La Disputa

I have been slacking off for when it comes to La Disputa and I must apologize.  I’ve been working hard on a few writing projects recently, though that is a terrible excuse and I will try to appear here more often.

Something that I’ve been following lately: Madonna of the Pinks by Raphael

Madonna of the Pinks: attributed to Raphael, then re-attributed as a fake, then back again.  Is she or isn’t she?

Honestly, there are so many reasons for both sides, that I can’t completely tell you.  A colleague of mine did extensive study on the this particular work and even she came up with a vague answer, quite unfortunately.

The main problem with the painting is that it is Really Good.  (You read that right.)  This is why: Whoever did this painting (probably around the time of Raphael himself in the 1500′s), is at the very least a scholar and fan of Raphael.  He/She is capable in technique, mixing a great color palette, and beautiful lines.  Because of the year the painting was created (a long time ago), and the condition it’s in (fairly great)- the painting should be worth a lot of money.

However, it would be worth more if it was Raphael.

In the traditional, multi-million, fine arts world, it is rather difficult to promote a completely new artist with very few artworks (or just one, in this case) into the millions of dollars category.  It is much, much easier to just falsely attribute a famous name to a painting and sell it as that.  Who would want some newbie when they believe they can get a Raphael?

Regardless of whether this particular painting is by Raphael or by someone else, it is a fantastic work of art, and it’s rather sad to see it fall by the wayside whenever the controversy comes along.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 28th, 2010 at 1:09 pm and is filed under Art Alert. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.