Kurzfassung

This article deals with art connoisseurship and its empirical practice, attempting to define it as art rather than science. It briefly reconstructs the methodological evolution of art connoisseurship from the 18th and 19th century onwards, especially concentrating on its golden age (1850-1950). This is accomplished by providing several examples taken from the biographies and working methodologies of art connoisseurs such as Giovanni Morelli, Giovanni Battista Cavalcaselle, and Max Friedländer. The aim of this work is to examine the role played by those instruments auxiliary to vision such as drawing and photography for the connoisseur’s judgment. Analyzing their interference on the expert’s eye and, more generally, on our way of seeing the works of art, the paper finally raises and answers the question if, in the age of the Internet and of the virtual museums, traditional art connoisseurship is in crisis.