Goya is real big these days. The Peter Blum exhibition of “The Disasters of War”, and “Goya in Times of War” are two exhibitions that are percolating right now. And now this: The Prado has confirmed long-suspected suspicions that “Collosus”, a painting previously attributed to the painter, is not authentic. Jose Luis Diez, head of the 19th century paintings department at the Prado, recently confirmed that the painting had actually been completed by Asensio Juli, a little-known studio assistant in Goya’s workshop.
Diez’s attribution is primarily based on the appearance of the initials “AJ”, appearing in a bottom corner of the work. Authenticity aside, one of the interesting things about changing an attribution is the cultural repercussions that it can have, especially when the painting or artist is a source of national pride. This is like the art-historical equivalent of telling a child that there is no Santa Claus. As Geoff Pingree reported In the coverage leading up to this announcement:
“At a certain point, an artist becomes a mythic national hero, and a painting takes on a life of it’s own — it becomes sacred,” says Manuela Mena, the Prado’s chief curator of 18th-century painting and of Goya’s work. “When you challenge that, you might as well be challenging religion — you’re seen as a heretic, and you fall into the hands of the inquisition.”
More coverage of the controversy here:
Damien McElroy for the Telegraph UK: “Goya’s Colossus ‘painted by assistant’”
Elizabeth Nash for Independent UK: “It’s official: ‘Goya work’ was painted by his pupil’
Geoff Pingree for Time Magazine: “More Doubt over Goya’s Colossus”
[...] The Prado confirms that “Collosus” is not an authentic Goya [...]