Authentication

Jean-Michel Basquiat: a buyer's guide

Basquiat's art market superstardom rose to dizzying new heights in 2021 but auction sales dropped by 50% in 2022

Peter Doig awarded $2.5m in sanctions following legal saga over prison painting

The lawsuit centred on the authorship of a desert landscape painting signed “Pete Doige” and created by an inmate at a Canadian prison

Recent UK High Court rulings raise questions over dealers’ duty of care towards clients

Two cases involving respected London dealers John Eskenazi and Simon Dickinson brought up issues of negligence and authenticity with differing results

A timeline of the $450m Salvator Mundi: centuries of deals, disputes and drama

The Art Newspaper charts the existence of the world's most expensive work of art, from 1478 to today

Revealed: the first photograph of the Louvre's Leonardo book that was spiked over Salvator Mundi fiasco

The story of the "Léonard de Vinci. Le Salvator Mundi" publication that was withdrawn from sale

'It's about setting the record straight': A Warhol of disputed authenticity and chequered association heads to auction

Offered next month for $500,000 to $700,000, the silkscreen canvas work is from the same series as another that was at the centre of $20m lawsuit against the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts

The rocky authority of the artist in authentication disputes: who gets the final say?

The authentication of a nude by Lucian Freud—despite his protestations that he did not paint it—highlights how creators are not always listened to

Dutch auctioneer to publish first catalogue raisonné of Banksy’s street works—but does it pose a conflict of interest?

Hessink’s will auction three of the British street artist’s outdoor pieces next month in Amsterdam, though none have been authenticated

New ‘Caravaggio’ work—once estimated at €1,500 and now worth millions—offered to Spain

Old Master painting was pulled from auction last year—but will the government pay full market price?

Crime news

Pablo Escobar, Ernest Hemingway and a drug-smuggling NFL player covered in vaseline: new podcast explores the crazy story behind a ceramic that could be by Picasso

Steve Kough also stole three paintings from the Detroit Institute of Arts in 1982—while on trial for conspiracy to distribute marijuana

Painting recovered 40 years after its theft in East Germany may be an unknown Rembrandt

Analysis of the work—stolen in East Germany’s biggest art heist—suggests that it was painted by the Old Master rather than others in his studio

Is Salvator Mundi by Leonardo da Vinci? Amid the current flurry of ill-informed controversies, let us turn to the science

Can the leaked Louvre book give us the final word on the much-maligned painting that we all need?

Not a Leonardo! Clue to wax bust’s attribution lies inside a sperm whale

New scientific report confirms that wax bust of the goddess Flora—bought by the eminent museum director Wilhelm Bode—dates to after the Renaissance

NFTcomment

The NFT craze encapsulates the absurdity of the art world—and its obsession with authenticity

Why would someone buy a non-fungible token of a rainbow-toting cat, which already exists in millions of identical copies?

Constable oil sketch—previously dismissed as fake—goes on sale for £150,000

Sworder's auction house is selling the work, which is one of many by the Romantic painter depicting the area around Dedham Vale where he grew up

Will a ‘Shakespearean tragedy’ find a happy ending in Canada?

After years of research, the only portrait of the playwright possibly painted during his lifetime still hangs in limbo—but perhaps not for long

Nine Van Gogh 'fakes' that have emerged as the real thing

The Oslo self-portrait and other paintings have been authenticated by the artist’s museum

a blog by Martin Bailey

Artory partners with the Winston Art Group appraisal firm to offer free vetting services

The partnership is the latest collaboration undertaken by the growing blockchain-based art registry to increase “transparency” in the art market

Court case over 'modern forgery' Frans Hals concludes but judgment reserved until summer

Sotheby's James Martin stands by his assertion that the painting is a fake following hours of interrogation challenging the independence of his scientific analysis

Fake no more: poppy painting in US museum is by Van Gogh—and has a surprise under the surface

Still life at the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, Connecticut, is authenticated after decades hidden in storage

a blog by Martin Bailey

Matisse expert and archivist Wanda de Guebriant has died, aged 69

The only authorised authenticator of the artist’s work started her 40-year career as an assistant to Matisse’s daughter, Marguerite Duthuit

San Francisco’s Van Gogh is the real deal

The still life of fruit and chestnuts, until recently dismissed as a fake, was painted in Paris

a blog by Martin Bailey
Art marketcomment

Art authentication is not an exact science

The process of art attribution has come under attack, with forgery scandals rampant

Museum of the Bible says that five of its Dead Sea Scroll fragments are apparently fakes

Tests by German institute show "characteristics inconsistent with ancient origin"

Lawnews

Top experts dispute Italian police claims about seized ‘antiquities’

“I cannot imagine where a terracotta life-size horse head could come from in antiquity,” a specialist says

Piero Manzoni Foundation criticised for destruction of works

Foundation denies allegations that it manipulates the authentication process to inflate the value of its holdings

Race to write Modern art history in the Middle East

Market for 20th-century works from the region will benefit from new technologies and deeper scholarship

Dalí discovery goes on show in New York

The painting was authenticated by Dalí expert Nicolas Descharnes

When it comes to understanding authenticity, listen to the dealers and the market—not the academics

Display of works purportedly by Russian avant-garde artists fails to meet three key criteria