Show Me the Monet: the Suitability of Product Disparagement to Art Experts

As Theodore Stebbins tells the story, a painting entitled Two Hummingbirds and an Orchid was presented to Sotheby Parke Bernet for auction. It was purported to be by the American painter, Martin Johnson Heade, so naturally, Sotheby’s contacted Stebbins, the foremost expert on Heade, to authenticate the work. After comparing an 8 x 10 transparency of the painting to photos of known Heade works, Stebbins called Sotheby’s to say the painting was authentic and that it would be included in the next edition of his catalogue raisonné on Heade. A note to that effect was included in the sale catalog for Sotheby’s fall American Paintings sale. Subsequently, Stebbins started to have reservations about his attribution and on the day of the sale he rushed to examine the work in person. With only twenty minutes left before the painting was due on the auction block, he was examining the painting with a magnifying glass and flashlight. In person, Stebbins says, “its colors appeared both chalkier and brighter than one would expect, and the application of pigments—the artist’s strokes—did not conform to what I knew of Heade.” Stebbins convinced Sotheby’s to withdraw the painting from the sale. After more thorough stylistic and scientific analyses were completed, the work was confirmed to be a modern forgery. In many ways this story is typical. Leading art experts are frequently solicited to authenticate works in contexts where their conclusions determine the work’s market value. Often, experts are forced to work under time