Suppose the Williams Record crack investigative reporters discovered that Michelangelo's Mona Lisa has been destroyed, and the painting in the Louvre is actually a nineteenth-century forgery. Should that change your aesthetic appreciation of the work? Ted Turner colorized Casablanca and other classic black and white films. Did he destroy the artistic integrity of the films? Which is better: a damaged Rembrandt, or one restored using twentieth-century materials? Suppose someone writes his name on a ready-made object (such as a urinal) and displays it in a museum. Is it art? These and more questions will be examined by working with philosophical literature, works of art, legal cases (and perhaps an X-ray machine). This course will be taught in conjunction with an exhibition at the Williams College Museum of Art: "But is it Real?" The students in this course will be responsible for preparing the exhibition publications. Students will be required to attend an accompanying lecture series sponsored by the course and WCMA. Prerequisite: an eagerness to think deeply about what one sees. Enrollment limit: 50. (We will divide into sections for hands-on work in the museum.)