Richard Britell, June 4, 2012
204. Aimes had lost his house and his job but he still possessed his authentic Leonardo drawing and his dignity. The last straw came for him when he had to pack the great Buboni's groceries at the super-market where he had been forced to take a job. Buboni did not recognize him, and he was unsure if he was glad about it or not.
205. That night after work Thomas did not go right home, he went to the library instead. His intent was to use the library computer and read as much about Buboni as he could in preparation for writing an article about him for an art journal. Articles were constantly being written about Buboni and his theories, so this was nothing new, but Aimes was filled with evil intentions.
206. Thomas was lucky that day, or fickle fate had decided to undermine Buboni's long run of good luck in the art history field. For years the great man had supplemented his ample income by appraising works of art. He charged a very small percentage of the assessed value of the work, but this produced huge sums when the item in question turned out to be a work by an old master.
207. Assessed evaluation usually proceeded auctions so that everyone profited all around. For twenty years Buboni's assessments had gone unchallenged and then by accident the Vatican published a letter from Michelangelo to Raphael that proved without a doubt that a drawing in the Vasari collection had not been done by Piero Della Francesca as Buboin had thought, but was an "ineffectual copy by Piero De Cosomo" of a drawing Fra Angelico's assistants accidentally dropped into a privy while working on the frescoes in San Francesco at Arezzo.
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