New exhibition at the Mint Museum presents an art history mystery

A new exhibition at the Mint Museum of Art, “Identity Theft: How a Cropsey became a Gifford,” contains all the elements of an interesting art history mystery and will be on view at the museum located in Charlotte, N.C., from November 21, 2009, through March 29, 2010.

The exhibition focuses on the painting “Indian Summer in the White Mountains” by Sanford Robinson Gifford. For more than 50 years, the painting has been attributed to Jasper Francis Cropsey and referred to as “Mount Washington from Lake Sebago, Maine.” In 2003, routine conservation work on the painting revealed Gifford’s signature and date beneath Cropsey’s in the lower left corner of the painting.

“Identity Theft: How a Cropsey became a Gifford“ presents the story behind the authorship of the painting and will present a dozen works of art related to this mystery. The exhibition will include three of Cropsey’s known paintings and six of Gifford’s paintings of New Hampshire’s Mount Washington along with sketchbooks, photographs and historical documentation. The museum wants to present works of both artists so visitors can see the evidence behind the mystery for themselves and understand how the painting was originally attributed to the wrong artist.