July 06, 2006

Art historian calls Met's 'Madonna and Child' a fake

A 14th century "Madonna and Child" hanging in the Metropolitan Museum of Art is a fake, according to a Columbia University art history professor quoted in today's Post.

The Met paid more than $45 million for the tempera and gold on wood panel painting in November 2004. Attributed to Renaissance artist Duccio di Buoninsegna, it has no documents proving ownership prior to 1904. Art history professor James Beck believes it was done in the 1880s. "It's incontestable," he told the Post.

And yet that's what the Met does:

There was no immediate response yesterday from the museum or Christie's, which handled the sale for a Belgian family.

But Met curator Keith Christiansen told The Times of London, "There is no reason to doubt the period and the authenticity of the picture."

Luciano Bellosi, a longtime Duccio scholar at the University of Siena in Italy, chuckled when he was told of Professor Beck's remarks. "I assure you I have never doubted that it was a masterpiece by Duccio," he said in a telephone interview from Siena.

July 6, 2006 10:14 AM in Museums, Sightsology, Upper East Side

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