Sir, In response to your story on the Metropolitan Museum’s Madonna and Child by Duccio (“$50m ‘masterpiece’ is poor forgery, says art professor,” July 6), those who were involved in its purchase would like to point out to your readers that it is a work accepted by virtually every Duccio specialist.

It was carefully examined before acquisition and has been further examined since. All the technical data are consistent with a date in the late 13th or early 14th century. As for the motif of the illusionistic parapet that Professor Beck finds so troubling: it is replicated by an artist from Duccio’s workshop in a painting in the museum at Montepulciano, in southern Tuscany. In other words, this innovative device had an immediate impact on Sienese artists; it hardly signals a copy from the 19th century.

If Professor Beck would like to see a fake Duccio, I would be happy to show him one that the Metropolitan was given in order to compare a fake with the genuine masterpiece. It is my fervent hope that Professor Beck’s allegations, which in my opinion are completely unfounded, do not diminish the public’s engagement with this exquisite painting.

KEITH CHRISTIANSEN
Jayne Wrightsman Curator of European Paintings
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

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