Liechtenstein Offers a Battle of the Experts Over Cranach Venus

The Antiques Trade Gazette says Liechtenstein collection maintains their €7m Cranach is not a fake. They present plenty of facts to prove it.

The director of the collection, Dr. Johann Kräftner, said they remain “fully convinced” of the authenticity of the work they bought for €7m from dealers Bernheimer/Colnaghi in 2013. Following discussions with technical experts who were commissioned by a French judge overseeing an investigation into the oil on panel, they have now released details “lending weight to their view”.

With the argument over the attribution looking set to intensify, Kräftner said they are releasing further details “in order to counteract any biased pre-publication of research findings”.

The Princely Collections of Liechtenstein have released a report (downloadable here.) Bendor Grosvenor points out that the new report offers a guide to the unreleased French report doubting the work’s authenticity. In Liechtenstein’s own report, we can see an outline of the accusations.

Among the details contained in their notes are arguments over the pigment analysis, dendrochronological re-affirmation from their original expert, discussions of the signature, and even go as far as to write “, it is startling that the reports provided by the French authorities have not reviewed the fundamental research on craquelure.”