Provenance, attribution and restoration
The current appearance and museum signature are the result of research.
Key ideas
Provenance is the history of ownership and movement of a work. Attribution - establishing authorship, workshop, time or place of creation. The wording "workshop", "circle" and "attributed" express different levels of confidence; read them literally.
Looking deeper
Restoration and technical research help to understand materials, changes and later interventions. Reproduction may hide the condition of the surface. The history of collecting sometimes involves violence and illegal movement; such circumstances are important along with aesthetic appreciation.
Compare old and new museum descriptions of the same work, if available.
Find the work in the museum's official catalog and start with a description of the visible details.Write down what is known, what is assumed, and what data the conclusions are based on.
Useful terms
- Provenance
- The history of ownership, movement and circulation of an item, established from documents and other evidence.
- Attribution
- Establishing the authorship, time, place or circle of creation of a work. May be revised as new data becomes available.
External educational material or museum catalogue. The above review is not a literal translation of the source.