In this artwork, how is the Attribution of the History elucidated?
Originally, Medusa was put in the Brno museum on December 26, 1818 as Ein Oehlgemälde das Medusenhaupt vorstellend. This roughly translates into "An oil painting depicting the head of Medusa." Rubens was not attributed to this painting during this time as there was no artist attribution when it first entered the museum. Count Joseph von Nimptsch I originally gave the work to the museum and his seal of ownership is on the back of the painting. It is unknown to where he originally obtained the painting from, but it is thought, due to indirect evidence and assumption, that it originally belonged to his second wife. Count Nimptsch donated the artwork a year after his wife died, which has been used as circumstantial evidence that she was the original owner.  Brno curator Ernst Rincolini originally attributed this painting to Rubens' student Abraham van Diepenbeeck, with the animals painted by Frans Snyders. Rubens was not mentioned as being the original painter until 1899 and was officially attributed to the painting in the 1940s due to restorative work where it was confirmed that Rubens created Medusa alongside the help of Frans Snyders. The painting that resides in the Bruno museum today is thought to be a copy of the original that is housed in Vienna.
Abraham van Diepenbeeck Medusa Brno Vienna Frans Snyders