Issues of connoisseurship, authentication and attribution have been of particular interest to the Museum recently.

The Cardsharps by Caravaggio, kindly loaned to the Museum from a private collection, has been the subject of a legal argument concerning alleged negligence and the duty of care owed by the auction house to the vendor. The Cardsharps is a much copied painting, and Caravaggio is known to have replicated his own works. Attribution is never an exact science, and it is not uncommon for paintings to move from the status of copy, to the hand of the master, or indeed vice versa. The Museum displays The Cardsharps as by Caravaggio, based on the considerable scholarship of Sir Denis Mahon who discovered the work, and this opinion is supported by other academics who, like Professor Mina Gregori, spent more than half a century studying the artist. Others may argue, and indeed they have, that it is a very fine copy.

Come and listen to our Head of Heritage’s short talk before viewing the painting and deciding for yourself!