The trouble with authenticating Bacon

Disputed sketches due to be discussed at Courtauld Institute forum

By Martin Bailey. Web only
Published online: 20 December 2011

Three of the drawings said to be by Francis Bacon and owned by Cristiano Ravarino, who was the artist’s lover

The Courtauld Institute of Art in London and the Francis Bacon catalogue raisonné project, set up the artist's estate, are due to host a debate on the problems associated with authenticating Bacon's work.

See also:

• The law vs scholarship

More than 600 disputed drawings, said to be by Bacon and acquired by Bologna-based Cristiano Lovatelli Ravarino, who says he was Bacon’s lover (The Art Newspaper, December 2011, pp.1,8,9), are due to be discussed during “The Challenges of Authenticity: Francis Bacon, A Case Study” on 25 January.

Key people involved with the sketches have been invited, including Ravarino, along with leading Bacon specialists from the Tate and Dublin's Hugh Lane Gallery (which displays Bacon's reconstructed studio). It is expected some of the drawings will be available for inspection.

For more details, visit from early January.