Amazon is selling a Monet. And the reviews are in.

By Christopher Knight, Times art critic

Aug. 7, 2013 4:06 PM PT

The description on Amazon of the $1.4-million Claude Monet painting of his chubby infant that’s being sold from a New Orleans antiques store is funny in its own right. We learn that “the power of a son’s love to warm the spirit of a struggling father” is what it’s all about, which I suspect would be news to a rather less sentimental artist, who was committed to charting the power of grain stacks, cathedral facades and his garden pond in all sorts of weather conditions.

But skip the painting, which shows little Jean Monet looking rather worried about the big, empty blue and white bowl on the table in front of him. It’s the customer reviews that are really worth looking at. Amazon shoppers are having none of it.

PHOTOS: Arts and culture in pictures by The Times

Here is a sampling:

BUYER BEWARE: THIS ITEM IS IN FRENCH. There is no English version. I purchased this product and couldn’t understand a word of it.
For as much as I paid I’m a little upset that this isn’t a new painting. You can see OBVIOUS cracks and I’m worried that the artwork has had several owners before me.
I really wrote this review to warn casual searchers that some bunch of opportunists are trying to rip off the unwary or inexperienced browser by flooding Amazon with their cheap replicas, under the confusingly similar name “Manet”. Remember, it’s “Monet”, with the “o” that is the real thing. Apparently it’s permitted by the Terms of Conditions for people to sell “Manet” product, as long as (when pushed!) they admit somewhere in the fine print that their “Manet” paintings aren’t genuine Monets. Seems as unethical as hell to me, but I guess all we fans can do is warn the gullible.
Does anyone know if there is a Kindle edition available? Oil? On canvas? Sounds really earth-antagonistic. We should be demanding green versions of all famous works of art now.
I was seriously considering purchasing this item, but I can’t get beyond my suspicion that the artist doesn’t know how to draw hands. The clumsy attempt to hide them behind a misshapen bowl just screams AMATEUR.

There are another 70+ more where those came from, which does raise the question: Were these reviews helpful to you?

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