David A. Scott courageously wades into the precarious realm of authenticity with his recent book, Art: Authenticity, Restoration and Forgery. This ambitious text, intended for both general readers and scholars, seeks to reduce discord between conservators and art historians, promote a model for exploring the questions and controversies surrounding authenticity in the realm of conservation, consider the many ways in which restoration and conservation programs impact past and present understandings of artistic productions, and champion actions that heighten the visual discernibility of conservation interventions. The book is a greatly expanded version of Scott’s recent article, “Conservation and Authenticity.” ^{Footnote 1} While not providing any new argument or theory, Scott’s text summarizes philosophical and historical concepts related to authenticity, fakes, and forgery and discusses many artworks that have been conserved and/or restored to public acclaim or disdain. Scott’s graduate studies in ancient metallurgy at London’s University College, professorial work at the Institute of Archaeology, London, and at the University of California, Los Angeles, leadership in the Museum Research Laboratory at the J. Paul Getty Museum, and his many texts on scientific analyses of ancient metals and pigments and on topics of conservation provide a practical and theoretical foundation for this recent publication.

Though not identified as such, Scott’s book is divided into three principal sections. The first section, Chapters 1–4, explores the philosophical, historical, and legal concepts of authenticity. The following six chapters are a mix of case studies, musings, and interesting tales loosely organized into chronological order. Finally, a concluding chapter, glossary, bibliography of cited references, and index round out the book.

The introductory chapter, after a brief outline of the book and identification of the desired knowledge and skillsets for the “scientific connoisseur” and “art connoisseur,” introduces key concepts and terms from the field of conservation. ^{Footnote 2} Scott’s goal in this chapter is to build a shared conceptual understanding of issues and approaches, to raise awareness of the multiplicity of values that impact decision making, and to acknowledge that artworks from different eras and cultures present unique challenges for the definition and determination of authenticity. To illuminate the issues, he discusses nineteenth-century restorations and the impact of irreversible processes of cleaning artworks. While such events contributed to the insightful mid-twentieth-century writings of renowned conservation theorist Cesare Brandi, as to how best approach, document, and care for monuments and objects with respect to their past, present, and future, Scott observes that a lack of understanding and agreement between conservators and scientific and art connoisseurs continues into the present. ^{Footnote 3}

The second chapter is a wide-ranging discussion of the “Cult of Authenticity.” Scott identifies concerns over “the real, the genuine, the authentic” and the heightened desire for certifications of authenticity as being a contemporary issue. ^{Footnote 4} He employs Plato, Georg Friedrich Wilhelm Hegel, Arthur Schopenhauer, Jean-Paul Sartre, Martin Heidegger, Walter Benjamin, and others to outline the variety of properties associated with authenticity. While periodic digressions complicate the author’s outline of theoretical developments, this chapter reaffirms the contextual relativism of conceptualizing authenticity.

The third chapter traces the nuanced approaches to authenticity over the last century, as documented in the international charters intended to protect cultural heritage. Scott begins with the 1931 Athens Charter for the Restoration of Historical Monuments, identifying it as a response to the rebuilding, restoration, and demolition of artworks and monuments following the devastation of World War I. ^{Footnote 5} The Charter stipulates that newer materials should be differentiated from original fragments. Mediators and authors of subsequent charters and declarations by national and international bodies have sought, and continue to seek, recognition and incorporation of tangible and intangible culturally relevant factors into their recommendations. Scott follows his analysis of developments with an outline of the nineteenth-century restoration activities and debates of John Ruskin, William Morris, Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, and Camillo Boito, before turning to case studies of the recent restoration of the Chartres Cathedral and the conversion of the Grand Midland Hotel in London.

The first section concludes with another look at the implications of theories of authenticity on conservation and restoration activities and the consideration of the impact of fakes and forgeries. Seeking to promote scholarly interdisciplinary discourse, Scott highlights the fragmentation of scholarship due to a perceived absence of awareness of important sources outside of scholars’ particular fields of interest. The absence of open communication, according to Scott, leads to philosophers and art historians misunderstanding the activities of conservators and restorers. To explore modes of assessing and/or justifying conservation and restoration projects, the author uses several texts, including those of Nelson Goodman and Mark Sagoff, and the more recent works of Rafael De Clercq and Mark Rowe, ^{Footnote 6} as well as various artistic objects, including Michelangelo’s Pietà, an early Chinese bronze vessel, and carved wooden Bulul figures from the Philippines, though the latter were misidentified by Scott as African. ^{Footnote 7} The texts contribute to a discussion of the authentic natures of the bronze sculptures of dancers by Edgar Degas, forged paintings by Han van Meegeren, and the bust of Lucrezia Donati by Giovanni Bastianini. Summaries of Arthur Danto’s and Sándor Radnóti’s analyses of the relationships between artworks, appropriations, forgeries, copies, replicas, pastiches, and tangible and intangible associations complete the section.

The six chapters composing the “second section” of the book are titled “The Ancient Old World,” “The Ethnographic and the Authentic,” “Considerations of Medieval Authenticity,” “The European Renaissance and Beyond,” “From the Baroque to the Early Twentieth Century,” and “The Modern, Postmodern, and Contemporary.” For each chapter, following a brief introduction, Scott uses extant objects and textual references, from the past and present, to briefly articulate concepts of authenticity from the particular era. He then generally considers the role of multiples, cultural and artistic appropriations, emulation, and the reuse of materials, before turning to antique, medieval, and contemporary copies, replicas, forgeries, and fakes. The author concludes the chapters with case studies to illustrate concepts, scientific methods, conservation, and restoration activities. These vignettes may be brief, such as the two paragraphs on artworks in the manner of Maori woodcarvings by James Edward Little, or more extended overviews, such as the 11 pages dedicated to the frescos of the Sistine Chapel. ^{Footnote 8}

In the final chapter, Scott advocates for a tripartite approach to analyzing authenticity by discussing it “in terms of the conceptual, historic, or material authenticity of the artwork.” ^{Footnote 9} The structure of this model evolves through the pages of the book. In the beginning, the template promotes a broad assessment of authenticity from the realms of concepts, materials, and aesthetics. These realms span the “intangible associations … the constitutive properties and compositions of the artwork … and appreciation of the artwork in its current state.” ^{Footnote 10} Later, the author adds history to the mix, sometimes as a constituent element of any of the other three realms and sometimes standing as its own element replacing one of the three. In the book’s final chapter, “historic authenticity” supersedes “aesthetic authenticity,” though without clarification of how or why. The intent of this model is to provide a flexible approach to evaluating objects by interdisciplinary groups of scholars, with the goal of enhancing decision-making processes and, perhaps more importantly, to lessen public and private disputes over the appropriateness of past, present, and future decisions concerning restoration and conservation activities.

As noted by the book’s author, interest in the topic of authenticity is increasing, as made evident by the numerous texts recently published on the topic. Scott incorporates some of this material, including that written by Susanne Knaller, Virginia Richter, Wolfgang Funk, Thierry Lenain, Sándor Radnóti, as well as “an anonymous online philosophy text” and Alex Boese’s Museum of Hoaxes’ blog. ^{Footnote 11} While newer texts should certainly not be ignored, it is necessary to ensure that knowledge of certain events and their relevance to an object’s authenticity are not marginalized. This seemingly occurred in the failure to recognize that the late medieval practice of updating or repainting devotional objects may be seen as acts—perhaps even as authenticating acts—of veneration (that is, beyond those actions taken solely for the purpose of repairing damage incurred during ritual devotional practices or from other causes) and in the lack of consideration of the possibility that the absence of relics in reliquaries displayed at the Victoria and Albert Museum being due to the events of the English Reformation rather than conservation activities. ^{Footnote 12}

The incorporation of more recent texts, at times without reference to earlier scholarship, may also have a negative impact on readers. The first section is oriented toward readers administering and working in the fields of heritage management and cultural properties; those seeking to understand in general terms the development of international guidelines; and those fostering classroom discussions on the nature of authenticity. For these readers, more complete analyses of positions held by past scholars are necessary to establish strong foundations for integrating and interrogating more current scholarship. Nonetheless, Scott advises more than once that due to space limitations it is necessary to dispense with discussions of certain older texts.

In conclusion, Scott presents a strong case for the integration of interdisciplinary approaches into the decision-making processes for conservation and restoration activities. While he is a particularly ardent supporter of conservators, he recognizes the value of broader scientific, anthropological, and art historical discourse. His call for integration is likely supported by many practitioners, scholars, and the general public. Nonetheless, it remains to be seen whether such discourse can be implemented practically. As a minor example, Scott notes the error of an art historical narrative of black wings on a Renaissance angel (326, 419). The black wings, as revealed by scientific examination, were originally painted with the blue of azurite, blackening over time due to environmental conditions. He advises that “the interpretation or denotation of these wings has to be seen from a holistic perspective that takes account of both art connoisseurship and scientific connoisseurship,” a position with which I, as an art historian, agree. ^{Footnote 13} However, the inclusion of “historic authenticity” in his model, whether as a stand-alone realm or not, suggests that the art historical narrative was not erroneous at the time it was written but, rather, that subsequent texts should recognize the scientific findings. Such corrections, however, depend on the presence of scholarly interest. Of graver concern is that the world of objects is greater than that which can be studied by integrated groups of scientists, conservators, and art historians, due to financial and time constraints. Yet, should art historians wait to investigate the authenticity of an object pending scientific input? Or should they proceed, armed with Scott’s model of authenticities, with an awareness that past interventions impact present condition and ultimately guided by Denis Dutton’s famed question: “Authentic as opposed to what?” ^{Footnote 14}