Nice painting, eh?
Not so fast.
For a couple hundred years or so, “The Colossus” was believed to be the work of Francisco de Goya (1746 – 1828). Now, an official at the Prada Museum in Madrid thinks it may be the work of an apprentice. From Reuters….
The painting, which shows a giant naked male figure towering over a landscape of people and animals, shows poorer technique than Goya’s and bears a signature which may belong to one of his apprentices, Asensio Julia, the Prado’s Manuela Mena said.
See, I would think the signature would be a dead giveaway but, what do I know? Mena is the head of Goya restoration at the museum and he has the bona fides to elaborate.
“When you look at it in the right light … you can see the poverty of the technique, its use of light and color, and the great difference between ‘The Colossus’ and the masterpieces attributed to Goya,”
“The poverty of the technique”; that’s one you don’t want to hear when you tote your pawn shop find down to the Antiques Roadshow. “The poverty of the technique”, is polite, Goya expert speak for, “you got took, son”.
Did they buy it on eBay?
probably not, it is my understanding that eBay has a very strict Goya authentication process
I have issues with eBay and authenticity (not specifically related to pix by Goya).
I bought a DVD off eBay a while ago. When it arrived it was clearly fake. The disk was blue with a dodgy label and a photocopied front cover. Naturally I complained to the vendor who said, ‘Yes it’s fake. I put on the advertisment that if you had any questions you should email me. You should have asked and I’d have told you it was a fake’.
I told the guy I wanted my money back. He gave me a refund.
Fair enough, but being the goody-two shoes I am I reported the vendor to eBay as he had loads more of the same DVD for sale and I didn’t want anyone else to get stung. I also reported him to FACT (I never heard back from… ever)
The after a week or so the eBay customer service department emailed me back to say that they’d investigated my claims but had found no evidence that the guy was selling fake DVDs. Basically, unless he explicitly stated in the ad that the items were fake then there was nothing they could do about it. What?!?! I then rooted through his feedback (as you do), and about 1 in 10 had complained that they’d received fakes. I got back in touch with eBay but even this wasn’t ‘evidence’ as far as they were concerned.
I gave up. 6 months later the guy was still selling the same dodgy DVDs with the same advertisement. Doesn’t give you much faith in the system, does it?
I’ve bought a good deal of gear at eBay and had fairly good luck. One transaction took too much time and I had to chase the seller down. I do know people that have got really burned (including a guy that shelled out big money on a vintage Deluxe Reverb that never materialized) and eBay wasn’t helpful.
That’s a classic there.Selective disclosure with a clear conscious.
I am fascinated by ancient artists, they seem to have had a poor life, almost all of them. Today money are everywhere, look at pop and dance music, I don’t know that much about painters of today either. The fact is I can think about photographers and media artists, but painters…I don’t know. You know, I was just about to study this art, I prepared for it for 3-4 months intensively to be admitted to an art highschool here but instead I took physics classes because of my family. Well, who could know, maybe I could have been the next Goya ;-)
As far as painting goes, I’m an art appreciator. I love to look at paintings, close up, in museums. Seeing older works is really a kick, I think.
Reply to Bogus Goya… Bogus Manson: HERE
It’s all about buyer’s remorse… no?
You should have asked and I’d have told you it was a fake