The word history has its root in the Greek word for wise, learned, knowledgeable (ίστόρίά). Art history is neither art criticism nor art appreciation. It is the attempt to understand the context of a work of art. Understanding the art historical context of a piece of art helps us to unlock its attribution and significance. This context is biographical, cultural, political, social, scientific, technological, and economic. We examine this material in order to be objective. Rather than relying purely on connoisseurship, we investigate the life and times of the artist hoping that with distance we can be more scientific than passionate.

Several prominent art historians of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century advocated this approach. Jacob Burckhart (Basle, Switzerland 1818-Basle. Switzerland 1897) famously differentiated between “two avenues for the history of art. Either it becomes a handmaiden of cultural history or it starts out from the beautiful itself and uses cultural history only to enhance understanding of the work of art.” Frederick Antal (Budapest, Hungary 1887-London, U.K. 1954) studied the relation of Florentine society, patronage, and economics on Renaissance art. The German art historian Aby Warburg (Hamburg. Germany 1866-Hamburg. Germany 1929) believed it his mission to save the study of art history “from the isolation with which it was threatened by a purely aesthetic and formal approach.” Erwin Panofsky (Hannover, Germany 1892-Princeton, NJ 1968) is renowned for his work on iconography, the history of Christian symbolism as seen in Renaissance art.

Art Experts, Inc. attempts to be as comprehensive and unbiased as possible in our research. We delve into private records such as diaries, correspondence, photos, scrapbooks. We also thoroughly investigate public records including contemporaneous newspapers, magazines, auction and exhibition catalogues as well as the secondary scholarly and mainstream literature. But we never lose sight of our mission: to answer your questions about the piece of art you own.

Art Library, National Library of Russia, St. Petersburg, Russia.