Connoisseurship all the way down: Art authentication, forgery, fingerprint identification, expert knowledge

Abstract

How do you know whether a painting is really painted by a particular person, or a fingerprint is made by a particular finger? You ask an expert. But, in the case of the painting, what kind of expert should you trust?1 An art historian, a forensic art expert, or a fingerprint examiner with expertise in detecting fingerprint forgeries? This question has been raised in disputes over art authentication since as early as the 1930s.2 An engaging article by David Grann (2010) in the New Yorker updated a story that I have been following and writing about for several years that raises interesting questions about the production and evaluation of expert knowledge.3