Fine Art. FAKES.
For many years The Virgin and Child with an Angel was prized as Francesco Francia’s earliest known dated painting (faintly signed and dated 1490) and for representing, in the chalice held by the angel, the only known example of the type of object Francia may have produced during his presumed earlier career as a goldsmith. But in 1954 an apparently identical version surfaced in a London auction. A thorough investigation of both paintings was undertaken to determine which was Francia’s original. Side-by-side investigation In 1955 examination of the National Gallery painting found the wood panel,ground and paint layers to be reasonably consistent with 15th-century practice, although it was noted that the gessoground was a remarkably bright white. The imprimatura was a pinkish-brown. Although most unusual…