| A collector thought he had bought a painting by the celebrated British artist. How far would he go to prove it?  Photograph by Lewis Khan for The New Yorker “The art market can’t stand doubt,” Sam Knight writes, in an engrossing, twisty investigation in this week’s issue about a painting that may be worth millions if it’s judged to be the work of the British master Lucian Freud—or else, as one person puts it, worth little more than “a falafel plate” if it’s not. Everyone involved in the authentication process—supporters and skeptics alike—turns out to have much to gain or lose. And, in this case, even the opinion of the artist himself—who disavowed the painting during his lifetime—can’t necessarily be trusted. There may be lots of money at stake, but also something else. “At a certain point, it stops being about the painting and becomes a search for deeper, and even more impossible, forms of validation,” Knight writes. “Owning a work made by a genius induces a feeling of connection—to something pure, and, perhaps, to the purer part of ourselves.” So, is it real or fake? —Ian Crouch, newsletter editor | 
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