The National Gallery of Art, Washington, which is lending Girl with a Flute, says pigment analysis shows the painting is a botched imitation. Photograph: National Gallery of Art, Washington

Despite claims that it is a copy from the National Gallery of Art in Washington, the Rijksmuseum will show Girl With a Flute

Many things about the Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer are still a mystery, including the character of the young girl in his most well-known painting, the Girl with a Pearl Earring, and the methods he used.

Before what is advertised as the largest-ever display of his paintings opens at Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum in February, there has been considerable controversy surrounding the life and works of the Sphinx of Delft, as he was called. This conflict between institutions has also been respectfully rejected.

One of the four paintings being given by the National Gallery of Art, Washington, for the much awaited exhibition is Girl With a Flute, a painting whose attribution to Vermeer has long been disputed and which is now the subject of a kind of transatlantic standoff.

The Washington museum said last month that it had been persuaded the painting—one of only two ascribed to Vermeer on wooden panels—was not genuine by microscopic pigment research and cutting-edge imaging technologies.

The layering of the paint on the picture revealed telltale indicators that it was an excellent, if ultimately unsuccessful, replica of a piece by the 17th-century Dutch artist, the article said.

However, the Rijksmuseum is having none of it, relying on its perhaps far more thorough investigation of Vermeer. The Dutch National Museum not only thinks the painting is an original and one of the 35 or 36 remaining pieces, but it also plans to label it as such when its show debuts on February 10.

According to Taco Dibbits, director of the Rijksmuseum, "They have been conducting fantastic study at the National Gallery, Washington, on their four Vermeers, and we have been able to perform research on 10 Vermeers throughout the epidemic and in preparation for the show." We have spoken with Washington about the technical results, and we believe that our assessment of Vermeer is more comprehensive than theirs is.

Dibbits handled the disagreement in a courteous manner. The results from the National Gallery will be referenced in the exhibition's catalog, he added.

"Attribution is not a precise science, but we believe the picture is by Vermeer for the time being since he was such an inventive artist who explored so many different artistic avenues," said Dibbits. "We remain true to the oeuvre. Our points of view are different. It is a topic that we have spoken about in depth. All of us are pleased with it. It didn't appear to be a bothersome thing. “No. Never at all.

Vermeer, who passed away at the age of 43, did not leave behind any diaries or letters, and many of the topics of his paintings are obscure. Thanks to loans from other European galleries, galleries in the US and Japan, and other galleries, the Rijksmuseum will display 28 of them during its show.

The Girl Interrupted at Her Music, Officer and Laughing Girl, and Mistress and Maid are three of the Frick Collection's masterpieces, it was revealed on Tuesday. Since they were purchased more than a century ago, the three paintings will be shown together for the first time outside of New York at the Rijksmuseum exhibition.

The Rijksmuseum will display Vermeer every day from 10 February to 4 June 2023.

Thanks to Daniel Boffey at The Guardian whose reporting provided the original basis for this story.