Museums spar over authenticity of painting ahead of major Vermeer show

Rijksmuseum to display Girl With a Flute at exhibition despite National Gallery of Art, Washington, saying it is an imitation

From the identity of the young woman in Johannes Vermeer's most famous painting, the Girl With a Pearl Earring, to the techniques he employed, much about the Dutch master remains a mystery.

The lack of certainty about the life and works of the Sphinx of Delft, as he was known, has now injected a little controversy - and perhaps even some inter-institutional tension, albeit politely denied - ahead of what is being billed as the biggest ever exhibition of his paintings, in Amsterdams' Rijksmuseum, next February.