Problems of identification and attribution of Italian paintings of the XVI-XVIII centuries on the example of works from the collection of the Omsk Regional Museum of Fine Arts named after M. A. Vrubel

Reutova Elena Mihailovna ORCID: 0000-0001-5805-6902 Senior Researcher, Curator of foreign paintings; Omsk Regional Museum of Fine Arts named after M. A. Vrubel 644070, Russia, Omsk region, Omskaya str., 77, sq. 55 elenareu@mail.ru

Western European paintings are widely represented in the collections of the country's art museums and are a valuable component of the national museum fund. Studying these works and determining their main characteristics and parameters – authorship, dating, plot, etc., which is the essence of the concept of attribution, is one of the serious tasks facing museum specialists.

A wide interest in the problems of attribution research in the Russian school of art studies first manifested itself in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but a real breakthrough in the theoretical understanding of the attribution method was associated with the work of Soviet theorists and art historians B. R. Wipper and V. N. Lazarev. According to B. R. Wipper, "attribution is the touchstone of scientific research work in a museum and, at the same time, its ripest fruit, its crowning achievement" ^{[1, p. 542]}. In their publications and lectures on the methodology of attribution of works of art, B. R. Wipper and V. N. Lazarev for the first time declared the need to use a set of methods in attribution, which would guarantee its solid foundation ^{[1, 2]}. Later, this statement was developed in the works and practical activities of the country's leading art historians I. V. Linnik ^[3], V. E. Markova ^[4], I. S. Artemyeva ^{[5, 6]}, and others involved in the study of Western European collections. The need to support the results of comparative stylistic analysis, the main tool of attribution work, with technical and technological research data and information from sources that shed light on the provenance and history of the monument's existence, underlies the attribution activities of modern researchers.

The issues of study and attribution are of particular importance in relation to the works of Italian masters, who occupy a prominent place in the domestic collections of Western European paintings. According to V. E. Markova, the largest Russian expert on Italian painting, chief researcher at the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, "being a source of full-blooded aesthetic pleasure and at the same time a fascinating field for research, Italian Baroque painting remains one of the most difficult periods in the history of art to study – thousands of artists, tens of thousands of works, most some of which have neither the signatures of the authors nor the dates of creation and need to be determined" ^{[7, p. 12]}.

It should be noted that the problem of studying works of European painting is especially relevant for regional museums, whose collections were formed in the 20th century. during the period of nationalization through transfers from the State Museum Fund (GMF) and the central museums of the country. The existing hierarchy of metropolitan and provincial museums caused a difference in the distribution of exhibits for their acquisition. The funds of peripheral museums were largely formed by anonymous, incorrectly attributed works, as well as copied and imitative works. So, in 1927, F. V. Melekhin, director of the West Siberian Regional Museum (now the M. A. Vrubel OOMII), wrote that "specialists... they often treat provinces with disgust ..., in every possible way they slow down the selection of the most artistically valuable objects, even if central museums do not claim such ..." ^{[8, p. 100]}.

On the other hand, in practice, there have been cases of transfers to the funds of regional museums of unique works worthy of the closest attention, which were often only to a small extent known to specialists. Without taking into account and introducing these works into scientific circulation, the picture of Western European painting will be incomplete.

One of the first attempts at scientific systematization and study of the richest regional collections of Italian paintings was undertaken by the chief researcher of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts (GMII) V. E. Markova in 1984-1986, which was reflected in the organization of the exhibition and the publication of the catalog "Paintings by Italian masters of the XIV–XVIII centuries from the museums of the USSR" ^[4], which included dozens of first-class works from regional museum collections. Later, the richest regional collections of Western European art repeatedly attracted the attention of the country's leading art critics.

Despite the distance from the center, the study of regional collections of foreign paintings is also successfully carried out by local specialists who are currently conducting systematic research. The article provides examples of activities related to the study and attribution of works of Italian painting from the collection of the Omsk Regional Museum of Fine Arts named after M. A. Vrubel (OOMII named after M. A. Vrubel).

The practical experience of attribution of the author of the publication covered in the article, as well as examples of research of Omsk works by leading Russian art historians carried out in the process of inter-museum cooperation, have both independent significance and in the context of identifying the main problems and aspects of studying Italian painting.

The study and attribution of paintings is a step-by-step process in which the initial stage is associated with the definition of a national school.

Recognizing or identifying paintings from the Italian school often requires considerable effort. For several centuries, Italy has been the "Academy of Europe", its main artistic training center. Many artists stayed here for a long time and managed to become so deeply imbued with the ideals of her art that, despite their foreign origin, they were perceived by their descendants as representatives of the Italian school. In practice, there is often a situation where the works of Italian masters are mistakenly attributed to other European schools.

As an example of the identification of a national school based on the analysis of technological techniques and the artist's painting method, we will cite the study of the still life "Flowers" (Oil on canvas. 86 × 49. OOMII) (Figure 1).

Figure 1. Unknown Flemish artist of the 17th century. Flowers. Canvas, oil. 86 × 49. OOMII named after M. A. Vrubel

Modern attribution: Machines, family (?). Bouquet of flowers in a vase

The painting was received in 1927 from the State Hermitage Museum (Documents on the transfer of exhibits to the Omsk Museum of Local Lore. 1924-1927. GIAOO. F. 1076. Op. 1. D. 29. L. 217 vol.). In the museum's collection, the still life was attributed to an unknown Flemish artist of the 17th century. Later, in the inventory card, the authorship of the work was attributed to an unknown artist of the circle of Daniel Segers (1590-1661), one of the leading Flemish masters of floral still life.

The main motif, the elements of the composition and the decorative nature of the work do vaguely resemble the art of the Flemish painters of the 17th century. But do the stylistic features of Omsk still life and the artist's technological techniques correspond to the works of Flemish masters of the 17th century?

The still life "Flowers" is an example of the popular in the XVII century. European artists have a "blompot" ("flower pot") type of still life. The artist depicts a bouquet made up of flowers blooming in different seasons — tulips, carnations, convolvulus, etc., in a relief vase standing on a stone slab. The painting has an elongated vertical format. The vase occupies the compositional center. The construction of the bouquet is symmetrical and conventionally embedded in the shape of a triangle. It is worth noting the emphasized simplicity of the compositional solution of the Omsk still life. The color of the still life is quite bright, with a strong sound of local colors – red, blue, white, in the palette of some colored areas, an exquisite range of colored semitones is formed. The artist does not seek to subordinate the color scheme to a single tone. However, recognizing the decorative character of the Omsk still life, it is worth noting the greater richness and strength of the color of the still lifes of the Flemish school of the 17th century.

The analysis of the artist's painting style reveals specific techniques for modeling the form, which is simplified to a primitive. There is no modeling chiaroscuro and constructiveness characteristic of the works of the Flemish masters of that time. A certain dryness of execution is characteristic. The artist builds the image on a contrasting contrast of a dark background and light heads of flowers, snatching them out of the semi-darkness.

Let's take a closer look at what a Flemish floral still life is in terms of style and technical skill.

The works of Flemish artists of the 17th century are distinguished by the highest technique of execution, meticulous elaboration of details, the transfer of a rich variety of textured qualities of things, the ability to convey living tissue and warm sunlight, the play of colorful reflexes and glare. These still lifes are characterized by the botanical precision of reproducing various colors, in which the details of each flower were conveyed with extreme care. These works are distinguished by their exceptionally fine drawing, detailed and precise.

The composition of Flemish still lifes of the 17th century is often complex, overloaded with details. Objects fill almost the entire picture space. The artists create a spectacular decorative spectacular character of the production. From the point of view of color, the Flemish masters of the 17th century were fascinated by the search for exquisite decorative effects and sophisticated colorful combinations. Floral still lifes of that time are distinguished by their high picturesqueness, luxurious colorful range, rich juicy and deep color, and richness of tonal transitions. Light is of great importance in their works. Flemish craftsmen demonstrate their high skill in building chiaroscuro. A wide scale of semitones is used from light to shadow. Objects wrapped in soft chiaroscuro stand out in a beautiful silhouette against the background, which creates the volume of a single composition.

The masters of the Flemish school of the 17th century possessed their own original technology. Canvases with a subtle texture of intertwining threads were used for smooth, facultless Flemish painting. The canvas was subjected to grinding and pumice stone, due to which it acquired a poorly expressed smooth texture without nodules. A common canvas was a medium-grained canvas with a thread density of 10x10. 10x11. 10x12. 11x12 in 1 cm2, which was primed to a flat, smooth surface in accordance with the tasks of the artists.

The basis of the Omsk work is a coarse-grained coarse canvas of simple plain weave with a density of threads on the base and a weft of 7x8 in 1 cm2. The texture of the interlacing of the canvas threads is clearly visible from the side of the paint layer. The fabric of the base of the painting is rather a characteristic example of canvas used in Italian painting in the 17th century (Italian painting of the 17th century was distinguished by textured writing, sometimes with a relief masonry of paints, which required a grainy surface of the fabric).

Omsk still life is an example of painting based on the optical organization of colorful layers. Technical and technological studies of the painting conducted by the expert technologist T. V. Maksimova showed that the set of pigments in the Omsk painting is quite rich (cinnabar, lead-tin yellow, ultramarine, glauconite, etc.), however, the layered structure is characterized by comparative simplicity (Scientific Report on the results of technical and technological research, 2013).

Thus, a comprehensive study of still life, on the one hand, made it possible to determine a number of indicators of the technique of painting of the XVII century. On the other, revealed the discrepancy between the compositional and color solutions, as well as techniques of the tradition of Flemish painting, and also recorded important and characteristic indicators of Italian technology of the XVII century. Vegetable still life was the dominant type of still life in Italian painting of the 17th century. He reflected the objective world in terms of the richness of color and the variety of forms of fruiting plant life. The Italians were unfamiliar with the stage of monochrome still life, the color of their works was always distinguished by brightness and color saturation. The Italian still life had a pronounced monumental and decorative character, but it did not reach the power of the Flemish.

The stylistic features of the Omsk still life allowed us to draw an analogy with the works of a number of Italian masters of still life, including Mario Nuzzi (1603-1673), Francesco Mantovano (1636-1663), and others, and in V. E. Markova's monograph on Italian still life, a painting from the Omsk museum was attributed to the Stanki family with a question to representatives of the Roman school of the 17th century ^{[9, p. 402]}.

This particular case indicates the complexity of the problem of identifying a national school, the solution of which requires knowledge of the distinctive features of various European schools.

The history of the richest domestic collections of Italian masters dates back to the 18th century, when artistic imperial and aristocratic collections were formed. Italian painting "with its inherent colorfulness and representativeness, monumentality and the special nature of perception of reality, elevating it above everyday life, perfectly met the task of decorative decoration of palace interiors" ^{[10, p. 6]}.

The works considered in the article originate from the collections of representatives of Russian aristocratic families, who in the 18th and 19th centuries were the main customers and consumers of art products on the antique market. After the revolution of 1917, when private collections ceased to exist, many works lost not only information about their former owners, but also the names of their creators.

It was only after almost 100 years of existence in the Omsk museum of paintings by an unknown master of the XVI century. "Figures of saints" (Wood, oil. 89 × 85. OOMII) (Figure 2) her authorship was determined, which was the result of an inter-museum collaboration.

Figure 2. Unknown artist of the XVI century. Figures of saints. Wood, oil. 89 × 85. OOMII named after M. A. Vrubel

Modern attribution: Calvart (Calvert), Denis (Dionisio the Flemish) (c. 1540-1619). Saint Agnes. Saint Cecilia

The two wings of the Catholic altar, combined into a single composition, entered the museum's collection in 1927 from the GE. Previously, the work was kept in a mansion on the Palace Embankment in St. Petersburg, owned by Princess M. A. Dolgoruky (Dolgorukova) (Documents on the transfer of exhibits to the Omsk Museum of Local Lore. 1924-1927. GIAOO. F. 1076. Op. 1. D. 29. L. 217 vol.).

This monument, made in the tradition typical of Mannerism, with a noticeable distortion of body proportions and elongation of figures, has always been one of the earliest and most valuable in the Omsk collection.

Throughout the entire period of existence in the museum, the work had neither an author nor a clear affiliation to the national school — it was considered the work of an Italian artist of the XVI century, and other researchers attributed it to the Spanish school of the same period.

Thanks to the depiction of objects bearing a symbolic meaning, it was possible to identify the saints depicted in the painting. Palm branches in their hands are traditionally considered a symbol of martyrdom and perseverance, the lamb, a symbol of purity and purity, is depicted together with Saint Agnes, the youngest Christian martyr, while the portable organ serves as a symbol of Saint Cecilia, the patroness of church music.

For several decades, the work remained in storage due to an unsatisfactory state of preservation: the wooden base was damaged by a woodworm, old restorations largely overlapped the author's painting and distorted the original palette. It took many years of research and hard, painstaking work by restoration artists for it to find a rebirth and become available for further study.

During the restoration process, some technical and technological studies were carried out (Restoration passport. Unknown artist of the XVI century. Saint Agnes. Saint Cecilia).It was established that the base of the work consists of two walnut planks connected by a wide mortise protruding key in the middle, as well as dowels of the "dovetail" type. Chemical analysis carried out by specialists of the I. E. Grabar Russian National Research Center showed that the soil is a translucent brown layer consisting of a large amount of binder, with the addition of black carbon, black inorganic, brown, red and yellow iron-containing pigments with the addition of lead whitewash. The layered structure of painting is based on the optical organization of colorful layers. For example, a sample taken from the dark cherry section of the colorful layer on St. Cecilia's dress showed that it consists of two layers containing different amounts of lead white and a red patch with a lilac tinge and a thick red. The blue colorful layer consists of blue (lead white, ultramarine) and grayish-pink (lead whitewash, inorganic black pigment, cinnabar, blue pigment based on copper) layers.

In 2023, I. S. Artemyeva, curator of the collection of Venetian paintings, a leading researcher at the Department of Western European Fine Arts of the State Museum of Fine Arts, verbally assumed the authorship of Denis Calvart (Calvert) (c. 1540-1619), an Italian artist of Flemish origin, a prominent representative of the Bologna school of painting. D. Calvart created both large altarpieces and small works on religious subjects. He received his first artistic skills in Antwerp, after which he went to Bologna, where he worked under the direction of Prospero Fontana (1512-1597) and Lorenzo Sabatini (c. 1530-1576). After a two—year stay in Rome, where he studied and copied the works of Italian masters, primarily Raphael (1483-1520), he returned to Bologna, where he founded his own school, becoming a teacher and forerunner of many prominent Italian masters - Guido Reni (1575-1642), Francesco Albani (1578-1660), Domenichino (1581-1641), etc.

The features of the compositional, coloristic and pictorial-plastic construction of the Omsk painting really show similarities with the famous works of the artist. In the works of D. Calvart, "The Mystical Betrothal of St. Catherine" (1590. Canvas, oil. 94 × 70. Capitoline Museum); "The Holy Family with St. Stephen" (1596. Copper, oil. 46.8 × 33.7. Private collection); "Don't touch me" (Oil on canvas. 118.5 × 87.5. Private collection) the similarity with the Omsk painting is found not only in the main stylistic features, but is manifested in the image of the subject range — specific ornaments on clothes, identically painted palm branches, characteristic sandals on the feet of the heroes, etc.

D. Calvart's artistic heritage is represented mainly in Europe, his works are kept in the National Art Gallery of Bologna, the National Gallery of Scotland and in other museum collections. In Russia, the only works of this master are in the State Museum of Fine Arts and the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts. Thus, in the process of inter-museum cooperation in the collection of the regional museum, it was possible to identify a rare example of the work of a significant Italian painter for domestic collections.

In 1927, a painting was transferred from the State Russian Museum to the Omsk Museum, which was included in the museum documentation with the title "Allegory of Faith" and the authorship of an unknown Italian master (Oil on canvas. 184 × 114. OOMII) (Figure 3). There was no information about the previous location of the painting, only the remains of a sealing wax seal with a fragment of the inscription "Admira..." remained on the stretcher.

Figure 3. Unknown Italian artist. The Allegory of Faith. Canvas, oil. 184 × 114. OOMII named after M. A. Vrubel

Modern attribution: Lazzarini, Gregorio (1657-1730). The Allegory of Faith

The iconographic solution of the Omsk painting corresponds to the typology of allegory of one of the most important Christian virtues, Faith, which was widespread in the Baroque era in painting. The composition is an image of a winged female figure surrounded by three children, leaning on a Crucifix with one hand and holding Holy Scripture with the other.

The diagonal composition is constructed due to the appropriate angle of the central figure and is repeated in the image of the Crucifixion. The color of the painting is harmonious, using accents in the form of local spots of pink, red and sky blue.

In 2013, GOSNIIR specialists conducted studies of the composition of the soil filler, pigments and the structure of the paint layer. This study showed the presence of gypsum soil and a set of pigments (red organic pigment, cinnabar, orange ochre, natural ultramarine, glauconite, yar-medyanka), which was used in easel oil paintings of Western Europe at the end of the XVII – first half of the XVIII centuries. (The results of the study of the composition of the filler soil, pigments and the structure of the paint layer in the painting unknown the artist "Vera". Report. GosNIIR. 2013).

In the process of studying the painting and searching for stylistically close analogies, it was noted that the features of the compositional and coloristic construction of the Omsk canvas bring it closer to the works of the Venetian artist Gregorio Lazzarini (1657-1730), a representative of the last wave of the Baroque. The artist created allegorical compositions depicting a female figure surrounded by children in different versions and sizes. His biographer Vincenzo da Canale, in The Biography of Gregorio Lazzarini ^[11], noted his ability to work with nudes as one of the main advantages of the Venetian master, where he demonstrated the accuracy of the drawing. The allegories of Mercy and Virtue, which are in demand among collectors, have become especially characteristic of his work.

Stylistically, the closest to the Omsk work are several paintings that have been held in recent years through European auctions by G. Lazzarini – "Blessing Jesus Christ surrounded by angels" (Oil on canvas. 161,5 × 120. Bertolami Fine Art), "Penitent Mary Magdalene" (Oil on canvas. 100 × 80. Art point) and others. The diagonal composition, the plastic construction of the central figure, and the similar color scheme of these paintings allow us to consider them as analogies of the Omsk work.

According to I. S. Artemyeva, a researcher of the artist's heritage in Russia, "Lazzarini is an unusually significant and not quite typical figure for the Venetian school of the late 17th and early 18th centuries... as for color and chiaroscuro modeling, Lazzarini preferred to refer to the experience of the Bologna school rather than the Venetian school..." ^{[12, p. 67]}.

In the middle and second half of the XVIII century, the period of the antique market in Russia, the artist's work gained special popularity among domestic collectors, and his works could be found in many large art galleries of the capital.

The alleged attribution of the Omsk painting was confirmed by the largest Russian experts in the study of Italian painting, V. E. Markova and I. S. Artemyeva, which made it possible to introduce into scientific circulation a previously unknown work, which is a remarkable example of the work of G. Lazzarini.

An urgent problem of studying Italian painting remains the identification of original works, as well as the identification of copies, imitations and falsifications.

The widespread interest in collecting in Europe contributed to the appearance of numerous copies and imitative products on the European art market of the XVIII–XIX centuries.

Collectors were in great demand for copies, which, in the opinion of collectors, carried the reflection of the genius of famous masters and replaced the original paintings. A number of first–class copyists worked in Italy at that time, reproducing recognizable images of famous works by Titian (between 1485 and 1489-1576), Raphael (1483-1520), J. Bellini (about 1430/1433–1516), etc. Such works have traditionally been widely distributed among European and domestic collectors, being an integral part of collecting.

Due to the increased demand for old paintings, the antique market became more active, for which artists produced not only copies in large numbers, but also various kinds of falsifications. It is known that in German painting of the 18th century the imitation method became dominant, which was fueled by the theoretical views of the main representatives of the "cult of imitation" — I. Winkelmann, A. Mengs, H.-L. Hagedorn. While some of the artists created works imitating the manner of Dutch masters of the "golden" age, others focused their attention on creating works in the spirit of Italian academic painting.

In the 1920s, the time of the massive redistribution of cultural values in our country, it was copies and works representing examples of imitation of the style of outstanding masters of the past that tried to transfer to regional art departments and museums. Thus, in the collection of foreign paintings of the Omsk museum, copies and imitations make up more than a dozen works that originate from large grand ducal collections, as well as the famous aristocratic art collections of the Yusupovs, Gorchakovs, Polovtsevs, and others.

At the same time, in practice there were many examples of the transfer to the regions in the 20th century of works of exceptional artistic and scientific interest. The significance of these works, often received as copies or works by unknown artists, was either underestimated by experts in the ongoing transfer process, or their authorship was deliberately changed in order to preserve valuable items for the national museum fund.

In order to distinguish an original from an old copy or, conversely, to discern an original work in a work presented as a copy, the researcher must deeply study the artist's individual manner and be able to evaluate the artistic qualities of the work.

In 1927, a painting based on a biblical story was received from the Museum of Fine Arts in Omsk. Previously, the work was in the collection of Countess E. V. Shuvalova in St. Petersburg (Inventory book LO GMF "Painting and sculpture". NARiDF GE. F. 4. Op. 1. D. 129. Book 2. L. 24). It was included in the museum's inventory books as a copy from the work of the founder of the Bologna Academy, Lodovico Carracci (1555-1619) (Oil on canvas. 95 × 122. OOMII) (Figure 4). Due to the high artistic qualities of the work, it can be assumed that the indication of the copy character appeared purposefully in order to transfer the first-class work to the periphery, which excluded its possible sale abroad.

Figure 4. A copy from a painting by Lodovico Carracci (1555-1619). A biblical story. Canvas, oil. 95 × 122. OOMII named after M. A. Vrubel

Modern attribution: Tiarini, Alessandro (1577-1668). The Ambassadors of King Abgar before Christ

Despite the absence of the original, the word copy in the catalog data of the work has been preserved for several decades.

In the early 1980s, the work attracted the attention of V. E. Markova. After reading the plot, the painting was called "Messengers of King Abgar before Christ." In the process of researching the work, V. E. Markova determined that the Omsk canvas was painted by the famous Italian artist Alessandro Tiarini (1577-1668), whose works are mainly concentrated in Bologna and are rare outside Italy.

The new attribution made it possible to establish that the Omsk painting was mentioned in the biography of A. Tiarini, compiled by Charles Malvasia in the 17th century ^{[13, p. 212]}. Thus, this painting, which had long fallen out of the field of view of art historians and was considered lost, was discovered in the collection of the regional museum. For the first time, a work with a new attribution was shown in 1984 at the exhibition "Paintings by Italian masters of the XIV−XVIII centuries from the museums of the USSR" at the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, which made it possible to introduce into scientific circulation a first-class work by an Italian master ^{[4, p. 100]}.

As an example of studying the copied works of recent years, we will cite the study of another painting from the collection of the M. A. Vrubel Museum of Fine Arts. In 1927, the Museum of Fine Arts received a work depicting Mary Magdalene, which in the accompanying documents was listed as a copy from a painting by Titian (Oil on canvas. 97 × 97. OOMII) (Figure 5). During its existence in the museum, it did not attract the attention of researchers, and despite the high pictorial qualities of the painting, its attribution has been unchanged for a long time.

The study of documentary sources made it possible to establish that before the revolution the painting was in the collection of His Serene Highness Prince K. A. Gorchakov in St. Petersburg, who inherited the famous art gallery of his father, the famous diplomat His Serene Highness Prince A.M. Gorchakov (Inventory Book of the Museum of Fine Arts "Painting and Sculpture". NARiDF GE. F. 4. Op. 1. D. 128. Book 1. L. 59).

Figure 5. A copy from a painting by Tiziano Vecellio (between 1485 and 1489-1576). Mary Magdalene. Canvas, oil. 97 × 97. OOMII named after M. A. Vrubel

Modern attribution: Maria Magdalena, a Venetian artist of the first third of the 17th century.

It is well known that the image of Mary Magdalene really occupied an important place in Titian's work. The painting of the penitent Mary Magdalene was such a success that the artist made several repetitions and variations of it, changing only the position of the heroine's hands, the tilt of her head and the landscape background. Magdalene looks up at the sky with tearful eyes, and a distinctive feature of these options is the hair scattered over her shoulders and flowing over her chest. The composition of the Omsk painting does not repeat in any way any of the variants of Titian's works, as well as famous paintings on this subject by other European masters, which called into question the copy character of this work.

A physico-chemical study of the composition of samples of soil filler and pigments of the paint layer, conducted during the study of the Omsk canvas, made it possible to determine chalk and black coal in the composition of the soil, and among the pigments used were lead whitewash, natural azurite, glauconite, red organic pigment, and individual crystals of natural azurite. The researchers from the Laboratory of Physico-chemical Research at GOSNIIR concluded that the set of materials and pigments of the paint layer identified in various areas of the paint layer of the painting was used in easel oil paintings of Western Europe in the 17th century (Results of a physico-chemical study of the composition of soil samples and pigments of the paint layer. Report. GosNIIR. 2015).

Microscopic examination of the canvas made it possible to fix a complex system of painting construction. Despite the fact that the colorful palette is limited to a small set of pigments, the artist uses individual azurite crystals and glauconite particles in the shadows and penumbra, which creates a feeling of soft penumbra. Visually, the brown background when examined under a microscope is a combination of brown, green, black and blue pigments.

Radiography of a fragment of the painting depicting the main character's head allowed us to record the techniques of shape modeling. The face is solved using smoothed strokes, while the strands of Mary Magdalene's hair and hairstyle are rendered with textured relief strokes of different configurations — spiral, wavy, rounded. The free movement of the brush is clearly visible on the X-ray, and the configuration of each curl and curl can be seen. Such freedom is not typical for a copy work. The white lace is solved with embossed whitewash strokes, which reveal the character of the pattern, consisting of smooth lines and rounded shapes. The variety of techniques, including smoothed writing and case-based form processing, also points towards the original rather than the copied work. In addition, the X—ray recorded pentimenti (pentimenti) - the author's alterations, the heroine's hair in the original version fell on her forehead, which is not recorded in the painting itself.

Thus, the conducted research has shown that the technology and layered structure of the painting "Mary Magdalene" have distinctive features of 17th-century painting, and a specific approach to interpreting the details of the painting speaks in favor of the original rather than the copy character of the work.

Further study in order to determine the author's name is complicated by the presence of a thick layer of highly degraded restoration varnish on the surface of the painting. This layer applied to the painting gives a dark color, not allowing to study the features and nuances of the artistic manner of the author. Consultations with leading experts allowed us to attribute the work of the brush of the Venetian master of the first third of the XVII century. Thus, the assumption of the replica nature of the painting has been refuted today, and the study of the original work of the early 17th century will be continued after its restoration.

A brief overview of examples of attribution of works from the collection of one of the largest regional museums in the country allows us to identify some of the problems of studying Italian painting, which include not only the definition of authorship itself, but also the recognition and identification of Italian paintings, as well as what B. R. Whipper formulated as "establishing the degree of originality of a given work of art."

The main result of a series of comprehensive studies conducted by the staff of the M. A. Vrubel Museum of Fine Arts in collaboration with major Russian art historians and research institutes, the results of which are presented in the article, was the introduction into scientific circulation of previously unknown works by Italian masters of the XVI–XVIII centuries, as well as the establishment of their authorship. The obtained data from technical and technological studies of Italian paintings can serve as comparative material in the study and proof of attributions of other works of Western European painting.

The ultimate goal of attribution, according to the well-known specialist in the study of Western European painting I. V. Linnik, is to "provide reliable data to the history of art" ^{[1, p. 5]}. By studying specific works, researchers move from the particular to the general and create the basis for recreating the history of art development. Thus, according to I. V. Linik, "by returning a phenomenon that has fallen out of the ordinary to its place, the author of attribution participates in the creation and refinement of the overall picture of the development of painting" ^{[1, p. 5]}.