
A 2-foot-8-inch tall wooden putto was recently attributed to Donatello; and, as usually with the old masters, the attribution raised lots of doubts in the “Renaissance’s world” like Scott Reyburn wisely wrote in this article: A Name Game With the Old Masters.
In my opinion it is a very confusing and expensive “game of names (titles)” when it comes to attributing old masters’ works by the artist (himself) or by his studio, his workshop, and students. Attending the last Donattelo’s exhibition in NYC, I (layman in this subject) was not able to see the difference, all the sculptures had the same intensely emotional facial expressions (suffering, anguish, joy, tranquility) and gentle yet strong figures.
There is a myth that works by great names aren’t available any more, which I do not think it is true. There have been auctions which include a documented and signed Raphael no less, and I believe there is still much more discovering to be done, especially because nowadays we have so many more tools at our disposal: digital imagery, paint analysis, high resolution x-rays, infra-red, and so on.