Buboni, Lost In The Woods, parts 216 - 219

Richard Britell June 7, 2012

216. The fact that this Raphael painting was the one that Buboni credited with being at the origin of his Destructivist theory would not have mattered so much except that it had become for him the signature anecdote of his speaking career.  He loved to relate this story, dwelling on his humility relative to the pious old woman.

217. As the years went by this Raphael painting according to his descriptions became more and more exceptional, until it seemed that Buboni was going to exhaust the Thaursus' substitutions for the word beautiful.  The image of the painting or details from it were invariably used on the covers of his books.

218. So Thomas Aimes worked this fact in passing into his article about Buboni not failing to mention the incorrect attribution of the Leonardo drawing. He also spent several paragraphs inquiring into the ethics of an art historian being paid a commission to validate the authenticity of old master paintings as if such a fee could be construed as a form of bribery.

219. No sooner was this article published but the Times of London picked it up, and on a Saturday of slow news, wrote it up under a caption "Fake", with two images, one of the Raphael painting and the other of Buboni. The article was very complete, and repeated all of the details of the Aimes article, and added some new material of the same sort.