{"id":6062,"date":"2016-09-22T07:49:42","date_gmt":"2016-09-22T11:49:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=6062"},"modified":"2016-09-22T08:22:00","modified_gmt":"2016-09-22T12:22:00","slug":"the-art-of-forgery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=6062","title":{"rendered":"***The Art of Forgery"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"paint-brushes\"

photo: Lynn Friedman, creative commons license<\/p><\/div>\n

By Noah Charney \u2013 In this richly illustrated book, author Charney explores many of the most notorious cases of art forgery\u2014a deception that dates to ancient Rome\u2014and the often colorful characters bent on deception. Like all crimes, this one depends on opportunity and motive.<\/p>\n

While Old Masters may be a forger\u2019s more likely and lucrative target, what about modern abstract artists? Can you tell the fakes? Take this clever quiz<\/a>!<\/p>\n

Opportunity<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Until very recently, the perceived value of artworks and religious objects was solely expert-driven, based on connoisseurship. If a recognized expert asserted that a painting was a heretofore undiscovered Rembrandt, for all intents and purposes (especially sales value), it was.<\/p>\n

Today, science provides museums and private collectors with increasing protection. Chemical, radiographic, and other advanced techniques can analyze paper, canvas, pigments, wood, and other intrinsic attributes of a work. A common giveaway is the use of paints that weren\u2019t available at the time the artwork was supposedly created. But science provides protection only if would-be buyers insist tests be performed before<\/em> they write out their check.<\/p>\n

Over the years, forgers have responded by becoming more skilled in reproducing the materials and techniques of the past, so that often their work can pass all but the most detailed examination. Detailed digital replicas<\/a> pose a new hazard to unwary purchasers.<\/p>\n

Those engaged in an art forgery racket also excel in producing false documentation and paper trails. These establish the spurious lineage and history of ownership (called provenance) of a work. Forgers rarely simply copy an existing work\u2014it\u2019s too easily identified as already hanging in a museum or private collection. Instead, they precisely mimic an artist\u2019s style and favored subject matter. This new work is then passed off as a \u201clost\u201d or previously unknown masterwork, with all the paperwork to prove it.<\/p>\n

Motivation<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Why do they do it, when the possibility of detection is ever-present? Charney says some simply like the challenge of pitting their skill against that of past masters. A German newspaper said forger Wolfgang Beltracchi \u201cpainted the best Campendonk that ever was.\u201d Indeed, some forgers have been artistic geniuses, but underappreciated and undervalued in their own time. For that reason, revenge against an indifferent art establishment contributes to motive. Art forgery is not treated as a particularly serious crime and rarely results in lengthy jail terms (usually for fraud). Many former forgers have gained substantial fame after their misdeeds were exposed.<\/p>\n

More rarely, copies of paintings are made and substituted for the real thing, delaying detection of the theft of the originals. At Prague\u2019s Sternberk Palace, thieves skipped the hard part and substituted a poster for the original they stole; in Poland, more ambitious thieves replaced the painting they stole with a painted-over poster bought at the museum gift shop. It took days for anyone to notice.<\/p>\n

Unscrupulous dealers\u2014con artists, basically\u2014persuade some artists to create works in a particular style. The excitement and pride collectors feel when they \u201cdiscover\u201d a lost artwork typically makes the seller\u2019s job easier.<\/p>\n

Charney describes numerous examples of fraudulent art from over the centuries, and his comparison photos add much to the book\u2019s enjoyment. (Forgery of religious relics is a cottage industry in Israel and the Middle East, detailed in Nina Burleigh\u2019s excellent Unholy Business, <\/em>touched on briefly in Charney\u2019s book.)<\/p>\n

Mundus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur<\/em> \u201cThe world wishes to be deceived,\u201d the book\u2019s cover says, \u201cso let it be deceived.\u201d
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