THE case of the painting known for more than two decades as The Goose Girl, and attributed to W.J. Leech until the National Gallery last week officially decided otherwise, apparently is not yet over.
The statement by the National Gallery Director, Mr Raymond Keaveney, admitting that the attribution was mistaken and that it was the work of a rather obscure English artist, Stanley Royle, had seemed to mark the end of the controversy.
However, it took a new turn on Tuesday with a statement issued by Mrs Denise Ferran, who has spent some years' researching Leech's life and work and who wrote the catalogue for the current exhibition of Leech's work at the National Gallery.
Mrs Ferran says flatly: "His [the director's] statement does not end the controversy. Quite the reverse. It raises a number of questions about the events surrounding this exhibition."
Yesterday, the National Gallery tended to play down the matter and declined to be drawn into argument over details. An official statement said: "The National Gallery of Ireland considers the Goose Girl controversy closed. The painting has been reattributed to Stanley Royle. The gallery invites the public to enjoy the Leech exhibition, which is open until December 15th."
Disputes over attributions are nothing new, and the National Gallery has been involved in a number over the years.
Mrs Ferran is probably the leading expert on Leech's life and work, but as she expressly states, she knew little of Royle's work though, while researching the catalogue, she did correspond with his daughter. In dealing with such a little known painter, it is only natural that those officially involved were slow to make any definite attribution.
The picture was bought, in good faith, from a respected Dublin dealer a quarter of a century ago. Nobody expressed any doubts - at least, not publicly - about its genuineness as a Leech at that time, or for another two decades, but at that time much of his early work was still little known. The picture has been much reproduced, and postcards and commercial reproductions have been highly popular and have sold steadily.
It still hangs in the Leech exhibition, but its fate after that is a question mark: will it be relegated to the National Gallery's cellars?