CONNOISSEURSHIP AND ART HISTORY. REFLECTIONS ON A PROBLEMATIC RELATIONSHIP

The article takes a closer look at the problematic relationship between Art History and connoisseurship - the latter in today's general opinion summarizing all negative and old-fashioned aspects of the discipline - in a broad historical overview (from G. Vasari to B. Berenson). The author concludes with defending a complete and organic Art History focused on the object, which allows to conjugate the different approaches (from connoisseurship to a social and economic History of Art or to a History of Taste) and to articulate constantly empirical and theoretical levels, determining the dynamics of research.