Should there be ethics in art?

I'm tempted to say I'd sell the story for a vast sum to a multinational
media concern and the hell with the ethics of art or friendship, Tempted,
but.......

It's not actually a question of art ethics - that is an issue for the artist
 - but rather an everyday question of your own conflicting loyalties.
 Obviously you have a responsibility to your friend the famous artist, and
you have not stated whether you have been told in confidence or been asked
to keep the matter secret.  If so, your personal ethics would require that
you keep the secret during the artist's lifetime.

As to the public, obviously they are looking at a major work of art, and no
amount of re-attribution will change that, though it may modify the value of
the work.  The only one potentially being harmed is the person who actually
created the artwork

And what about the actual artist?  Are they really dill enough to stay
silent?  Are they quite happy having their work attributed to your famous
friend?  Perhaps you should respect their desire for anonymity, and not
reveal all in a blaze of moral outrage.  Unless, of course, the real painter
is indulging in a bit of blackmail and making more from the mis-attribution
than from their own work.

In any event the world is full of mis-attributions and 'in the style of',
'from the school of' 'probably by' and the like, of artists who just painted
the tricky bits while their students did the drapery, of respectful copies
and outright forgeries, and what's one more?

Heleanor Feltham
Powerhouse Museum