O U T S K I R T S
The authenticity of the
Rossellino
Madonna and
Child
(opposite) was
confirmed by chemical
analysis of the paint
surface and the discov-
ery of lead-tin yellow
Type I, a recipe used in
the Renaissance but
then lost and not avail-
able to later forgers.
S w
e e t
R
e l i e f
STORY BY
M arc K ristal
T h e notorious British forger Eric Hebborn
observed that all art is genuine—it’s the
attributions o f the experts that are occa-
sionally incorrect. D isingenuous though
his career-choice defense may have been,
it points to an interesting question: W hen
it comes to authentication, whom do
you trust?
T h e issue arose in 2001, when K urt
Sundstrom, associate curator at the Currier
M useum o f A rt in M anchester, N ew
Ham pshire, found a box in the museum’s
basement labeled “ Rossellino.” W ithin,
he discovered a painted stucco relief featur-
ing the M adonna and Child against a floral
background, measuring 20 by 27 inches,
in an ornate gilded w ood fram e. Though
the object w as in poor condition—the frame
worm -tunneled, the flesh tones dirty and
uneven—Sundstrom was stunned by what
w as apparently a w ork by the Renaissance
sculptor Antonio Rossellino (1427-1479),
celebrated for the naturalism and hum anity
he invested in his subjects. “ It was just
so beautiful,” he recalls. “And what was ex-
trem ely unusual w as that the frame was
clearly original—usually, as tastes changed,
so did the fram es.”
Sundstrom dug into the museum’s records
and discovered that the object had been
purchased in 1941 and remained on display
throughout the decade, after which it
was placed in storage. W h ile the Rossel-
lino’s deteriorating condition m ight have
caused its removal, the curator suspected
a more dire reason: the possibility the art-
w ork w as a fake. Indeed, Sundstrom
uncovered letters in the C urrier’s archive
questioning its authenticity, possibly
attributing it to the prolific 19th-century
forger Giovanni Bastianini, whose “ Ros-
sellinos” had peppered any number o f
major museum collections.
And yet, to Sundstrom’s trained eye, the
piece looked real. So he sent it to the N ew
London, Connecticut, conservators Lance
M ayer and G ay M yers for a condition re-
port, one that might yield clues regarding
its authenticity. A n important indicator,
M ayer explains, would be the revelation o f
a persuasive narrative. “ One can sometimes
tell the age o f a paint layer by looking at it,”
he says. “ But one also wants to see a plau-
sible sequence o f damages. In other w ords,
does it make sense that it’s had 500 years
o f stu ff done to it?”
L ike Sundstrom , M ayer “ had no doubt
it was authentic.” He proposed creating
a metal brace to stabilize the relief w ithin
the fram e, rem oving in-painting added
by earlier conservators and sm oothing the
blotches out o f the skin tones. W ork was
underway w hen the Rossellino w as again
declared bogus-this time by a seem ingly
irrefutable authority.
“ It was a composition o f which I knew
many exam ples—every one false, from
the 19th century,” recalls Laurence Kanter,
who was curator o f early European art at
the Yale U niversity A rt G allery and o f the
Lehm an collection at the M etropolitan
Museum o f A rt when Sundstrom sent him
photographs, along w ith questions about
the fram e’s origins. K anter recom m ended
that conservation efforts be discontinued,
and a disheartened Sundstrom did so.
M ayer, how ever, w as undeterred.
“ Lance was very upset—he was convinced
it w as real,” says Sundstrom. So the con-
servator sent pigment samples taken from
T he C u rrier M useum o f A r t discovers an authentic
15th-century F lo ren tin e treasure th a t h a d
lan guished in storage fo r m ore than 5 0 years.
038 american craft feb/maro9
