Of course, you realize that simply by virtue of his position I am inclined to agree with those who spoke about the importance of family opinion about the authenticity of the painting.
However, to accept without reservation can not either.
Heirs do have the advantage of free access to works, documents, etc., but more that they are willing and able to properly take advantage of this access.
Artcol and Kirill rightly observed that there is a successor, who learned of the existence of the artist at the time of inheritance, and - added - that does not vary his paintings from toothpicks. I remember writing that is not enough to be married to the artist to have a qualified opinion on his work. By the way, this anecdote: the wife of a Russian in the Sixties, in my presence has tried to convince prospective buyers that you have chosen for them now, he must pay twice as much as her husband, "wrote it on top of another, previously written them pictures, so you just need to remove the top layer, move it to another base, and you ... " - "Not a single picture" - interrupted by her husband, artist
The motives that guide the heirs, issuing its opinion, may be very different - is known, for example, that the nephew Polyakova systematically denied the authenticity of works that he brought for examination.
I think the choice of the expert must first ask its overall activities - the time that he spends on the collection and publication of materials, study, show the artist's work - this is much better than I wrote a qwerty in another plot.
Now the opposite: virtually every expert, a family member or not, and whatever his reputation, does not have any possibility of withdrawing from the sale /auction pictures, the authenticity of which he denies, without the goodwill of a seller. You can complain about the lack of appropriate regulation, but be that as it may, it is.
Reveal to you a secret: yesterday's decision by Mr. Shapiro to withdraw from the auction due to counterfeiting is not convincing my stylistic analysis or factual arguments presented by me. I persuaded him that this is the best solution for all, citing his list of people I was going to warn you that a fake picture, in which appeared a certain number of its clients, as well as quite prestigious individuals from the Russian-New York art world .
But back to the specific situation, the subject of this story.
Clearly, Sasha - the heirs of those whose opinion for the attribution of paintings of his father's irreplaceable, he - the main, most likely, the only specialist Stozharov.
It is also clear that the rare dealer in his time offered to destroy the painting, which is in its ownership, if the examination determines that it is a fake, as did Sergei.
Let us digress from the tone of the first reports of stakeholders, especially because no Matyukov there was not (and could not be - Admin mat replaces all the stars!) Will not focus on the elements of conflict and give them the opportunity to settle all the world, OK?