reading for the 21st-century.

Plotform’s “Dear Harbor Radio”

Galleries | Cate McQuaid

Artists unearth stories from Massachusetts lands for ‘Local Ecologies’ exhibition

The traveling show inspires a viewer to rethink history and ecology.

Dave Brigham of Newton photographed a ghost sign on A Street in Boston. Most such signs date from 1880 to 1950 — the heyday of outdoor sign painting.

History hunting: Searching for Boston’s ghost signs

A local blogger is just one enthusiast documenting the faded advertisements that dot buildings around the city.

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Jim Kociuba

At the start of his career over 30 years ago, Jim Kociuba was the only art teacher in New Hampshire’s Hopkinton school district. Now retired, he’s focusing on his own art.

Edward M. Kennedy Institute

special section

//c.o0bg.com/rf/image_90x90/Boston/2011-2020/2015/03/27/BostonGlobe.com/Magazine/Images/COVERA1-1943-U803467985159TLE--90x90@BostonGlobe.com.jpg The Kennedy Institute opens

Ahead of the opening of the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate, the Globe Magazine explores the history of the project and Kennedy’s vision for it.

Harvard Art Museums

special section

//c.o0bg.com/rf/image_90x90/Boston/2011-2020/2014/11/02/BostonGlobe.com/Arts/Images/harvardart.jpg Raising the roof at Harvard Art Museums

An in-depth look at the new complex designed by architect Renzo Piano.