A connoisseur (Fr. connaisseur, from conoistre, connaître meaning "to know something") is a person who has a great deal of knowledge about the fine arts, or an expert judge in matters of taste. Fine art is a term used to refer to fields traditionally considered to be artistic. ... Taste can refer to ones appreciation for aesthetic quality. ...

Modern connoisseurship must be seen along with museums, art galleries and "the cult of originality". Connoisseurs evaluate works of art on the basis of aesthetic conclusions. Judgment informed by intuition is essential, but it must be grounded in a thorough understanding of the work itself. On the basis of empirical evidence, refinement of perception about technique and form, and a disciplined method of analysis, the responsibility of the connoisseur is to attribute authorship, validate authenticity and appraise quality. These findings can be collected and organized into a catalogue raisonne of the work of a single artist or a school. A museum is typically a non-profit, permanent institution in the service of society and of its development, open to the public, which acquires, conserves, researches, communicates and exhibits, for purposes of study, education enjoyment, the tangible and intangible evidence of people and their environment. ... An art gallery or art museum is a space for the exhibition of art, usually visual art, and usually primarily paintings, illustrations, and sculpture. ... Originality refers to something being new or novel. ... Winged Victory of Samothrace exihibited in the Louvre. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... A technique is a way of efficiently accomplishing a task in a manner that is not immediately obvious or straightforward. ... This article is about the meanings of the word form connected with shape or structure. ... In copyright law, attribution is the requirement that authors be given credit for their work in any context in which it is used. ... Authorship is the act of creating a work, idea or theory. ... See also authenticity (philosophy) and authentication (which deals only with computer security). ... Quality refers to the inherent or distinctive characteristics or properties of a person, object, process or other thing. ... Artist is a descriptive term applied to a person who engages in an activity deemed to be an art. ... Art school is a colloquial term for any educational institution (whether secondary, post-secondary/undergraduate, or graduate/postgraduate) with a primary focus on the visual arts, especially graphic design, illustration, painting, photography, and sculpture. ...

During the 18th century, however, the term was often used as a synonym for a still vaguer man of taste or a pretended critic. (17th century - 18th century - 19th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 18th century refers to the century that lasted from 1701 through 1800. ... A critic (from Greek κριτικός, kritikós - one who discerns, from Ancient Greek κριτής, krités, a judge) is a person who offers judgement or analysis, value judgement, interpretation, or observation. ...

In 1760, Oliver Goldsmith says, "Painting is now become the sole object of fashionable care; the title of connoisseur in that art is at present the safest passport into every fashionable Society; a well timed shrug, an admiring attitude and one or two exotic tones of exclamation are sufficient qualifications for men of low circumstances to curry favour." Oliver Goldsmith Oliver Goldsmith (November 10, 1730(?) – April 4, 1774) was an Irish writer and physician known for his novel The Vicar of Wakefield (1766), his pastoral poem The Deserted Village (1770) (written in memory of his brother), and his plays The Good-naturd Man (1768) and She Stoops... The Mona Lisa is perhaps the best-known artistic painting in the Western world. ...

In 1890, Giovanni Morelli wrote, "art connoisseurs say of art historians that they write about what they do not understand; art historians, on their side, disparage the connoisseurs, and only look upon them as the drudges who collect materials for them, but who personally have not the slightest knowledge of the physiology of art." Giovanni Morelli (1816 - 1891) was an Italian art critic and political figure. ...

In his Meaning in the Visual Arts (1955), Erwin Panofsky explains the difference between a connoisseur and an art historian: "The connoisseur might be defined as a laconic art historian, and the art historian as a loquacious connoisseur." Erwin Panofsky (1892-1968) was a German art historian and essayist often credited with the founding of the academic iconography. ... Art history usually refers to the history of the visual arts. ...

External links

• On Connoisseurship