Abstract
Determination of the authorship of artworks increases their value and specifies their place in the history of art. Connoisseurship requires a talent and erudition together with specific elements of connoisseurship according to personal characteristics.
Therefore, one emphasizes details in a composition or figures which repeat, the other focuses on stylistic or technological analysis, another one on studying the contemporary documents etc. In this contribution, the author specifies the process of determination of the authorship of an artwork on which more artists could have worked together.
As a rule, it is unequivocally accepted that the author of the final artwork, such as frescoes, altarpieces or canvases, is the author of preparatory studies and models as well, unless these are considered to be copies. On several commissions from different artistic centres in Italy, for which the preparatory studies are preserved in Czech collections, the author of this text shows the fact that a master often prepared drawings and cartoons but the final work was done by his pupils and collaborators.
In some cases, such a practise is documented in contracts or in bills. The painter, who executed the final work of art, was supposed to follow the drawing or modello made by his master, who was responsible for the commission.
Uncertainties may arise as the author of this text shows on a particular example where in the payment record there are terms like "disegno" and "invenzione" mentioned and it is necessary to decide, which term means the specific drawings that was to be followed and according to which the final painting would be executed. In conclusion, the author of this text states that for determination of the authorship of a final artwork or its preparatory studies all available facts have to be taken into account - historical sources, technological analysis or stylistic analysis.