Connoisseurship and Art History: Scenes from a Difficult Marriage

Peter Burke
University of Cambridge
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2471-0141

Volume 9, October 2025

Abstract

This paper explores the complex history and ongoing debate surrounding connoisseurship in art, particularly focusing on the reliability of the connoisseur’s intuitive judgement or ‘eye’. The author, writing as a cultural and social historian rather than an art specialist, discusses the interplay between connoisseurs and art historians, the emergence and evolution of connoisseurship as a distinct culture of knowledge, and the necessity of verifying intuition with evidence. The text also acknowledges the absence of a comprehensive historical overview of connoisseurship, a gap the author intends to address with an upcoming book.

Keywords

Art, Art history, Connoisseurship, Intuition, Knowledge

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