Art dealer not negligent over sale of aristocratic family painting, judge rules

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Andrew Onslow KC said this was done “without any effort to market the painting” and Mr Dickinson had failed to consult leading Chardin expert and former Louvre director Pierre Rosenberg. Henry Legge KC, for SCD, said the dealer correctly understood Mr Rosenberg’s “published view” of the work as “copie retouche” meant it was “a copy done by someone else and then touched up by Chardin”. He said of Mr Dickinson: “I do not think that the fact that he perceived the painting as having elements of Chardin’s hand in it renders negligent his conclusion that it could not be marketed as autograph Chardin.” The judge said it was not the dealer’s duty to consult Mr Rosenberg if he believed the expert would dispute its authenticity, leading to its value being “destroyed”. “I do not believe that Mr Dickinson’s decision not to make that gamble on behalf of his client was negligent,” the judge said, adding that Lord and Lady Wemyss would have been “astonished and somewhat irritated” to make decisions over the sale they had entrusted to SCD.