ART

The Real Thing: Six landscape drawings bought for a song from a French antique dealer three years ago have turned out to be works by Vincent Van Gogh. Franceso Plateroti, who purchased the six drawings for $80 in 1990, said Tuesday in Paris he never dreamed they were worth more than he paid until he removed the frames and found Van Gogh’s signature, which has been authenticated. Plateroti, who works in the Italian tourist industry, declined to estimate the drawings’ value, and said they were not for sale. He bought the drawings from an antique dealer in Arles, the Provencal town where Van Gogh spent the last years of his life before committing suicide in 1890.