Frédéric Elsigs connoisseurship established that Nicolas Cordonnier was the painter of The Annunciation (around 1520) and other works previously attributed to the artist known only as the Master of the Legend of the Holy House © Rijksbureau voor kunsthistorische documentatie
Frédéric Elsig, the Professor of Medieval and Renaissance Art History at Geneva University, brilliantly makes the case for connoisseurship as the foundation of art-historical writing in this short book (the title of which is, in English, Connoisseurship and Art History. Methodological Considerations on 15th- and 16th-Century Painting). He speaks of it all the more accurately and appositely given that for him it is a day-to-day practice and an intellectual disposition, and his extensive bibliography bears eloquent testimony to its prestigious range.
His introduction spells out the degree to which the art market, the emergence of museums and the birth of academic art history were inextricably interwoven from the 16th to the 19th centuries, the Golden Age in which this discipline— logical, independent and prolific – was established. What clearly emerges is that all art history is organically related to the accurate and correct definition of its true object, the work of art itself. Ultimately, being able to name and define the work under discussion is the issue at stake – and this, precisely, is the connoisseurs art.
However positivist and old-fashioned the connoisseurs expertise may now be considered by many academics (and even at times within 21st-century museums), the characterisation of a work, its context and its precise identification are arrived at by the connoisseur following the complex process of hypothesis and deduction. This is the essential preliminary to other ways of approaching the work in question – whether by contemporary history, sociology, ethnology, psycho-linguistics or iconology, current fashions in the academic world. Connoisseurship is indispensable because it alone is dedicated to validating precisely the works that undergird the geographical, national, chronological and stylistic frameworks of art history, which is itself constantly undergoing adjustment as new works are discovered and new identifications are made. Other fields of art history adopt, or should adopt, connoisseurial conclusions as the basis for developing their interpretations.
Contrary to received opinion, even though some individuals are more gifted in its practice than others, connoisseurship is something that can be learned. With clear explanations and using specific examples, Elsig breaks down and theorises the process that enables art historians, when confronted with an anonymous work (or one where the label has been lost or is, as in many cases, approximate or wrong), to ask the right questions, in the right order, and draw together a cluster of arguments permitting them to reconstruct a story whose chronology has been largely incomplete.
By studying the works materials the connoisseur is able to situate it in space and time (by comparing it with others and placing it, on objective grounds, either before or after a fixed chronological reference point). Then, by making comparisons and analysing its stylistic components, he or she can characterise its makers cultural milieu – identifying the tradition(s) espoused, for example – and they can seek to identify an individual personality by connecting the information about its iconography, formal construction and technique to establish a coherent specific style. Through concurrent and interconnected processes, the connoisseur then attributes this work to a maker, whether a historically known figure or by providing a provisional, collective and descriptive name. Subsequent research may then be able to find documents and/or other works of art that make an attribution possible. This is the case, for example, of Elsigs positing of Nicolas Cordonnier as the artist previously known only as the Master of the Legend of the Holy House. The section in which Elsig discusses the work of art itself concludes with a witty, informative exploration of the vital topic of copies, pastiche and fakes – the detection of which is so important for everyone.
A new attribution can enrich a known aspect of a masters corpus or establish a reference point foRead More – Source
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