Art History Today

Subjectivity in Connoisseurship

Some 19th century connoisseurs by Honoré Daumier.

I’ve been fascinated by the debate that is emerging on subjectivity in connoisseurship, but have had precious little time to join in.

Last year we had Martin Kemp expressing this view in Nature, one of the world’s leading scientific journals

“The standard art-historical arguments centre around connoisseurship- the validation of the attribution by an expert’s eye. Although connoisseurship still has a role to play, and many experts depend upon it, it involves subjective criteria that should long have been superseded as the key tool of attribution.”

Unsurprisingly, Kemp was writing about the Salvator Mundi. Similar remarks were made by Bendor Grosvenor on Art History News last week, in response to Charles Hope (and others) “subjective” evaluation of the Salvator Mundi.

“This seems to be yet another case of the Salvator Mundi producing entirely subjective responses. Many of those who have declared it to be either by or not by Leonardo have gone on to describe their reasoning in subjective terms. Here it is too 'dull'. Andrew Graham-Dixon said it lacked 'the spark of inner life and feeling'. Readers will know of other similar views. And I'm sorry, but it isn't good enough. Attributions cannot be made or dismissed on a viewer's own human response to a painting. One person's 'dull' picture can be another's 'magical' one.”

I’m not going to comment on the Salvator Mundi, but I’d love to be present at the forthcoming New York colloquium on it and other works. Sure to be some emotion there.

Finally, Three Pipe Problem had an interesting post on the controversial side of connoisseurship, focussing on Giorgione attributions, and ending on a note of incredulity at Bernard Berenson’s expertizing that consisted of turning self-assured opinion into fact, which this writer still sees in today’s attribution culture:

“Even acknowledging the benefits of hindsight, and modern access to better images and technical data, we must still puzzle at the confidence with which observers make their statements, often written as fact.”

Can an expert’s eye be completely free of emotion, subjectivity, any kind of feelings when making an attribution, or even just contemplating a painting? I don’t know about others, but my eye can’t be completely dispassionate when looking at art.

Berenson again, from his diary in 1890: “First I must keenly enjoy a picture, then I can write about it.” “This, I suppose, is not scientific.”

I think all this comes under what could be called the “aesthetics of connoisseurship,” a theme l’ll return to via a review of a book about the Eastlakes, in due course.

Here Comes the Deaccessioning Flood?

Back to museum politics and, inevitably, money.

A few days ago Bendor Grosvenor reported the dismal story of Bolton Council deciding to sell off 36 works of art. Though they bowed to pressure from arts groups about stopping the deaccessioning of a picture by a local painter, all the other 36 are going under the hammer at Bonham’s. Due to some famous artists on this list, I can’t help thinking Bendor might be on to something about this opening the floodgates for other council sell-offs, especially with the current evisceration of local government funds. The Dughet classical landscape (above) is top-notch, the Millais (below) is good and the Romney is a fine work. What a sorry state of affairs.

Some of the works doomed to deaccessioning and auction:

Gaspard Dughet Classical Landscape (pictured)
Richard Ansdell Buzzard and Ptarmigan
William Powell Frith A Dream of the Future
18th Century French School The Finding of Oedipus
Arthur Ambrose McEvoy Madame Errasuriz
Walter Richard Sickert Pauline de Talleyrand-Perigord
Philip Wilson Steer The Falls at Aysgarth
John Everett Millais The Somnambulis (pictured)
George Romney King Lear
Edward Burne-Jones Danae and the Brazen Tower
Charles Ginner English Landscape

 

  The real tragedy is that people who have grown up with these works will now be deprived of them. We tend to forget about what could be called the “history of viewing”, in local museums. Each painting has welcomed many visitors over and over in its time, like a reassuring friend; now that bond will be broken.  Reading this article I can’t help contrasting it with another experience: attending the 1998 Art Treasures of England: The Regional Collections exhibition, masterminded by Richard Verdi and Richard Foster. I can visualise the R.A. packed with wonderful pictures, from every provincial museum in the country, (Bolton included), and me marvelling at the richness of holdings in our local museums, set up with philanthropic drive and civic virtue. How different things seem today with our cultural lifeblood being drained away by a philistine government completely out of control, forcing local councils to take these measures. I fear BG’s thought about floodgates opening might prove prophetic.

Various Things

Three Pipe Problem has a salutary post about the real motivations behind top lists and “best of” blogs services. I get a lot of e.mails from these people asking me to put badges on the site, supposedly to draw more interested people to Art History Today. Yet, as TPP points out…

“The services exist purely to attract traffic to their site and generate enrolment to online courses, for which they would receive a referral bonus. This may be financial, or an exchange for other information, such as names or contact details of referrers, or simply a swap of lists garnered by their ongoing researches into what sites are becoming popular in a particular field.”

I have often wondered about the motivations behind these services, so it’s helpful to hear from TPP who is much more technically/ web enlightened than me. Let me state that I am not interested in the commercial aspects of the web save when I buy something off Amazon UK, or similar sites.  I certainly don’t want to advertise somebody else’s services, so I’ve deleted the badges of these organisations from my site as they haven’t been transparent about their intentions. I’m completely against attempts to monetize the blogosphere, which I see as a space of information and learning, not a virtual free trade zone. This site is for an audience interested in art history, not for commercial advertisers  seeking to attract revenue. Thanks for putting me on top lists, but no thanks. Blogs like AHT, TPP and others earn their rankings through good research and stimulating posts.

On a more productive note, I’m pleased to flag up the birth of another blog, Art History News. AHN is run by Bendor Grosvenor of Philip Mould in London. If you have discoveries, want to write about an exhibition, or have research you want to bring to a wider audience, then contact Bendor- details on his site.  This looks a great resource, exactly the kind of thing that audiences should be attracted to.

 

Finally, speaking of alterations to the blog, I’ve cut down the number of posts on the home page so that the blog loads quicker.  This  suggestion was made by Gerry Bell who runs Currentartpics. He’s asked me to link to his site which I’m happy to do. Support his site by visiting it!