Made in China: A Doug Fishbone Project
ReadOver the past three months visitors to the Gallery were set the challenge of identifying a hand-painted Chinese replica hanging among the permanent collection. Experts, journalists and members of the public came to test their connoisseurial skills by examining the 270 paintings on display.
Only 11% of the entries we received successfully spotted the replica of Fragonard’s Young Woman, while 6% chose Rubens’ Portrait of a Woman, and 3% Kettle’s Eliza and Mary Davidson. This experiment has raised fascinating questions about how we judge a work of art and the power of the museum context, but most importantly has encouraged many people to look closely at the paintings in the collection.
The Replica
The replica was ordered online from Meisheng Oil Painting Manufacture Co. Ltd., a professional supplier and exporterof oil paintings based in Xiamen in the Fujian province of China. A high resolution digital photograph was sent to Xiamen, where a painter, or possibly a team of painters, produced the replica. To distinguish it from a forgery, the signature was omitted and the replica was painted to a slightly smaller size than the original. Fragonard’s Young Woman was chosen to see how an artist who had never seen the work in person would respond to the idiosyncratic handling of paint and texture. The artist brightened the overall tonality and made the face of the girl more legible, particularly around her left eye. The differences between the replica and the original demonstrate how an artist’s interpretation of a work of art, even as a faithful copy, can be affected by his or her own aesthetic judgements.
The Original
Prominently signed ‘GRIMOU’, this painting was believed to be by the French artist Jean-Alexis Grimou (1678-1733) until closer examination revealed that the painting’s signature was actually an 18th-century forgery. Visible just above and to the left of the Grimou inscription is Fragonard’s genuine signature, ‘Frago.’ The fluid brushwork and thick impasto of the girl’s theatrical ‘Spanish’ costume identifies this work as one of Fragonard’s Figures de Fantasie, a series of imaginary figures painted to demonstrate his remarkable rangeof technique. By forging Grimou’s signature, a painter who was himself known as a copyist and extremely popular at the time, Fragonard was not trying to create a forgery but rather a playful tease or challenge to the viewer to uncover the true author. The virtuoso handling of the paint is unmistakably that of Fragonard, and more revealing than any signature.
6% of visitors chose Rubens' portrait of a lady.
3% of visitors chose Kettle's portrait of Eliza and Mary Davidson.
Although we ordered a replica from a Chinese studio to highlight the mass reproduction of art today, replicating great art is nothing new. Copying played an important role in the training of young artists. It was also common for Old Master painters to employ assistants to copy successful compositions to meet high demand. Scroll forward to discover more about examples of workshop versions and copies in the Dulwich collection.
Sisto Badalocchio, Christ Carried to the Tomb, after Annibale Carracci, c.1607
Badalocchio was one of the most talented membersof Annibale Carracci’s studio in Rome. The original version of this composition, by Annibale himself, was long considered lost. However, it resurfaced in 1998,and was acquired by the Metropolitan Museum in New York. Other versions can be found in the Galleria Borghese, Rome, and the Palazzo Patrizi in Siena.There are some slight differences from the original, mostly in the overall skill of the execution. For instance, Badalocchio covers Christ’s elbow with drapery inorder to avoid replicating the difficult foreshorteningof Carracci’s original.
Giorgio Vasari, Holy Family, after Andrea del Sarto, mid-16th century
Best remembered today as the biographer of theartists of the Italian Renaissance, Vasari began hiscareer in Florence as a pupil of del Sarto. In the early 1540s, Vasari found employment making copies and original works for the Medici Family, who owned the original version of this painting. Ottaviano de’ Mediciis known to have commissioned a copy of a del Sartowork, possibly this one, and it is likely that he wouldhave turned to del Sarto’s pupil Vasari to paint thisversion.
After Cristofano Allori, Judith with the Head of Holofernes, prob. 16th century
The Jewish heroine Judith holds the head of theenemy Assyrian commander, Holofernes, who shehas just decapitated in his drunken sleep.This painting is one of numerous copies after Allori’s celebrated image, in which the head of Holofernesis reputedly a self-portrait and the figure of Judith aportrait of ‘La Mazzafirra,’ the woman who was thefocus of the artist’s unrequited love. The originalpainting is in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.
Guido Reni, Saint Sebastian, 1630s
One of several versions by Reni, Saint Sebastian reflects the demand for images of the saint due to his role as a protector against plague, but also to the story of his martyrdom which provided an appropriate setting for a male nude. Although Reni’s painting was highly prized by our founders, it was catalogued in 1880 as by his workshop and in 1980 as a later copy. However, since its restoration it is now accepted as one of two autograph replicas by Reni after his original in the Prado, Madrid. The other replica is now in the Louvre.
Workshop of Guido Reni, Europa and the Bull, 17th century
Reni managed one of the busiest painting studiosof the 17th century. His most popular compositionsexist in several versions, each with varying degrees of involvement by the master. The original version of this picture can be seen in the National Gallery, London.While this painting is recognised as a high qualitystudio piece, the clearly defined contours lack the fluid and brilliant brushwork of the works painted by Reni’s own hand. The face of Europa is typical of the type favoured by Reni, and which would have been very familiar to his assistants.
After Guido Reni, Lucretia, 17th century
To meet the high demand for his paintings, Reni employed numerous assistants in his busy workshop to paint replicas of his most popular works. This painting is a workshop version of Reni’s celebrated image of Lucretia, the Roman heroine who became an exemplar of virtue and loyalty. According to the Roman historian Livy, Lucretia was the wife of a nobleman who was raped by Sextus Tarquinius, the son of the ruling tyrant. The next day Lucretia revealed the crime to her husband and father and immediately took her own life in their presence. Lucretia’s tragic death sparked the upheavals that led to the overthrowing of monarchy and to the birth of the Roman Republic.
Workshop of Anthony van Dyck, Charity, c.1630s
It was common practice for a successful artist such asVan Dyck to employ a number of studio assistants. He himself had begun his career as an assistant in Rubens’ studio, and later established his own workshops in Antwerp and Blackfriars.Charity is just one of several studio copies paintedafter the original by Van Dyck in the National Gallery, London. It reflects a strong Italian influence, suggesting that the original was created soon after Van Dyck’sreturn from Italy in 1627. The involvement of a less experienced student is particularly obvious in the application of colour, which is less subtle than the original.
Workshop of Diego Velázquez, The Infante Don Baltasar Carlos on Horseback, after 1635
This is a workshop copy less than half the size of Velázquez’s original which was painted to hang abovea door in the Hall of Realms in King Philip IV’s BuenRetiro palace in Madrid. Situated in such a position,as this copy is now, the perspectival illusion of therearing horse can be fully appreciated.Baltasar, even though only aged six here, is dressed asa military leader confidently charging into battle, no doubt intended to showcase the power of the Habsburg Empire and future destiny of the young prince. However, this evocation was never realised, as Baltasar diedshortly before his 17th birthday.
Workshop of Diego Velázquez, Philip IV, King of Spain, after 1644
Velázquez worked at the Spanish court in Madridwhere he painted portraits of the royal family tohang in the palaces and be sent abroad as gifts.Demand for royal images was such that many ofthese portraits were copied several times by other painters in Velázquez’s studio.The Dulwich portrait of Philip IV is a version of anoriginal of 1644, now in the Frick Collection, NewYork, which was painted by Velázquez in a makeshift studio in Catalonia while the King prepared for battle against the French. This version may have been painted by Juan Bautista del Mazo, Velázquez’s son-in-law.
After Titian, The Rape of Europa, 17th century
This painting is a scaled-down 17th-century copy after Titian’s original Rape of Europa, possibly made by Juan Bautista Martínez del Mazo (c.1612-1667), son-in-lawof Velázquez. Mazo was a painter in the Spanish court and is known to have copied works by Titian in the Spanish Royal collection as a way of developing hisown painting.Taken from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, this scene depictsthe most dramatic moment from the legend of Europa where Jupiter, in the form of a white bull, kidnaps the princess and carries her over the sea to the island of Crete.
Attributed to the Workshop of Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, The Immaculate Conception of the Virgin, 1660-70
Bought by the Gallery’s founders as a painting byMurillo, this work was later thought to be a copy.Recent cleaning has removed layers of yellowed varnish to reveal beautifully painted passages, particularly inthe Virgin’s mantle and the facial expressions of the angels. Such evident skill would suggest that it was painted by assistants in Murillo’s studio, or at least someone working closely with the artist.Except for the pose of the Virgin’s head, the composition relates directly to an engraving of 1794 by Francisco de Paula Marti (1761-1827) after a painting by Murillo now thought to be lost.
After Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, The Infant Christ as the Good Shepherd, 18th century
Bought by the Gallery’s founders as a work by Murillo, this painting was once thought to be an oil sketch ora smaller autograph version of the original painting, which was famous in France throughout the 18th century. However, pigment analysis has proven thatthe colour Prussian Blue was used in the sky area, a pigment not invented until 1706. The present paintingis therefore an 18th-century copy, possibly by a French artist such as Jean-Alexis Grimou (1678-1733), whose full-size copy after the original was in England in the18th century and copied by Thomas Gainsborough.
Workshop of Joshua Reynolds, Mrs Siddons as the Tragic Muse, 1789
Sarah Siddons was the most celebrated tragic actress of her day. Reynolds’ portrait of her, now in the Huntington Art Gallery, California, appealed so much to our founder Noël Desenfans that he acquired a workshop copy. This version is signed by Reynolds himself, a seal of approval for a fine product painted by assistants in his studio. The pose, which according to the actress’s own account she struck spontaneously, appears to be based on Domenichino’s Saint John the Evangelist (on display at the National Gallery, London). This imagery had the effect of elevating the portrait to the level of a history painting, the most respected art genre at the time.
John Constable, Landscape with Windmills near Haarlem, after Jacob van Ruisdael, 1830
Constable made this copy of Ruisdael’s landscapewhen it was lent from Dulwich to the Royal Academy, London, for students to copy. Constable’s copy records the Ruisdael as it looked in the 1830s, prior to itscleaning in 1997 when the man on horseback and the boy next to him were discovered to be later additions, possibly painted in by our founder, Francis Bourgeois. These additions were removed so that the Constable version now records how the Ruisdael painting once looked - including the effect of layers of dirty varnishes, so that Constable’s version now looks ‘older’ than the conserved Dutch landscape.
