A catalogue raisonné (or critical catalogue) is a comprehensive, annotated listing of all the known artworks by an artist either in a particular medium or all media. The works are described in such a way that they may be reliably identified by third parties, and such listings play an important role in authentification. Etymology The term catalogue raisonné is French, meaning "reasoned catalogue" (i.e. containing arguments for the information given, such as attributions), but is part of the technical terminology of the English-speaking art world. The spelling is never Americanized to "catalog", even in the United States. The French pluralization catalogues raisonnés is used. Description There are many variations, both broader and narrower than "all the works" or "one artist". The parameters may be restricted to one type of artwork by one artist or widened to all the works by a group of artists. It can take many years to complete a catalogue raisonné, and large teams of researchers are sometimes employed on the task. For example, about 25 people reportedly contributed over 11 years to the three-volume catalogue raisonné for abstract-expressionist painter Robert Motherwell, an effort organized by the Dedalus Foundation and published by Yale University Press in 2012. Early examples consisted of two distinct parts: a biography and the catalogue itself. Their modern counterpart is the critical catalogue, which may contain personal views of the author. Role in authentication The New York Times has described catalogues raisonnés as the definitive, scholarly compendia of an artist's work, the "supreme arbiter of the genuine and fake". In the case of deceased artists the producer of a catalogue raisonné which is regarded as a standard text may have considerable power to determine whether a particular work is regarded as authentic or not. In this context "producers" may include authors, editors, committees or publishers. Inclusion in or exclusion from a respected catalogue raisonné can have a considerable effect on the market price of a work, amounting in some cases to large sums of money. Inclusion has been called the difference between "great wealth and the gutter", and auction houses sometimes refuse to handle unlisted works. As a result, catalogue raisonné authors have been the targets of lawsuits, and allegedly of bribes and even death threats although no evidence of the latter has reached the courts. Difficulties can occur when more than one catalogue raisonné is published for the same oeuvre. The work