12/9/19
An Art History Mystery with No Shortage of Sleuths
Historians in the Newstags: statues, art history, digital history, public engagement
“Is it a ‘5’ or a ‘6’? ” a New York Times headline asked readers several days ago as the article detailed an art history dispute that is roiling the curatorial ranks. It was the kind of question that inspired the detectives among our readers. The story also sparked a debate among readers, akin to 2015’s viral blue dress or gold dress discussion, that highlighted how two people can look at the same image and see very different things.
This dispute revolves around a bronze statue titled “Bathing Venus” that is being presented as a newly discovered artwork by the venerated Italian sculptor Giambologna and exhibited in Florence, Italy.
But several experts argue the piece is actually a copy of another Giambologna statue, currently in the Getty in Los Angeles. They say “Bathing Venus” was made a century later by an obscure Swedish bronze maker. The debate turns, in part, on whether a number inscribed on the sculpture is read as a “5” or a “6,” making the year of the Venus’s creation 1597 — or 1697, long after Giambologna’s death, which would make it much less valuable.
comments powered by Disqus
News
- The Debt Ceiling Law is now a Tool of Partisan Political Power; Abolish It
- Amitai Etzioni, Theorist of Communitarianism, Dies at 94
- Kagan, Sotomayor Join SCOTUS Cons in Sticking it to Unions
- New Evidence: Rehnquist Pretty Much OK with Plessy v. Ferguson
- Ohio Unions Link Academic Freedom and the Freedom to Strike
- First Round of Obama Administration Oral Histories Focus on Political Fault Lines and Policy Tradeoffs
- The Tulsa Race Massacre was an Attack on Black People; Rebuilding Policies were an Attack on Black Wealth
- British Universities are Researching Ties to Slavery. Conservative Alumni Say "Enough"
- Martha Hodes Reconstructs Her Memory of a 1970 Hijacking
- Jeremi Suri: Texas Higher Ed Conflict "Doesn't Have to Be This Way"
Trending Now
- New transcript of Ayn Rand at West Point in 1974 shows she claimed “savage" Indians had no right to live here just because they were born here
- The Mexican War Suggests Ukraine May End Up Conceding Crimea. World War I Suggests the Price May Be Tragic if it Doesn't
- The Vietnam War Crimes You Never Heard Of