The difficult and sometimes controversial process of researching art is Art Experts, Inc.'s specialty. We research the authenticity and authorship of all forms of visual art: paintings, sculpture, works on paper, even decorative art. Art Experts has no absolute binding rules about what sort of art we research. We research established and obscure names. Our critical inquiry is most often focused on establishing the viability of a particular piece. We do this by showing how the work fits in the artist's biography or with the schools of painting with which he was associated. We make connections between the methods and materials used in your painting and known techniques of the artist, his biography, travels, and training, as well as its exhibition history and provenance.
Art Experts is dedicated to answering your questions about pieces of art you own, while also advancing knowledge of the visual arts. We serve an international clientele. Our experts are outstanding scholars who have published widely. Our studies are conducted collaboratively, across disciplines and borders. We are proud of our complete objectivity and independence in researching art.
"Main corridor at Jose Vasconcelos Library in Mexico City." Photograph on Flickr by Clinker, September 2006, Creative Commons License.
Documentary Research
All serious historical research entails investigation of primary and secondary documents. A document is anything written; it can be a personal letter or an entry in a census form. Primary documents are those that are written by those who actually witness the event that they describe. These are considered reliable, but must be considered in the context of the author's biases, disabilities, and knowledge. Secondary documents are written after the event they describe. The author of a secondary document has not witnessed the event. Secondary documents are generally considered less reliable, more prone to distortion and bias than primary evidence.
All of us at Art Experts are comfortable in finding and analyzing both primary and secondary documents. Of course, we are accustomed to dealing with actual antique documents, in addition to conducting web research. There are often logistical impediments to getting access to these documents, but we are skilled at being granted permission by the most prestigious collections in the world.
We understand that even primary documents are not simply neutral. Our experts are precise in using manuscript collections, inventories, gallery records, curatorial records. We understand how to make the most of our time at archives and libraries around the world. We are nimble in our translation skills and exercise our critical facilities in a number of languages.
Our goal is not simply to research for the sake of research. We don't waste your time in unnecessary searches. All our documentary research is empirical and specifically tailored to answer your questions about the work of art you own.
Pietro Magni; La Leggitrice, model 1856, carved 1861, National
Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.
Historical Research
The word history has its root in the Greek word for wise, learned, and knowledgeable (ίστόρίά). Art history is neither art criticism nor art appreciation. It is the attempt to understand the context of a work of art. Understanding the art historical context of a piece of art helps us to unlock its attribution and significance. This context is biographical, cultural, political, social, scientific, technological, and economic. We examine this material in order to be objective. Rather than relying purely on connoisseurship, we investigate the life and times of the artist hoping that with distance we can be more scientific than passionate.
Several prominent art historians of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century advocated this approach. Jacob Burckhart (Basle, Switzerland 1818-Basle. Switzerland 1897) famously differentiated between “two avenues for the history of art. Either it becomes a handmaiden of cultural history or it starts out from the beautiful itself and uses cultural history only to enhance understanding of the work of art.” Frederick Antal (Budapest, Hungary 1887-London, U.K. 1954) studied the relation of Florentine society, patronage, and economics on Renaissance art. The German art historian Aby Warburg (Hamburg. Germany 1866-Hamburg. Germany 1929) believed it his mission to save the study of art history “from the isolation with which it was threatened by a purely aesthetic and formal approach.” Erwin Panofsky (Hannover, Germany 1892-Princeton, NJ 1968) is renowned for his work on iconography, the history of Christian symbolism as seen in Renaissance art.
Art Experts, Inc. attempts to be as comprehensive and unbiased as possible in our research. We delve into private records such as diaries, correspondence, photos, and scrapbooks. We also thoroughly investigate public records including contemporaneous newspapers, magazines, auction and exhibition catalogues as well as the secondary scholarly and mainstream literature. But we never lose sight of our mission: to answer your questions about the piece of art you own.
Art Library, National Library of Russia,
St. Petersburg, Russia.
Biographical Research
American philosopher and writer Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “All history is biography.” We place much emphasis on the life of the artist in our research, but balance it with general historical research, provenance research, connoisseurship, and analysis of materials.
The word biography has its origin in two Ancient Greek words: bios (βίόσ), meaning life and graphia (γράφίκοσ) meaning writing or drawing. Many visual artists have used their own lives as the subject of painting, drawing, sculpture, and writing. The letters and autobiographies of artists provide valuable clues about their work and their motivations.
Because we are trained art historians, we tend to search out details beyond the artist’s letters or autobiography. We look in every nook and cranny of the artist’s life; anything could be potentially relevant to uncovering the truth about your painting.
Collectors who take an interest in a work of art usually develop a keen interest in the lives and personalities of their favorites artists. Art Experts will seek out the not-so-easy to get at aspects of the artist's life such as, the artist's reputation, the artist's dealings with gallery owners, the artist's patrons, and the artist's training. We bring in our knowledge of the lives of other, similar artists for the sake of comparison. We try to give you some perspective on the artist’s life and why he may have created the painting you now own.
But the heart of our study is answering your questions about the work of art you own. We are deeply interested in whether your painting is authentic and correctly attributed. We seriously engage with the material that will help us answer those questions: biographical, technical, linguistic, or whatever else is necessary to crack the case.
Bust of Benvenuto Cellini (Florence 1500-Florence 1571) Ponte Vecchio, Cellini began writing a multi-volume autobiography in 1558. He also wrote a treatise on gold-smithing (Due Trattati) in 1568.
