A federal judge in Chicago is set to issue a verdict in a peculiar civil trial over a celebrated Scottish-born artist's insistence that he did not paint a landscape work which was once valued at more than 10 million US dollars (£7.6 million).
Some of Peter Doig's paintings have sold for more than 20 million dollars (£15.3 million), and the owner of the disputed picture, a prison official from Canada, sued in the US court for millions in damages after its projected sales price nosedived after 57-year-old Doig denied it was his work.
The owner, Robert Fletcher, of Ontario, Canada, maintains that the painting of a desert landscape with giant red rocks and a receding pond, which he paid 100 dollars for in the 1970s, is by Doig. If it is not, according to one filing by Mr Fletcher's lawyers, "it is essentially worthless".
Read more: Scots artist Peter Doig at centre of £3.8m court case to prove painting is not his work
Authenticity disputes typically arise long after an artist dies; not, as in this case, when the artist is still alive and flatly denies a work is his. The oddity of such a dispute making it all the way to trial has drawn the interest of the wider art world.
After a week of hearing evidence, US District Judge Gary Feinerman said he would announce his verdict on Tuesday. The lawsuit was filed in Chicago because one auctioneer who had expressed interest in selling the painting is based in the city.
Mr Fletcher contends he bought the painting from Doig around 1976 - when he says the Scottish artist was serving a jail sentence for possessing LSD in Canada's Thunder Bay Correctional Centre, where Mr Fletcher was employed. It was long after he bought it that a friend saw it at his home and said it appeared to be by an internationally acclaimed artist.
Doig, who now lives in Trinidad, said he did not begin using the type of linen canvas the work in question is painted on until late 1979. He also told the court that he had never been imprisoned in Ontario or anywhere else in Canada.
Such a dispute would seem easily resolved with documentation, though Canadian prison and school records from that era were sometimes imprecise, lawyers in the case have said.
A key witness for Doig was a Canadian woman who told the court the painting is actually by her now-deceased brother, whose name was Peter Doige, with an "e", like the signature on the disputed work.
Read more: Scots artist Peter Doig appears in court over disputed artwork
Meanwhile, Mr Fletcher's lawyers suggest Doig is denying the painting is his work because, if Mr Fletcher is right, it would link him to prison in his youth.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article