Alan Watchman

268 Alan Watchman

How do you prove that an oil painting is original, especially one from the Renaissance? Dr. Mark Altree was asked that question and after years of research came to an ambiguous conclusion. Could Lavinia Zappi, a conservator of paintings from Bologna have better success? That was the question posed by Lois McCredie, the curator of the National Gallery of Victoria when she was asked to exhibit a possible Italian masterpiece painting by Francesco Mazzola (Parmigianino). In 1896, an oil painting on canvas (number 268; Madonna del Dente), and a print of the same image by Sir Robert Strange were shipped by Harriet Cooper from London to her favorite niece in Sydney. They were given to Harriet by her father, a bankruptcy solicitor, who had received them in lieu of money owed. After the artworks reached Australia they were inherited by a series of female family descendants. The remarkable likeness of the woman in painting 268 to a portrait of Zappi's grandmother aroused her interest in family history as well as setting her a challenge to establish the provenance of the painting. Could she find evidence that the oil painting in Australia is an authentic original by Parmigianino?