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Anecdotal: I had a literature professor that would relate the time he was at the Louvre and a crazy guy pulled out a knife and dashed for the Mona Lisa (this is

Anecdotal: I had a literature professor that would relate the time he was at the Louvre and a crazy guy pulled out a knife and dashed for the Mona Lisa (this is before it was behind glass) - they were able to grab the man before he damaged the painting. Since then he ceased to believe in the authenticity of the art in musuems.

lajy 9y ago
I don't follow the path of reasoning there. Can you elaborate?
- damontal 9y ago
  if a replica can be made that is indistinguishable from the original, then it's safer to hang replicas so that the originals won't be sliced up by crazy people.
0xdeadbeefbabe 9y ago
Did he think real art wouldn't be left vulnerable to knife wielding crazy guys? That's an interesting debatable idea, a good kind of idea for a professor to have. Edit: Is debate important to you?
jacquesm 9y ago
I've been peripherally involved in the restauration of a Mondriaan after it was damaged by some knife wielding idiot and I can guarantee you that the art is real.
- forgotpwtomain 9y ago
  >I've been peripherally involved in the restauration of a Mondriaan after it was damaged by some knife wielding idiot and I can guarantee you that the art is real. After which the display was permanently replaced by a copy? ;) More seriously, though I don't say I believe it, surely it is an interesting point. For example when I visited the Palazzo Barberini in Rome, there were maybe a dozen other visitors total, one musuem worker per ~ 4 halls, and nothing was under glass. How sure are you of your ability to distinguish the original from an expert fake? The Met's experts apparently couldn't for decades. I'd wager the number of people in the world that can tell a real Carvaggio from an expert forgery number in the double digits.
  - jacquesm 9y ago
    I'm sure that's true. But considering there are 100's of employees in your average museum and such a conspiracy would require just about all of them to be in on it I don't see how it could be kept a secret. There are fakes in museums, but those are actual fakes where the museum isn't in the know either. Estimates run as high as 20(!)%. But a museum that would have an exact duplicate of the art on display for the majority of their art would be incapable of keeping that a secret and likely would not be looked at favorably. FWIW I was good friends with the ex-curator of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and have visited their vaults, and have been behind the scenes in the Tate Gallery in London. The only thing I've been able to establish with any certainty is that at least those two museums have far more art than they could ever display and that I'd hate to see their insurance bills. I did not come across an army of master forgers working hard to make new old works or copies of works which I knew were on display.
    - coldtea 9y ago
      >I'm sure that's true. But considering there are 100's of employees in your average museum and such a conspiracy would require just about all of them to be in on it I don't see how it could be kept a secret. Actually such a "conspiracy" wouldn't require more than a few to be on it. Why would the guys guarding the spaces, or the people selling tickets and merchandise, the cleaning staff, the canteen workers, the secretaries, etc need to be "on it"? Those are the majority of the "100s" of workers. Just the director, a few of the people in the administration, the curators, and the ones putting up the paintings (or, actually, not even them).
      - jacquesm 9y ago
        And the insurers, the people that move the real paintings around, the people that store the real ones and so on. It's about as likely as a faked moonlanding. But then again, those too have their believers.
        coldtea 9y ago
        >And the insurers, the people that move the real paintings around, the people that store the real ones and so on. So, like 10 people? And even if it was 20 or 100 what's the great rush to expose this? It's just something you don't talk about. It's not even that interesting. We have crews of 1000s of people not leaking tv series and film plots.
- vacri 9y ago
  > the restauration of a Mondriaan ... mounting it in a restaurant? :)
  - jacquesm 9y ago
    Ah, sorry. In Dutch it is Restauratie -> restoring. So, restoration rather. Thank you. Too late to edit though.
    - vacri 9y ago
      Sorry, I wasn't pointing it out to correct it, just an amusing-to-me typo. :)
lisper 9y ago
The vandal would have been disappointed: the Mona Lisa is painted on wood, not canvas.
stonogo 9y ago
Your literature professor believes that unarmed museum guards would engage a knife-wielding man -- put their lives on the line -- to defend a replica. I don't put much stock in his beliefs.
- brockwhittaker 9y ago
  The key is that the guards don't know it's a replica. Otherwise, they'd likely have told other people. Therefore they end up protecting it as if it is authentic.

lajy 9y ago

I don't follow the path of reasoning there. Can you elaborate?

damontal 9y ago
if a replica can be made that is indistinguishable from the original, then it's safer to hang replicas so that the originals won't be sliced up by crazy people.

0xdeadbeefbabe 9y ago

Did he think real art wouldn't be left vulnerable to knife wielding crazy guys? That's an interesting debatable idea, a good kind of idea for a professor to have. Edit: Is debate important to you?

jacquesm 9y ago

I've been peripherally involved in the restauration of a Mondriaan after it was damaged by some knife wielding idiot and I can guarantee you that the art is real.

forgotpwtomain 9y ago
>I've been peripherally involved in the restauration of a Mondriaan after it was damaged by some knife wielding idiot and I can guarantee you that the art is real. After which the display was permanently replaced by a copy? ;) More seriously, though I don't say I believe it, surely it is an interesting point. For example when I visited the Palazzo Barberini in Rome, there were maybe a dozen other visitors total, one musuem worker per ~ 4 halls, and nothing was under glass. How sure are you of your ability to distinguish the original from an expert fake? The Met's experts apparently couldn't for decades. I'd wager the number of people in the world that can tell a real Carvaggio from an expert forgery number in the double digits.
- jacquesm 9y ago
  I'm sure that's true. But considering there are 100's of employees in your average museum and such a conspiracy would require just about all of them to be in on it I don't see how it could be kept a secret. There are fakes in museums, but those are actual fakes where the museum isn't in the know either. Estimates run as high as 20(!)%. But a museum that would have an exact duplicate of the art on display for the majority of their art would be incapable of keeping that a secret and likely would not be looked at favorably. FWIW I was good friends with the ex-curator of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and have visited their vaults, and have been behind the scenes in the Tate Gallery in London. The only thing I've been able to establish with any certainty is that at least those two museums have far more art than they could ever display and that I'd hate to see their insurance bills. I did not come across an army of master forgers working hard to make new old works or copies of works which I knew were on display.
  - coldtea 9y ago
    >I'm sure that's true. But considering there are 100's of employees in your average museum and such a conspiracy would require just about all of them to be in on it I don't see how it could be kept a secret. Actually such a "conspiracy" wouldn't require more than a few to be on it. Why would the guys guarding the spaces, or the people selling tickets and merchandise, the cleaning staff, the canteen workers, the secretaries, etc need to be "on it"? Those are the majority of the "100s" of workers. Just the director, a few of the people in the administration, the curators, and the ones putting up the paintings (or, actually, not even them).
    - jacquesm 9y ago
      And the insurers, the people that move the real paintings around, the people that store the real ones and so on. It's about as likely as a faked moonlanding. But then again, those too have their believers.
      - coldtea 9y ago
        >And the insurers, the people that move the real paintings around, the people that store the real ones and so on. So, like 10 people? And even if it was 20 or 100 what's the great rush to expose this? It's just something you don't talk about. It's not even that interesting. We have crews of 1000s of people not leaking tv series and film plots.
vacri 9y ago
> the restauration of a Mondriaan ... mounting it in a restaurant? :)
- jacquesm 9y ago
  Ah, sorry. In Dutch it is Restauratie -> restoring. So, restoration rather. Thank you. Too late to edit though.
  - vacri 9y ago
    Sorry, I wasn't pointing it out to correct it, just an amusing-to-me typo. :)

lisper 9y ago

The vandal would have been disappointed: the Mona Lisa is painted on wood, not canvas.

stonogo 9y ago

Your literature professor believes that unarmed museum guards would engage a knife-wielding man -- put their lives on the line -- to defend a replica. I don't put much stock in his beliefs.

brockwhittaker 9y ago
The key is that the guards don't know it's a replica. Otherwise, they'd likely have told other people. Therefore they end up protecting it as if it is authentic.