Forged Masterpieces

The international art market is awash with forged works of art, some of which are so convincing that even the experts can be deceived. In days gone by, it was virtually impossible to tell the difference between a fake and a genuine work of art, and forgers made millions by hoodwinking the art world. Fortunately, we know a lot more today about how forgers work, and the sudden appearance of a previously unknown masterpiece now raises suspicions. In addition, an array of high-tech tools enables scholars to analyse even the most minute components of paint.

From the great Flemish painters and the Venetian and Florentine artists of the Renaissance to the artists or our day, art has long been the object of forgery. Sometimes, multiple copies may circulate at the same time! In 1989, the heirs of the French painter Maurice utrillo (1183-1955) sued an art dealer in Bourg-en-Bresse, in central France. They were suspicious of a work, supposedly by Utrillo, that the deale was selling for 1.8 million francs (about US360,000). Experts examined the painting closely and concluded that it was indeed a fake.

The police quickly located the person behind the fraud. He was a Frechman living in the United States, whose nephew in France served as his accomplice. After a search of the man's apartment in the town of Blois, the state prosecutor confiscated a number of paintings allegedly by Utrillo, as well as copies of paintings by Mare Chagall (1887-1985), Jean Cocteau (1889-1963) and Raoul Dufy (1877-1953).

Expert evaluations were carried out, but, as expected, not one authentic painting was found, although, as often happens in art forgery, the forgers produced documents proving the authenticity of the paintings.

The paintings confiscated by the French authorities in Blois were only a small blow against the often spectacular world of art forgery. For a long time, a lively trade in forged masterpieces has flourished within the multimillion-dollar art market, and this increased dramatically during the 20th century. The problem now extends beyond paintings and drawings to areas such a sculpture, ceramics and textiles. Oriental art and objects from Pre-Columbian America are also often forged.

A Question Of Attribution

It is an open secret that museums store and even exhibit fake works of art. When we admire a landscape or portrait by a particular artist, we may actually be standing in front of a copy by someone familiar with the style of that artist. In France, disagreement still rages over whether works by the Dutch abstract painter Piet Mondrian (1872-1944) in the famous Pompidou Centre modern art gallery in Paris are indeed the artist's original works. Confusion also comes from the fact that many of the old masters, such as Rembrandt, employed assistants to carry out some of the work. In some cases, paitings formerly attributed to a master are now thought to be the work of an assistant or the painter's workshop.

Many of these controversies are extremely difficult to resolve. In the opinion of a leading French auctioneer. 'Any buyer runs the risk of acquiring a fake. There is a large number of works, particularly those of old masters, whose authorship has not been established. No expert is in a position to come to an indisputable conclusion'. Collectors who have invested large sums of money in ccontroversial art objects can take some comfort from this, since they can still claim to own a genuine Picasso, even if certain experts contest their claim.

Forgery is not a recent phenomenon. In order to satisfy the demands of enthusiastic collectors, the Romans manufactured copies of sculptures and coins. Later, this practice extended to paintings, particularlay during the Renaissance. At that time, however, the copyists were not trying to trick people. They wanted to re-create the genius of great works of art, and even improve on it, for the sake of their fellow human beings.

In the course of time, the profit motive took over, and talented imitators began to sell their paintings as masterpieces. In other cases, artists whose talents were not good enough to develop their own style may have turned to painting fakes in order to achieve public recognition. But there is no doubt that good forgers certainly have talent. They have to be able to use a brush correctly and five the impression of age, by creating hairline cracks, for example.

The Dutch Master

A Dutchman named Hans van Meegeren (1889-1947) is probably the 20th century's most famous counterfeiter of paintings. As an art student, he learned, among other things, to mix perfect paints, and he applied his know-how towards the production of remarkably faithful copies. Between 1935 and 1943, he painted 13 paintings in the style of the great Dutch masters, including Frans Hals (about 1581-1666), Gerard Terborch (1617-1681) and Jan Vermeer (1632-1675). Art experts believed Van Meegeren's work to be genuine, and the appearance of 'new' works by famous artists created a sensation. A religious painting in the style of Vermeer, entitled Supper at Emmaus, was celebrated as ' the artistiic discovery of the century'. Van Meegeren sold eight of his forgeries, mainly to museums and members of Germany's Nazi government, for th eequivalent of US$2,289,000, of which he kept more than half.

The extent of Van Meegeren's fraud was exposed after the end of World War II. When the Dutch police confiscated the vast art collection looted by German air force chief Hermann Goering (1893-1946), they found a hitherto unknown Vermeer, entitled Christ and the Adultress. At first, the authenticity of the painting was not in doubt; investigators merely wished to find out who had acquired the work, and so they established business links with Germany. At the end of May 1945, the trail led officials to Van Meegeren. In spite of accusations of collaboration with the German occupying forces, he remained stubbornly silent.

Two month later, Van Meegeren spilled the beans. 'You are a bunch of idiots', he screamed at the investigators, "I haven't sold any of our country's art treasures. I painted them myself". He admitted to six forgeries, but at first no-one believed him. Finally, Van meegeren was asked to complete another painting 'in the style of Vermeer'. He did as he was asked, putting his abilities to the test under the eyes of the police. In 1947, a court sentenced the master forger to a year in prison, and he died shortly after his release.

Thirty Van Goghs

In the mid-1920s, art experts pronounced over 30 works by the Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) as originals. The paintings came from a Berlin dancer and art dealer, who claimed to have obtained them from a Russian travelling from Switzerland to Egypt. When exhibited next to original works by Van Gogh in the German capital in 1928, most visitors thought that the new paintings looked like forgeries. This time, the spectators were right. Since that time, the custodians of Van Gogh's works have reacted with scepticism to any new painting that unexpectedly appears on the market.