Flower power: X-ray reveals van Gogh wrestlers under floral canvas

THIS X-ray image proves, say researchers, that Vincent van Gogh painted the canvas known as Still Life With Meadow Flowers and Roses.

Scientists at the Kroeller Mueller Museum in Otterlo, the Netherlands, carried out their investigation over claims that the painting, acquired by the museum in 1974, was not by van Gogh. However, the X-rays revealed the image of two wrestlers, on canvas typical of the Antwerp academy where van Gogh was studying in the late 1880s. Analysis of the brushstrokes further confirmed that the painting was by the artist, who died at the age of 37 in 1890.