This episode of Is It? dives deeply into one of art history's enduring mysteries: The Polish Rider. A star attraction at the Frick in New York, it has long confused scholars. Is it entirely by Rembrandt? Mostly? Is it derivative or even a forgery? The brilliant art historian and critic Blake Gopnik is my guest to dive into this fascinating topic and much more, including Blake's new book, "The Maverick's Museum: Albert Barnes and His American Dream."Blake Gopnik is not just an art critic. He is one of the most electrifying minds writing about art and artists today. You might know his name from the New York Times, The Washington Post, Artforum, The Daily Beast—the kind of publications that don’t just review art, but shape the conversation around it. Blake is also the author of the monumental biography Warhol—a 900-page deep dive into the life, myth, and mechanics of America’s most enigmatic artist. It’s a book that doesn’t just profile Warhol—it reframes him, challenges the clichés, and makes you see the man behind the silver wig with totally fresh eyes.This painting is what first brought Art Recognition to my attention: I wrote a feature in The Art Newspaper in December 2024 about how its analysis of The Polish Rider had solved the longstanding mystery. Even better, the AI analysis perfectly synced with what most scholars had already thought, providing a level of certainty that this art historical mystery was finally solved. Many months and much research later, I agreed to join Art Recognition as an advisor.In most episodes of Is It? the result of the AI analysis will only be revealed live, during the podcast, by an Art Recognition specialist...and then I discuss it with them and with my special guest expert. This episode is an outlier in that we already knew the result and therefore do not have an AI specialist appearing. My guest, Blake Gopnik, was interested in exploring this painting together, and so this is one of the only episodes without the traditional "reveal."Blake is one of my favorite authors and thinkers on art, and our discussion is wide-ranging. I highly recommend his new book, which you can order here.To see the painting featured in this episode, The Polish Rider, click here.

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