ATTRIBUTION AND ATTRIBUTIVE ANALYSIS OF ARTWORKS: A PRACTICAL, THEORETICAL, AND LEGAL GUIDE FOR MUSEUM RESEARCH STAFF

Abstract

This article develops a practical, theoretical, methodological, and legal framework for the attribution and attributive analysis of artworks in museum collections. It preserves the core professional focus of museum attribution while reorganizing it into an IMRAD research structure and strengthening the relationship between connoisseurship, provenance research, technical examination, digital humanities, and museum documentation. The study is intended primarily for new and practicing research staff in museum art departments. Classical approaches associated with Giovanni Morelli, Heinrich Wölfflin, and Erwin Panofsky are considered alongside infrared and ultraviolet imaging, radiography, microscopy, spectroscopy, X-ray fluorescence, digital image analysis, and carefully bounded applications of artificial intelligence. Particular attention is given to provenance, evidentiary hierarchy, legal due diligence, and the scientific passport of a museum object. The legal context is discussed with reference to the Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan “On Museums,” the ICOM Code of Ethics for Museums, and the UNESCO 1970 Convention. As a principal result, a five-stage integrated attribution protocol is proposed: preliminary documentation and provenance screening; visual-stylistic and iconographic analysis; technical and material examination; digital/computational assistance; and collegial synthesis with formal documentation. An illustrative training case based on a Fergana Valley painting is used to demonstrate how a museum researcher should distinguish hypotheses from verified evidence.