一幅究竟值5200美元還是520萬美元的畫作

The viscountess had decided to downsize.

子爵夫人決定節儉度日。

When Lady Hambleden, the former wife of the fourth Viscount Hambleden, moved from her stately manor to a cottage in a village outside London, she had little room, and even less desire, for the Aubusson carpets, Louis XV chairs, Regency girandoles and lesser English paintings that populated her estate.

第四任漢布爾頓子爵(Viscount Hambleden)的前妻漢布爾頓夫人從富麗堂皇的宅邸搬到倫敦郊外的鄉村小屋，屋子裏地方不夠，她也沒什麼興趣把原來大宅裏的奧布鬆地毯、路易十五椅子、攝政王時代燭臺和那些不那麼英國的油畫搬過來。

So, in 2013, she held a kind of “Downton Abbey” tag sale at Christie’s in London. Among the 300-plus items she put up for auction was an oil sketch that copied “Salisbury Cathedral From the Meadows,” one of the best-known works of the great 19th-century English landscape painter John Constable.

於是，2013年，她在倫敦佳士得舉辦了一場“唐頓莊園”式的拍賣會，拍賣300多件物品，其中有一幅油畫草圖，模仿《窪地那邊的塞利斯伯爾利教堂》(Salisbury Cathedral From the Meadows)，那是19世紀偉大的英國風景畫家約翰·康斯特布爾(John Constable)最著名的作品之一。

“The painting was so black, so somber and a little nightmarish, with dark clouds and a ghostlike cathedral, I never considered it as important,” Lady Hambleden said in a phone interview.

“這幅畫太黑暗、太陰鬱，讓人有點害怕，畫面上有深暗的雲朵和鬼魅般的大教堂，我從來不覺得它有多重要，”漢布爾頓夫人在接受電話採訪時說。

Listed as the work of a Constable follower, it sold for just £3,500 (around $5,200).

這幅畫被標記爲康斯特布爾的模仿者所做，以3500英鎊賣出（約合5200美元）。

But the anonymous buyer, an art dealer, had a hunch. Real Constables were often painted over during the 19th century, when their rough, seemingly unfinished quality put off prospective purchasers. So the dealer had it cleaned and took it to a leading Constable expert, Anne Lyles, a former curator at Tate Britain.

這位匿名買家是一個藝術商，他卻產生了一個預感。在19世紀，康斯特布爾的真跡經常被塗改，因爲原來畫面上那種粗糙，看似未完成的特質會令可能的買家望而卻步。所以這位藝術商清理了畫面，把它拿給重要的康斯特布爾專家——安妮·萊爾斯(Anne Lyles)，她曾是英國泰特美術館的策展人。

“When I first saw this sketch, newly cleaned, there was just something about the application of the paint, the texture in the sky and the expression of the light and shade — all looked promising,” she said recently in a phone interview.

“第一眼看到這幅新近清理過的草稿，便可以看出顏料的應用，天空的質感，以及光與影的表達方式——一切看上去都很有希望，”最近，萊爾斯在接受電話採訪時說。

In January, the painting, now deemed a true Constable by Ms. Lyles, was sold at Sotheby’s in New York. It fetched $5.2 million.

這幅畫已被萊爾斯女士鑑定爲康斯特布爾真跡，一月，這幅畫在紐約蘇富比拍賣行賣出，達到520萬美元。

At a time when the attribution of paintings can be so litigious that many experts have retreated from the field, the startling reassessment of the “Cathedral,“ and its sudden explosion in value, provides a rare window into the often imprecise, and debate-riddled, field of identifying the authorship of artworks.

如今這類鑑定非常易於引起爭論，因此許多專家都退出了這個領域，而這幅《教堂》以及它的突然大幅升值爲人們提供了少有的機會，可以一窺藝術品作者鑑定這個充滿模糊和爭議的領域。

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has twice changed its mind in the past four decades over whether its portrait of Philip the IV is a masterpiece by Velázquez (the current view), or a fine painting by an also-ran. Sotheby’s was sued after it sold what it had determined to be a copy of Caravaggio’s “The Cardsharps” for £42,000 (about $83,000) in 2006, only to have a scholar later declare it was actually by the master himself.

在過去的40年裏，大都會藝術博物館曾經兩次改變主意，無法確定一幅菲利普四世的肖像究竟出自委拉斯貴茲(Velázquez)之手，還是另一位落選者的作品（目前該館認爲它是委拉斯貴茲的作品）。一幅名爲《打牌作弊者》的油畫曾被認爲出自卡拉瓦喬(Caravaggio)的模仿者之手，2006年，蘇富比將此畫以42000英鎊（合83000美元）拍出，一位學者鑑定此畫是卡拉瓦喬本人所做後，蘇富比遭到訴訟。

This time it is Christie’s that is facing questioning over whether it bungled the attribution of a painting. “We understand that there is no clear consensus of expertise on the new attribution,” the company said in a statement.

這一次佳士得也面對質疑，他們是否弄錯了畫家。“我們理解，對於這項新鑑定，專家沒有清晰的一致意見，”公司在聲明中說。

It then provided the name of an expert who holds a different view from Ms. Lyles. “I could see no sign of Constable’s hand in the work,” said Conal Shields, an art historian and Constable scholar.

之後公司公佈了一位不同意萊爾斯意見的專家的名字。“我在這幅作品中看不出康斯特布爾親手繪製的跡象，”藝術史學家與康斯特布爾專家康諾爾·西爾德斯(Conal Shields)說。

Nonetheless, some in Hambleden, an idyllic village of brick and flint cottages that was the backdrop for movies like “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” and often fills on weekends with equestrians and shooting parties, say they feel aggrieved on behalf of the viscountess.

漢布爾頓小村莊風景如畫，佈滿磚石農舍，《飛天萬能車》(Chitty Chitty Bang Bang)等影片曾在這裏取景，週末常常有騎馬和狩獵活動。不管怎麼說，在這裏，有人爲子爵夫人感到憤憤不平。

“Lady Hambleden is a lovely person — very gracious, friendly and kind,” said Steve Skowron, a neighbor of the viscountess, who was Countess Maria Carmela Attolico di Adelfia when she married William Herbert Smith, the fourth viscount, in 1955.

“漢布爾頓女士是個好人，她慷慨、友好，善良，”子爵夫人的鄰居史蒂夫·斯科隆(Steve Skowron)說。子爵夫人於1955年與第四任子爵威廉·休伯特·史密斯(William Herbert Smith)結婚的，當時是瑪利亞·卡梅拉·安托裏克·德·阿德爾菲亞女伯爵(Countess Maria Carmela Attolico di Adelfia)。

“She’s very well liked in the village,” he said. “She has an annual Christmas party and invites everyone over. The case of the John Constable painting is a very strange one. How can Christie’s have missed it? I think the consensus of the village is that she should sue.”

“村子裏的人都喜歡她，”他說。“每年她都舉辦聖誕派對，邀請所有人蔘加。這幅約翰·康斯特布爾的畫是件怪事。佳士得怎麼會搞錯？我想村子裏的人都認爲她應該打官司。”

Yes, admits Lady Hambleden, 84, when she first learned the painting was by Constable, “I felt like a fool! I know it’s not my fault, but that was my first feeling.”

是的，84歲的漢布爾頓夫人說，當她知道這幅油畫是康斯特布爾的真跡時，“我覺得自己太傻了！我知道這不是我的錯，但我的第一感覺就是這樣的。”

But she said she has no intention of suing over a work for which she had little affection and that her mother-in-law had stuffed in a cupboard for 60 years.

但她說，她不想爲了一幅自己不怎麼喜歡的畫打官司，60年前，她的婆婆把這幅畫塞進了一個櫃子裏。

“It was sold under my name,” she said, “but on behalf of my children. So it would be their decision whether or not to bring legal action.”

“它是在我的名下賣掉的，不過卻是代表我的孩子們。所以由他們來決定要不要採取法律行動。”

Her sons did not respond to a number of messages seeking comment.

本文作者多次發送信息要求她的兒子們對此作出評論，他們均未予以迴應。

In the 2006 case involving Sotheby’s and Caravaggio’s “The Cardsharps,” the reattribution also came after a scholar had the painting cleaned and restored.

2006年，蘇富比的卡拉瓦喬《打牌作弊者》一事中，也是畫面先做了清理和復原，再由一位學者進行重新鑑定。

The consignor sued, alleging negligence and breach of contract. But in January a judge ruled in Sotheby’s favor.

拍賣委託者發起訴訟，稱拍賣行疏忽大意，違背合同。但是一月，法官做出了有利蘇富比的判決。

Karen Sanig, the head of art law at Mishcon de Reya in London, said the crux of the case wasn’t whether the painting was a Caravaggio or not.

倫敦Mishcon de Reya律師事務所藝術法部門的主管凱倫·薩尼格(Karen Sanig)說，此案的重點並不在於那幅油畫究竟是不是卡拉瓦喬的真跡。

“It all comes down to a question of whether the auction houses carried out their analysis with enough care and attention,” she said. “Which the court found they did in the circumstances.”

“問題在於，拍賣行做出分析是否足夠細緻周到，”她說。“法庭認爲在當時的情況下，他們確實做到了。”

Ms. Lyles’s willingness to register an opinion on the Constable contrasts to the situation in the United States, where scholars and artists’ foundations, like the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation, are increasingly sitting out authentication battles because of fears of being sued.

萊爾斯願意爲康斯特布爾的作品發表自己的意見，這和美國當前的情況形成鮮明對比。在美國，學者和藝術家基金會（比如羅伊·利希滕斯坦基金）擔心遭到控告，日益淡出對作者身份進行鑑定的爭論。

“If you lower the reputation of an artwork incorrectly, then you’re liable for damages,” said Ms. Sanig, referring to the legal concept of slander of title to goods. “We don’t have lawsuits involving artwork on the same basis in the U.K.”

“如果你錯誤地降低了一件藝術品的聲譽，你對物主的損失便富有責任，”薩尼格說，她是指詆譭物權的法律概念。“在英國，同樣的情況下就不會有涉及藝術品的法律訴訟案。”

Constable, who is known for his expressive brushwork, often done with a palette knife, and for mixing colors on the canvas, is now viewed as a precursor to Impressionism. But for decades after his death in 1837 his sketches were over-painted to make them more palatable to buyers who expected something more finished.

康斯特布爾以其富於表現力的筆觸聞名，經常用調色刀作畫，還常常在畫布上混合色彩，如今他被視爲印象派的先驅。他於1837年去世，在他去世幾十年間，他的草圖經常被覆蓋和修改，好讓它們顯得更像已經完成的畫作，令買家更易接受。

“He leaves bits of the primed canvas showing through a finished painting; he leaves these visible brush strokes; he doesn’t smooth out the tones of his colors so there’s an even gradation,” said Jonathan Clarkson, a senior lecturer in the history and theory of art at the Cardiff School of Art and Design and the author of a monograph on Constable. “And at the time people just thought this was sloppy practice, that it was because he couldn’t paint better rather than he was choosing to paint this way.”

“在完成的油畫中，他讓底層的畫布露出來，讓筆觸清晰可見，他從不把色調弄得平順緩和，也沒有漸變效果，”卡迪夫藝術與設計學院的藝術史與藝術理論高級講師約拿森·克拉克森(Jonathan Clarkson)說，他還曾寫過一篇關於康斯特布爾的專著。“當時人們覺得這只是隨意的練習，覺得他沒法畫得更好，他們不明白他是故意這樣畫的。”

Complicating matters: as Constable’s reputation grew, forgers and imitators picked up their pace. And one of his seven children was also an accomplished artist, whose work can sometimes be difficult to distinguish from that of his father.

更麻煩的是，隨着康斯特布爾的名聲漸漸增長，僞造者和模仿者們也隨之而來。康斯特布爾的七個兒子之中，有一位也成了成功的藝術家，他的作品有時候會被人和其父的作品混爲一談。

So before Ms. Lyles would affix her name to a reattribution of the 18-inch-by-24-inch Hambleden “Salisbury Cathedral,” she wanted to show it played a role in the evolution of the final work, rather than being someone’s imitation, albeit with brilliant brushwork. She found several features that, to her, proved the link, including the striking way the light from the stormy sky falls on the Cathedral spire.

所以，萊爾斯爲漢布爾頓這幅18x24英寸的《塞利斯伯爾利教堂》做出重新鑑定時，她希望說明，除了精美的筆觸，這幅草圖還在最終作品的形成過程中起到了一定作用，並不是其他人的仿作。她發現了若干特徵可以證明這種聯繫，包括暴風雨的天空中透出的光線落在教堂尖頂上這種驚人的方式。

Sotheby’s later hired her to write the catalog entry for the sale, for an undisclosed fee. “Obviously,” she said, “I’m not going to risk putting my name to something that I don’t believe in.”

蘇富比後來僱用她爲這次拍賣撰寫拍品目錄介紹，潤筆費數額不詳。“顯然，”她說，“我不會冒險爲自己不相信的事情而簽下自己的名字。”

With her imprimatur as the bedrock evidence, the painting was put up for sale as a Constable at Sotheby’s Jan. 29 sale. The bidding soon surged past the high estimate of $3 million and ended light years from the high estimate that Christie’s in 2013 placed on the work — $1,200.

她的認可被視爲可靠的證據，1月29日的蘇富比拍賣會上，這幅畫被當做康斯特布爾的真跡。拍賣迅速超過300萬美元的最高估價，這和2013年佳士得爲這幅畫所做的最高估價可謂相去甚遠——當年它的最高估價是1200美元。

And even that value would have been excessive for Mr. Shields, the dissenting Constable expert: “It’s a really crass, inept painting.”

持不同意見的康斯特布爾專家西爾德斯覺得，1200美元也有點太多了，“這就是一幅粗笨拙劣的畫。”