THE internet is an immense boon that makes it easy for historians, journalists and researchers of all sorts to acquire all sorts of information with previously unimaginable ease and speed. The first rule of investigative journalism was always ‘know who to ask’, but, today, it is often merely a matter of pressing a few keys. However, even without deliberate disinformation, it is now also easier than before for misinformation to become widely accepted fact. We have probably become less rigorous about double checking and second sourcing stories.
A small instance of this has come in reports of last month’s sale at Reeman Dansie. The feeling among bidders, however, was that it was probably Dutch, dating from the turn of the 17th century, with the result that the bidding took it to £698,500. The 2ft-high figure, which was balanced on a plinth rather than on the breath of the wind god Zephyr, was one of many copies of and variations on Giambologna’s 1580, now in the Bargello, Florence.
