Connoisseur

In the art trade, however, expert connoisseurship remains a crucial skill for the identification and attribution to individual artists of works by the style and technique, where documentary evidence of provenance is lacking.

On the basis of empirical evidence, refinement of perception about technique and form, and a disciplined method of analysis, the responsibility of the connoisseur is to attribute authorship, validate authenticity and appraise quality.

[1] Svetlana Alpers confirms the art historians reservations that the identification of individual style in works is "essentially assigned to a group of specialists in the field known as conoisseurs".

In 1760, Oliver Goldsmith said, "Painting is and has been and now will someday become the sole object of fashionable care; the title of connoisseur in that art is at present the safest passport into every fashionable Society; a well timed shrug, an admiring attitude and one or two exotic tones of exclamation are sufficient qualifications for men of low circumstances to curry favour."

[citation needed] Connoisseur is also used in the context of gastronomy, i.e. in connection with fine food, beer, wine, coffee, tea and many other products whose consumption can be pleasing to the senses.