The Infanta Adventure and the Lost Manet

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Around 1859, Edouard Manet painted a copy of Velasquez's Infante Marguerite , which hung, then as now, in the Louvre. Brainerd, a Chicago lawyer and art collector, bought a portrait of a serious young girl in 1967 that he believes is the original, long-lost Manet copy (he sold the picture in 1970). Written in a stilted style burdened with hyperbole, this handsomely illustrated study presents a detailed technical analysis of the unsigned portrait. Brainerd, in arriving at his Manet attribution, portrays art historians as a coterie of experts bent on protecting their privileged sphere. Included is a report on the painting's chemistry by forensic scientist Walter McCrone, known for debunking the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin. His precis supports the view that the picture was done either by Manet or by someone who used pigments physically identical to those in Manet's palette. (Feb.)

Library Journal

In 1967 a copy of Velasquez's painting of the Infanta Margarita was discovered in a basement in Amsterdam. Using the dual methodologies of traditional authentication through connoisseurship and scientific examination, Brainerd here attempts to determine whether this is the painting executed by Edouard Manet in the Louvre in 1859. Brainerd's impressive and highly instructive application of these methodologies lends both breadth and depth to his careful examination of the painting; the chapters on ``the Manet Matrix'' and the report by Walter C. McCrone in particular are superb examples of this craft. The book, addressed to specialists and the highly educated lay reader, is a fascinating, well-written study, demonstrating the various approaches that can be taken to authenticate and attribute a work of art.-- Martin Chasin, Adult Inst., Bridgeport, Ct.