Subscribe
Search
ePaper
Newsletters
Subscribe
ePaper
Newsletters
Art market
Museums & heritage
Exhibitions
Books
Podcasts
Columns
Technology
Adventures with Van Gogh
Art market
Museums & heritage
Exhibitions
Books
Podcasts
Columns
Technology
Adventures with Van Gogh
Search
Diary of an art historian
blog

Connoisseurship has gone out of fashion—to diversify the canon, it's time for a revival

With the Royal Academy the only UK institution now teaching connoisseurship, too many students of art history are missing out on learning an important skill

Bendor Grosvenor
20 August 2024
Share
Was it unfortunate to link connoisseurship—the often mundane, objective practice of recognising artistic techniques—with an elite class?

PA Images / Alamy Stock Photo

Was it unfortunate to link connoisseurship—the often mundane, objective practice of recognising artistic techniques—with an elite class?

PA Images / Alamy Stock Photo

Diary of an art historian

Diary of an art historian is a monthly blog by the British art historian, writer and broadcaster Bendor Grosvenor discussing the pressing issues facing the arts today

This year the Royal Academy of Arts (RA) has extended to a week the annual connoisseurship course I teach in London, so I’ve been busy planning extra field trips. The RA is well located for connoisseurial expeditions, with the Wallace Collection and Sotheby’s to the north, and Christie’s and the National Gallery to the south. I calculate that over the week, we’ll cover about ten miles. We always provide torches—an essential tool for the student connoisseur—but now we might need to supply trainers too.

Each year I like to bring a painting from my inventory as a teaching aid, ideally a potential “sleeper” (or miscatalogued painting) I’ve bought at auction. The dirtier and more obscured by old varnish these are the better, since understanding a painting’s condition is an essential element of connoisseurship. A highlight of the course is when the paintings conservator Simon Gillespie gives us a demonstration cleaning test. This year I have what may be a previously unknown portrait by Zoffany to examine. Will cleaning reveal a genuine Zoffany, or a case of attributional optimism?

One of my dud discoveries can be as instructive as a successful one. I stress on the course that learning connoisseurship is not just about studying “good” works of art, for the connoisseur needs to immerse themselves in just as many copies, fakes and works by followers as securely attributed ones, for then the difference between (say) a genuine Zoffany and a copy becomes easier to discern. That said, buying your own copies is an expensive way to learn.

Connoisseurship was once an essential element of any university art history course, but from about the 1980s onwards it became so tarnished by association with the art market, class and “taste” that it was viewed as old-fashioned and even harmful. Many “new” art historians took the view that everything they disliked about the art historical “canon” was largely the product of an elite connoisseurial class, and they rebelled, rejecting a focus on attribution, looking instead at art’s wider contexts.

I think the new art historians were right to rebel. Context is good. The canon was indeed shaped by an elite class of art historians, collectors and dealers, and their taste defined who was a “great” artist, hence the canon comprising almost entirely white, western males. But I also think it was unfortunate to so firmly link connoisseurship—the often mundane, objective practice of recognising artistic techniques—with an elite class and their subjective tastes. Did the anti-connoisseurship rebellion go too far? In her book Art History: a Very Short Introduction (a staple of university reading lists), Dana Arnold begins with a demolition of connoisseurship and connoisseurs.

The RA is now the only place in the UK still teaching connoisseurship. I would gladly teach a similar course at a university, were any interested. It is still best to know the who, what and when of art history before answering the why. Connoisseurship remains one of the best ways to rebalance the canon, as we discover previously overlooked works by female artists. Seven of the 19 oil paintings on display in the opening room of Tate Britain’s current exhibition on women artists, Now You See Us, were identified by connoisseurship within only the last decade or so. I was lucky enough to find three of them myself. It will be up to the next generation of connoisseurs to find more.

Diary of an art historianArt educationArt historyAttribution
Share

Related content

Diary of an art historianblog

Stop reading, start looking: today’s art history students are not getting a grounding in connoisseurship skills

When I put an image of a well-known Titian on the screen, only one of 40 could identify the artist

Bendor Grosvenor
Booksreview

The case is made for connoisseurs and their role in art history

The practice of connoisseurship, which, the author Frédéric Elsig argues, is a skill that can be learned, is examined in relation to 15th-and 16th-century painting

Cécile Scailliérez
Diary of an art historianblog

Mourning the loss of a fine Rembrandt scholar

Ernst van der Wetering's death this summer leaves a vacancy for an appointed representative of the Dutch master on earth

Bendor Grosvenor
Diary of an art historianblog

How to identify a wreck

Better public understanding of condition requires greater access to digital images

Bendor Grosvenor
Subscribe to The Art Newspaper’s digital newsletter for your daily digest of essential news, views and analysis from the international art world delivered directly to your inbox.
Newsletter sign-up
Information
About
Contact
Cookie policy
Data protection
Privacy policy
Frequently Asked Questions
Subscription T&Cs
Terms and conditions
Advertise
Sister Papers
Sponsorship policy
Follow us
Facebook
Instagram
YouTube
LinkedIn
© The Art Newspaper