BBC Culture - Art History: How to discover a masterpiece

This piece explores the process of finding a "sleeper" (a painting at auction that has been mislabeled or undervalued) and restoring it.

When one is found, "they bid for it at a knock-down price before building a case in its favour by conserving it and carefully investigating any leads about its provenance. Upgrading a picture is a form of detective work, and once the case has been cracked, the sleeper can reappear on the market as a bona-fide masterpiece – with a price tag to match...One minute, a painting is unloved and overlooked; the next, everyone is cooing over it and calling it sublime."

An interesting look at how perceptions of artwork shift drastically and the role intuition and sense perception play in identifying tell-tale features of an artist's style.

How to discover a masterpiece

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