[MSN] The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York is refuting claims that a painting it bought for a reported $50 million US is a fake.

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Controversy over authenticity of $50M painting
Last Updated Fri, 07 Jul 2006 11:37:47 EDT
CBC Arts
The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York is refuting claims that a
painting it bought for a reported $50 million US is a fake.

Museum officials released a statement saying they had "no reason to doubt"
the authenticity of Duccio's Madonna and Child, dating back to 1300.  It's
alleged to be the most expensive piece of art the museum has ever bought.

"[The painting was] considered by virtually every expert in the field to be
a keystone in the history of Western art," said the statement. "As a matter
of course, the picture was carefully examined by the museum's curators and
conservators before its acquisition in 2004."

The painting, measuring 20 by 28 centimetres, was purchased through a
private sale handled by auction house Christie's, which says it is satisfied
with the origin of the artwork.

However, James Beck, a professor of art history at Columbia University,
believes the work could never have come from Duccio.

"It is not even a good forgery," Beck told the Times of London.

Beck says the painting probably dates back to the late 19th century.

Duccio declared an 'innovator'

Beck's assertion is based on the fact that there's a parapet painted in
front of the Madonna. This technique was a way of providing a space-defining
perspective, but was not used by artists until 100 years after Duccio is
said to have finished the painting.

Keith Christiansen, the museum's curator, has explained away this anomaly by
declaring Duccio an innovator and that the painting contains the first
"illusionistic parapet in European art."

Born in 1260, Duccio di Buoninsegna was considered one of the leading early
Renaissance painters of his time.  Only a dozen of his works survive.

As well, Beck points out that the baby in the painting is badly rendered,
with a head like a gourd and a raised arm that he has compared to a stump. 

The professor's theories about the painting will be published in a book due
out this September: The Crisis of Connoisseurship: from Duccio to Raphael.

Beck is no stranger to artistic controversy.  He once led a group opposed to
the restoration of the Sistine Chapel ceiling, and last year challenged
whether the National Gallery in London had an authentic Raphael - Madonna of
the Pinks. 

http://www.cbc.ca/