Saints and Scholars

There are stories behind every work of art in the Gallery's collection and these stories change over time. The search for the 'truth' may focus on the work's provenance, its acquisition, title, subject matter or even its maker. For example, a work may be donated anonymously with the donor later deciding to make themselves known. As staff of the Gallery we might think we know the identity of the saints depicted, years pass and we adjust the title to reflect new research. Through scholarly detection, we may provide a name to a work previously attributed to 'Unknown'.

Researchers may use the Gallery's library to uncover the chronology of the individual tales by delving into our archival collections of ephemera, correspondence, exhibition photographs and early publications.

Here we explore the evolution of the official records of four paintings in Angels and Aristocrats: Early European Art in New Zealand Public Collections, now showing on level 1.