"No one can say anything sensible about undocumented artworks without connoisseurship. This practice relies exclusively on judgments based on comparisons informed by feats of visual memory. But those judgments follow rules that do not necessarily capture actuality. It has taken an historian of Peter Burkes acuity to analyze the development of a form of attentionconnoisseurship that relies on questionable rules unacknowledged by those who follow them. Burkes tour dhorizon is a tour de force." - Ivan Gaskell, Bard Graduate Center "Peter Burke sheds light on one of the most enigmatic and captivating aspects of the history of art." - Paolo Coen, University of Teramo "This magisterial history of social connoisseurship by a leading cultural historian covers the field in the last 500 years. Following the codification of the methodology in the 17th and then in the 18th century Peter Burke presents a rich insight and critical assessment of the achievement, as well as the limitations, of the methodology in the development of modern art history over the last 200 years." - Jean Michel Massing, King's College, Cambridge "Peter Burkes brilliant and entertaining study provides a longue durée history of connoisseurship. From its origins among Renaissance artists judging one anothers work to the era of experts with immense memories, forensic powers of scrutiny, fearless chutzpah and, on occasion, malleable morals, it brings the story right up to date, examining how technical analysis, archival research, and artificial intelligence have joinedbut not wholly replacedthe discerning eye. With his usual lucidity and balance, Burke queries the method of connoisseurship but does not deny its successes." - Paul Taylor, Warburg Institute
