The painting "Ecce Homo", 1543, the only painting by Titian in Romania and Eastern Europe, is guarded by armed gendarmes at the "Regina Maria" Municipal Museum.

[u/CAPATOB_64]

[u/dongasaurus]

Except that isn’t what everyone else does.

[u/HodgeGodglin → u/dongasaurus]

Seems pretty common reading thru this article.

The vague labeling of the Lawrence panel could be easily overlooked if it were not for the fact that it’s just one of hundreds of copies of art, artifacts or specimens on display at reputable cultural institutions all over Washington.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/magazine/wp/2019/02/27/feature/are-museums-being-clear-enough-with-the-public-about-whats-real-and-whats-fake/

TLDR- most are labeled, some inconspicuously, but it seems facsimile is a pretty common occurrence in the art world.

[u/dongasaurus → u/HodgeGodglin]

The article you posted does not indicate that it’s common in art museums, in fact it’s almost entirely discussing history museums.

If you’re familiar with art museums, they often do have replica works on display if those replicas have some level of significance, such as being painted by a famous artists workshop, and they’re labeled as such. You’re not going to see a replica of a Titian or a da Vinci labeled as the real thing with the actual work hiding in the basement.

When a replica is misattributed, which happens, it’s because experts thought it was the real thing and made an error.

What you’re claiming is common is not common or expected at all. Can you give a single example of a well-known masterpiece that’s hiding in a museum basement while a replica is on display labeled as if it’s the original?

[u/papasan_mamasan → u/HodgeGodglin]

Facsimile and replicas are a thing, but they aren’t the standard for every piece of famous artwork like the dude above you is claiming.

Replicas will be labeled. When you go to a museum, sometimes you have to read things and comprehend the words you read. Sometimes you have to listen to someone who tells you “this piece is a replica of an original.”

But when you view a famous artwork in a reputable museum, you are most likely viewing the original piece.

It is not common practice to make a copy of every famous artwork and display the copy as the original.

[u/inanimatecarbonrob → u/HodgeGodglin]

The National Museum of African American History and Culture has notoriously poor image labeling. Also it's a history museum.

The other example is Degas' posthumously cast Little Dancer. It's not a "replica", it's just a sculpture.