Is British National Gallery's New Raphael a Fake?

Reuters ^ | 2-20-2004

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Is British National Gallery's New Raphael a Fake?

Feb.20, 2004

LONDON (Reuters) - A Raphael painting bought by Britain's National Gallery this month for $41.7 million is a fake, a U.S. art professor says.

The gallery secured the "Madonna of the Pinks," which it called the most significant Old Master in any British collection, after a fight to keep it in the country.

But James Beck, Professor of Art History at Columbia University in New York and the President of ArtWatch International, told Friday's edition of the Times the gallery had paid "a record price for a fake."

"They haven't done their homework," Beck said. "It's a disgrace. The National Gallery never checked any of them physically.

"When you're spending government money, or anyone's money it's an omission. Frankly, it's a kind of arrogance of the Establishment."

The picture, so called because it depicts the Virgin Mary with a sprig of pink flowers, was bought from the Duke of Northumberland.

An ancestor of the Duke bought the 1507-8 picture in 1853 but it was long considered a copy until 1991 when Nicholas Penny, the Gallery's curator, examined the picture and hailed it as the rediscovered masterpiece.

Beck told the paper his research led him to believe the painting was in fact made in 1827 by Vincenzo Camuccini, a frequent copyist of Raphael and a recognized faker.

"I think he did this not only for money, but to compete with the Great Masters and fool the public," he said.

The Gallery has listed 40 versions of the painting around the world, while Beck said he had found at least five more. Beck said he believed none of the surviving versions was by Raphael.

The Gallery has said the picture, which measures just 11.4 by nine inches, had a different finish and coloring to other Raphael's but added it followed the advice of 25 Raphael experts who all confirmed the attribution.

The gallery's $41.7 million was raised jointly by Britain's National Lottery and donations from the public.

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Bummer

[mylife]

ouch!!

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[mosel-saar-ruwer]

 

 

[mylife]

Madonna of the pinks

[ErnBatavia]

That's as bad as some of these baseball or bassaball teams paying about that much for a player's annual salary, only to have him blow out a knee (or a nostril)...

[nuconvert]

pictures, pictures everywhere........

It's a very nice painting........kind of expensive

[mylife]

with the zoom fuction on that link you can actually see brushstrokes

[EggsAckley]

Odd for Raphael to paint something so small. He was known for his barn-sized oils.

[kesg]

Looks more like a Da Vinci than a Rapheal...

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Oh?

I'll try that. Thanks.

[mylife]

Ii was liberaly based on a da vinci

[nuconvert]

So you think they were ripped off?

[mylife]

This painting is freely based on a famous composition by Leonardo da Vinci (the 'Benois Madonna' in the Hermitage, St Petersburg. Raphael painted the panel shortly before leaving Florence for Rome. When it was in the Camuccini Collection in Italy it was celebrated, but for more than a century it was thought to be only a copy.


Oil on wood
29 x 23 cm.

[mylife]

Da Vinvi's 'Benois Madonna'

[FReepaholic]

Doesn't look fake to me.

[spetznaz]

Actually this is worse. At least in the athlete situation the team got what they wanted ....with the only problem being that the athlete got injured. In this case the gallery forked over millions for a fake. That would be comparable to the NY Yankees paying millions for A-Rod, only to get someone who just looks like A-Rod.

[You Dirty Rats]

It would be the same as paying for A-Rod and having H-Rod show up.

The first clue something would be amiss: H-Rod tells Jeter to move to 3B so she and Crusty can play SS.

[LouisianaLobster]

So it wasn't painted by Rafael, but by someone else who was just as good.

[nuconvert]

Right.....but that doesn't count when you're talking about it's value. Almost-a-Raphael doesn't quite make it.
Now, would I mind having it? Absoltely not.