Why there is sometimes a question mark next to the artist's name and how to understand the terms on the captions to paintings

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

The question of what to write on a small plate under the painting is not as simple as it seems at first glance. Who is considered the author - the only artist who completed all the work without resorting to outside help? And if he asked a colleague-landscape painter to have a hand in the work? Gave the painting to your apprentices to complete? Made important improvements to the student's work? Often the master's surname can be seen even under a painting that he has never seen, moreover, which could have been painted many years after his death.

Why is painting attribution needed?

It is no coincidence that a separate category of book bestsellers and films based on them is made up of stories about the search for evidence of the belonging of paintings to great artists. There is where to turn around: for many centuries, mankind has accumulated both masterpieces and works of much more modest importance. Over the past five centuries, thousands and thousands of paintings have been written, often without reference to the author or deliberately misleading connoisseurs of painting. In the Netherlands alone in the 17th century, in addition to Rembrandt, Vermeer, Lievens and other great masters, several thousand more painters worked, most of them unknown to modern researchers. Often the successful canvas of the famous master was copied by students in his own workshop - this promised profit. But even those who had no relation to the closest disciples found opportunities to use a well-known name. The artist Camille Corot himself gladly signed an autograph on someone else's picture he liked - to help him get a large sum for it. What can we say about those who did not ask the master's consent to be listed as the creator of a work unknown to him.

For an ordinary connoisseur of painting, questions of the authenticity of authorship, perhaps, are not particularly important - there is always an opportunity to be guided by the criterion "like it or not like it." Museums are a completely different matter: it depends on who is recognized as the creator of the painting, whether it will be placed in a prominent place in the exhibition halls or spend years and decades in storerooms. And it is absolutely essential to know about the status of a work for private collectors and galleries: art objects are goods, and a single question mark after the artist's name significantly affects the price of this product. artist ", as a result of the research it turns out to be the work of a famous painter. Such a discovery, of course, is the dream of all collectors and all art historians.

What do they write on the plates under the paintings

On museum plates under the paintings, you can sometimes see not just the artist's name, but an indication of his workshop, students, or, in general, a question mark after the surname. If under a work of painting or graphics there is only a name, it means that it is most likely that the work was created by this particular artist, or the painting has been kept in the museum for a long time and researchers have not yet dealt with the issues of its attribution, and the author is listed "in the old fashioned way."Sometimes there is a question mark next to the artist's name, this is done in cases where the actual evidence for the recognition of this master as the creator of the work is not enough, or if the owner of the painting is engaged in translating it into the status of recognized works of this artist, and this is not a quick process. There is a variant "attributed to the artist", that is, the opinions of the researchers were divided, and it is impossible to either confirm or refute the version of the painting belonging to the brush of this particular master.

Sometimes several artists take part in the creation of a picture - a landscape painter or, conversely, a portrait painter can perform part of the work. It is not uncommon for a painter to create a work together with the students of his workshop, in which case they write under the picture - "artist and workshop". Such a conclusion is drawn from the presence of strange fragments not characteristic of the usual manner of the artist - that is, apparently, the work was partially performed by one of the apprentices. The active participation of the artist himself in such cases is considered to be established. Another thing is if the painting says "Artist's Workshop" or "Artist's School". In this case, it is implied that the work was done precisely by the apprentices, and it is impossible to establish by whom exactly; the master himself could make corrections, improve some detail of the work. Sometimes the master's students signed their names with high-quality work, which made it possible to gain much more money when selling a painting. In these cases, art historians have a difficult time - discussions about who should be considered the author can last for decades and lead nowhere, the question becomes so controversial.

At a much greater "distance" from the master there are paintings signed with the words "artist's circle". This is possible in relation to works that are not written by students, but by independent artists, connected with communication, creativity with the environment of the master. The word "circle" suggests that the original author of the painting lived in the same period as the master himself referred to.

Even when it turns out that the eminent painter has practically nothing to do with the work, they are in no hurry to remove his name from the plate. This is understandable, because it is one thing to mention the "unknown artist of the 17th century" and quite another - the "style" or "manner of Rembrandt." Sometimes the wording is different - "follower of the artist." All these options indicate that the one who painted the picture was neither a student of the master, nor belonged to his environment, perhaps he even lived decades and even centuries after the one mentioned on the tablet.

Study of Rembrandt's paintings and unpleasant discoveries

About how the authorship of works of art is established, you can get an idea of the work that was done in relation to Rembrandt's paintings. His creations have always been in great demand, and, accordingly, there were enough offers on the painting market. By the twentieth century, the works attributed to Rembrandt numbered several thousand - they were exhibited in museums, adorned private collections, became the object of auction sales, and were exhibited in galleries.

In 1968, a research project "Rembrandt" appeared in Holland, which included specialists in the work of this artist. They did a serious work for many years to study all the paintings that claimed the title of Rembrandt masterpieces, according to the results of research, the first catalog was released in 1982. To establish authorship, documents from archives were used, sometimes works of art, engravings from paintings were studied, paints and canvas were examined. Subsequently, the composition of the group changed, and new catalogs were published, the last of them in 2014. According to this publication, there are 346 paintings by Rembrandt in the world. The list did not include several masterpieces from major museums, in particular, "The Man in the Golden Helmet" from the Berlin Picture Gallery. Expert research ruled out the possibility that this work was written by Rembrandt. It is now defined as being created by the "Rembrandt circle".

From the collection of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow, only three are recognized as works by the master, and among the collection of the Hermitage - fourteen, and six more paintings, previously considered to belong to the brush of Rembrandt, were rejected. Of course, for museums such a debunking of works from masterpieces of great artists into passage works of little-known or unknown followers of his becomes unpleasant news; sometimes such a decision of experts is not recognized by the museum.

How reliable are the expert opinions? Apparently, mistakes cannot be ruled out, just as it is impossible to deny the collision of different interests, primarily financial, in matters relating to the authorship of paintings. We must not forget that the work of specialists in the history of art is a long, painstaking, rather expensive business, and if a philanthropist and the owner of a collection of paintings are taken to provide their work, can one speak of complete objectivity of research in this case?

The world of art is a special world, but at the same time everything in it is like in the ordinary world. Their talents and their scammers. Of undoubted interest today are Michelangelo and other talented forgers who managed to deceive millions.