INTRODUCTION 10 THE WORLD WISHES TO BE DECEIVED …
GENIUS 34 PRIDE 60 REVENGE 92 FAME 122 CRIME 148 OPPORTUNISM 166 MONEY 188 POWER 208
CONCLUSION 248 … SO LET IT BE DECEIVED
NOTES 257 GLOSSARY OF SCIENTIFIC METHODS OF AUTHENTICATION 271 SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 277 INDEX 285 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 291
01122014_Art of Forgery-AW.indd 4 02/12/2014 09:24 01122014_Art of Forgery-AW.indd 5 02/12/2014 09:24 THE WORLD WISHES TO BE DECEIVED…
Hold! You crafty ones, strangers to work, and pilferers of other men’s brains! Think not rashly to lay your thievish hands upon my works. Beware! Know you not that I have a grant from the most glorious Emperor Maximilian that not one throughout the imperial dominion shall be allowed to print or sell fctitious imitations of these engravings? Listen! And bear in mind that if you do so, through spite or through covetousness, not only will your goods be confscated, but your bodies also placed in mortal danger. – Albrecht Dürer
This may well be the most belligerent property notice ever penned. It appeared in the colophon to an edition of an engraving series called Life of the Virgin¸ published in Nuremberg in 5. Its author and the creator of the engravings, the great painter and printmaker Albrecht Dürer, had good reason to fear forgers. Dürer’s prints were wildly popular throughout Europe, highly collectible and a more affordable alternative to a painting. Dürer was perhaps the frst internationally self-promoting artist in history, more INTRODUCTION akin to Jeff Koons or Damien Hirst than the solitary, morose likes of contemporaries such as Giorgione or Pontormo. He even created what some consider the frst artist’s trademark: a stylized monogram signature featuring a small upper-case ‘D’ between the legs of a large upper-case ‘A’, the inclusion of which assured the authenticity of his prints. In 506 a concerned friend from Venice sent Dürer a print from the original 502 Life of the Virgin series. In his Nuremberg studio, surrounded by pots of pigment, coal to make ink, quill pens and sheets of vellum, Dürer examined this woodcut engraving. It looked nearly iden- tical, but it was not his handiwork. It was the work of a master forger. A quick investigation led to the artist behind the copies, a printmaker (and sometime pornographer) named Marcantonio Raimondi.2 The unquestionably skilful Raimondi had created woodcut plates from scratch, including the famous ‘ad’ monogram. The Dal Jesus family of printers then sold prints made from these plates as Dürer originals. However, while Raimondi had copied every detail of Dürer’s intricate prints, he had also included three alterations to the original that distinguished his creations as copies, and which would eventually be used as his escape clause when he was brought to court.
01122014_Art of Forgery-AW.indd 10 02/12/2014 09:24 01122014_Art of Forgery-AW.indd 11 02/12/2014 09:24 He included his own monogram, an intertwined maf‘ ’; he added the Dürer stormed off back to Nuremberg, unhappy with the result. device of the Dal Jesus publishing house, the ‘yhs’ of Christ placed He had heard the argument before that he should be fattered that his inside a squared quatrefoil; and he included two triangles arranged work was so famous as to draw copyists, so when he came to publish in the shape of an hourglass, taken from the sign on the Dal Jesus his 5 edition of Life of the Virgin, Dürer was careful to include his print shop. It took close examination to notice these additions, but warning to potential thieves. they were there. They raised the question as to whether Raimondi The history of forgery is flled with similar anecdotes that are still intended his prints to be passed off as Dürer originals or if he merely relevant today. Arguments over brand-name authenticity, copyright intended them to be an homage to the original artist. and trademark are staples of contemporary intellectual property law. Had Dürer’s case been brought to court today, Columbia University Law Professor Jane Ginsburg notes that contemporary copyright law would see Raimondi’s work as an infringement because it substantially copied the original image. The inclusion of the ad monogram would be considered ‘passing off ’ copies as originals, thereby violating trademark law.3 That the origins of artistic copyright law date back to a legal brawl between one of history’s frst self-promoting celebrity artists and a renegade Venetian pornographic printmaker- turned-forger does not detract from its contemporary application.
WHY DOES FORGERY FASCINATE?
Any given forgery case brings together an intriguing amalgam of the desire for fame, money, revenge, power and the expression of genius. Art forgery explores and exploits the art trade, and involves remarkable talent, treachery, detection, forensic science and a measure of mysticism – for the art world still relies, to a great extent, Albrecht Dürer, Christ Among the Doctors in the Marcantonio Raimondi, after Dürer, Christ on the word of individual experts, connoisseurs whose personal Temple, plate 5 in Life of the Virgin, 503 , Among the Doctors in the Temple, c. 506 , woodcut print, 29.3 × 20.4 cm ( ½ × 8 in) woodcut print, 29.3 × 20.4 cm ( ½ × 8 in) opinion can change an artwork’s value by millions. The undeniable technical skill of many forgers likewise impresses the public, as does But Dürer had had quite enough of forgers profting from his work the ingenuity of the confdence tricks that make forgeries of varying and brought a lawsuit in Venice against Raimondi and the Dal Jesus quality convincing. family. It was the frst-known case of art-specifc intellectual property This book will examine the adventures and misadventures law brought to trial, but the suit proved only partially successful. The of master forgers throughout history and consider the many different Venetian authorities declared that the prints were not exact copies motivations that drove them, allowing a glimpse into both their but merely excellent imitations. They ruled that Raimondi should minds and their methods. We will examine how and why these artful not be blamed for being as skilled an artist as Dürer and that Dürer tricksters – often ingenious, skilful, quirky and charming – succeeded should be fattered that his work was considered important enough in deceiving the art world and how they were eventually caught, to copy. Raimondi was required to remove Dürer’s signature from the through shrewd detective work, scientifc examination or a good plates and the Dal Jesus family was forced to sell Raimondi’s versions measure of luck. These prominent historical and contemporary true- as explicit copies, not as Dürer originals. crime stories are fascinating, illuminating and often bizarre.
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01122014_Art of Forgery-AW.indd 12 02/12/2014 09:24 01122014_Art of Forgery-AW.indd 13 02/12/2014 09:24 INSIDE THE FORGER’S MIND acknowledgement for their success. When art forgers are found out, many are greeted as heroes of a sort and go on to lucrative careers post-conviction. The reasons for this remarkably regular Art thieves tend to be mercenary, have no specialized knowledge, phenomenon are complex. The wider public often considers art skills or interest in art, rarely steal art on more than one occasion and forgers to be rather loveable Robin Hood-types. The popular do not ft any consistent psychological profle. In contrast, in the world interest in art crime in general, and forgery in particular, results in of forgery, there are consistent generalizations that can be widely an audience for forgers willing to expose themselves to the public eye applied to the character and motivations of forgers. In addition, unlike upon leaving prison. art theft and antiquities looting, art forgery generally does not involve The ffth chapter, Crime, examines cases in which a forgery organized crime. It damages reputations but rarely wreaks the sort was used as a tool to commit a different crime, such as theft, as well of widespread, frightening harm of other types of art crime, with as some of the rare cases of forgers linked to organized crime. its links to mafa activity and even terrorism.4 In forgery schemes, Chapter six looks at confdence tricks and con men who lead original works are not destroyed or damaged, as in acts of iconoclasm, amateur artists into careers as criminals, showing how a talented artist antiquities looting or theft. may be manipulated by a con man into an art forgery scheme. These We might assume that money is the primary motivation for art partnerships tend to be between two people, the criminal mastermind forgery, but we see again and again that this is rarely true – although and con man behind the fraud and a technically skilled copyist. proft might be a welcome bonus. Forgers are complex psychological The seventh chapter, Money, explores the few cases in which characters, driven by many different impulses to a life of crime. We fnancial greed was a forger’s primary motivation. will examine the complexity of these motivations by addressing Lastly, while deception in the art world is the primary focus of this the primary impetuses of select master forgers, one in each chapter. book, the chapter on Power considers the broader sphere of cultural There is a decided lack of female forgers in this book; there are female forgery and investigates how forgers have sought to establish their accomplices and con men, but I know of no notable female forgers power and infuence by rewriting history – from politics to scientifc in the history of forgery. discoveries, and from religious relics to literature. Along the way, we will peer into the forger’s mind, motivation The frst chapter, Genius, will consider the legacy of the tradition and methods. We will learn the tricks of their trade, how they fooled of artists learning their skill by legitimate forms of copying their the art world, what ultimately led to their capture, and how the art masters. This is linked to the overarching search for the expression of world is, in many ways, complicit, stepping eagerly into the traps that genius – wanting to show the world one’s technical skill and creativity, clever criminals lay. Welcome to the world of forgery and remember and demonstrate the ability of a pupil to match, or surpass, his master. your Petronius: Mundus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur. ‘The world wishes The next chapter, Pride, explores how a collector, connoisseur or to be deceived, so let it be deceived.’ dealer’s sense of pride might cause them to wilfully misattribute a work in order save face (or fnance). In Revenge, we consider the true cliché that many art forgers COPY OR CRIME? are artists whose original works were dismissed, prompting them to concoct a passive–aggressive method of vengeance against the art Art has been copied, misattributed and forged since before biblical world that spurned them, proving their ability and superiority while times. Indeed, the authenticity of artworks was already a concern in at the same time demonstrating how easily the so-called art experts ancient Rome, where Greek vases and sculptures were prized above can be fooled. Roman copies of them. In the Middle Ages, a lively trade in fake Fame follows. Having proven their superiority over the art world, religious relics fourished along pilgrimage trails. The history of art many forgers are not satisfed with private glory and seek public forgery is as old as the art trade.
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01122014_Art of Forgery-AW.indd 14 02/12/2014 09:24 01122014_Art of Forgery-AW.indd 15 02/12/2014 09:24 Although the terms ‘fakes’ and ‘forgeries’ are often used inter- There is an illusionism to art – and to its authenticity. Sometimes the changeably to defne artworks that are passed off as a work of greater line between masterpiece and forgery is slender or even invisible. For value, they have distinct defnitions. In the simplest terms, a forgery a crime to be committed, someone or something must be victimized is an object made in a wholesale, fraudulent imitation of something or damaged, whether that is someone specifc – a buyer who was else, while a fake is an original object that has somehow been altered duped, for example – or a more abstract harm, such as to an artist’s or ‘doctored’ – a painting, for example, to which a spurious signature reputation. From a forensic perspective, based on police fles and has been added. However, for either fakes or forgeries to be tried in historical studies, forgery and deception may be broken down into court, a crime must be committed. If a forger is charged, it is usually four basic categories. with the crime of fraud. Beyond deliberate fraud, there are many noncriminal reasons why a work of art might be misattributed, sometimes to the beneft of the owner. Keep in mind that copying art has always been the way young artists learned their trade – copying or imitating another artist’s style is only a crime if someone tries to pass o ff the copy as an original. The Mona Lisa copy at the Museo del Prado is an example: recent forensic tests show that it has under-drawings that are similar to those beneath the original, showing that the layout of the copy was developed piecemeal – something that would not have been the case if the copy had been painted directly from the fnished original. This suggests that the copy was painted at the same time as, and in the presence of, the Leonardo original, and is therefore almost certainly the work of someone in Leonardo’s studio. Renaissance studios were populated by apprentices and assistants, and commissions were frequently fulflled largely by the studio, with the master designing and supervising the fnal product and often tackling the most difficult portions, such as hands and faces, while relegating backgrounds, still Leonardo da Vinci, Mona Lisa, 503 – 506 , Studio of Leonardo da Vinci, Mona lifes or architectural elements to his pupils. oil on poplar panel, × 53 cm Lisa, 503 – 9, oil on panel, 6.3 × 5 cm Similarly, there have been long-standing debates about how (30 ¼ × 2 in), Louvre, Paris (30 × 22 in), Museo del Prado, Madrid many works attributed to Rembrandt were actually touched by him, for many of his pupils painted works that are barely distinguishable The frst category is forgery: the wholesale creation of a fraudulent from his own. In the contemporary workshops of artists like Takashi work. This is the manufacture of a new work of art that professes to Murakami, Hirst or Koons, the artist designs and supervises the have been made by someone whose authorship would result in a greater process while studio assistants produce most of the work. The idea that sale value of the object. This method requires the most industry and an ‘authentic’ work of art should be made by a single artist, alone, skill in order to produce something that will fool expert analysis. is a relatively new one. As Thierry Lenain describes in Art Forgery: The second category is fakes: the alteration of, or addition The History of a Modern Obsession, it was only in the Romantic era to, an authentic work of art in order to suggest a different authorship that the concept took hold of the sole creator of a great work of art or subject matter that results in a greater sale value of the object. This as a solitary, often struggling artist, painting by fickering candlelight is somewhat simpler than forgery, but it does require the acquisition in a draughty garret. of something authentic in the frst place.
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01122014_Art of Forgery-AW.indd 16 02/12/2014 09:24 01122014_Art of Forgery-AW.indd 17 02/12/2014 09:24 Icilio Joni, in the style of Neroccio de’ Landi, Madonna and Child with Saints Mary Magdalene 095 2 4 43 28 Neroccio de’ Landi, Virgin and Child with Saints Jerome and Bernardine, 46, and Sebastian, date unknown, tempera on wood, gold ground, . × . cm ( × ½ i n ) , tempera on panel, 98 × 52 cm (38 ½ × 20 ½ in) Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
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01122014_Art of Forgery-AW.indd 46 02/12/2014 09:27 01122014_Art of Forgery-AW.indd 47 02/12/2014 09:27 All art historians dream of fnding a lost masterpiece. Art history can be like a treasure hunt for grown-ups, accompanied by ravenous hunger, adrenaline and expertise. Collective wishful thinking plagues and pleasures the art community. The spark of hope that one is on the trail of a lost artwork produces such a momentum that contradictory clues may be ignored and incongruous details overlooked. Sometimes, the success of forgeries depends not on the forger – who may not even be involved in the case – but on the wishful thinking of owners or discoverers whose enthusiasm leads to the misattribution of good copies of famous works or works in the style of famous artists. Pride plays a forceful role in driving such wilful misattributions, when collectors, academics or even institutions have a vested interest in the work being original – and therefore valuable. On the fip side, pride might also drive authentication boards and artists’ estates to discredit what is considered an authentic work for reputational reasons. This chapter examines a range of cases in which pride – on the part of owners, artists, dealers or experts – may have driven misattributions.
PRIDE —
01122014_Art of Forgery-AW.indd 60 02/12/2014 09:27 01122014_Art of Forgery-AW.indd 61 02/12/2014 09:27 turned the tiny painting from a copy after Raphael, worth in the mid- THE HUNT FOR OVERLOOKED TREASURES six fgures, into an original Raphael worth eight fgures. Identifying a lost original does not only satisfy pride – it can The promise of discovering a long lost masterpiece tempts the ego of be immensely lucrative. Works such as the mysterious Salvator Mundi, many a collector or connoisseur – and it does happen. Works of art that authenticated as being by Leonardo da Vinci in 200, rise dramati- have been dismissed as inferior have been found, through the sharp eye cally in value, perhaps by as much as a million percent. In 958 Salvator of connoisseurs and subsequent scientifc testing, to be authentic and of Mundi was thought to be a school of Leonardo painting, meaning that enormous value. A Caravaggio expert, Sergio Benedetti, once spotted the artist was probably one of Leonardo’s pupils, perhaps Boltraffio. a grimy painting hanging in a shadowy corner of a Jesuit seminary It sold for $25. This was around the time that Caravaggios could in Dublin. It turned out to be a lost Caravaggio, The Taking of Christ, be picked up for a similarly negligible amount, and was probably the which is now the star of the National Gallery in Dublin. In the same last period in which major artists could be considered ‘hidden’ talents. way, Raphael’s Madonna of the Pinks, purchased by the British nation In the digital age, the worldwide availability of information makes for £22 million and on display at the National Gallery in London, was it highly unlikely that such bargains will be had in the future. Now, long thought to be only a copy after Raphael’s lost original. In 99 an with the cult of Leonardo in full bloom and no works by the master investigation of provenance and scientifc tests proved its authenticity. on the market, the same painting would sell for over $00 million.2 An infrared refectogram, which allows scientists to peek beneath All that has changed is the perception of who created it. the surface of the paint, showed underdrawing beneath the fnished While Salvator Mundi has been universally acclaimed as a Leonardo, painting. This initial drawing revealed an evolution of the positioning another work, discovered at the same time and likewise supported of the fgure of the Madonna as Raphael’s composition developed. by compelling evidence, has not been accepted as authentic – at least A copy would not have an underdrawing, as it would simply repro- not by everyone. duce what could be seen in the fnal, original painting. The discovery In 200 both Salvator Mundi and another painting, called La Bella Principessa, were authenticated by Dr Martin Kemp of Oxford University as lost Leonardos. Salvator Mundi was displayed at the National Gallery of London’s sold-out 20 exhibition, ‘Leonardo: Painter at the Court of Milan’. Salvator Mundi not only looked like a Leonardo, but it had a compelling provenance: it had last been seen in the royal collection of King Charles I of England, but had disap- peared from view for centuries. But La Bella Principessa, a painting on vellum that was once part of a bound book, still divides scholars. Kemp champions La Bella Principessa as a great lost Leonardo. One of his books details his argument, including the fact that he located the very book from which the vellum page seems to have been removed.3 Kemp believes the painting to be a portrait of Bianca Sforza, painted circa 495, and that it was cut from a book known as the Sforziad, a volume of wedding poetry, which is currently part of the collection of the National Library of Warsaw. But other Leonardo experts feel that La Bella Principessa is not by 988 506 50 Leonardo. It was sold at Christie’s in as a nineteenth-century Raphael, Madonna of the Pinks, c. – , An infrared refectogram image of Madonna 200 oil on yew, 2.9 × 22.4 cm ( × 8 ⅞ in) of the Pinks reveals the metalpoint German painting in the style of Leonardo, and was sold again in as National Gallery, London underdrawings a por trait that was ‘ based on a number of paintings by Leonardo da Vinci
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01122014_Art of Forgery-AW.indd 62 02/12/2014 09:27 01122014_Art of Forgery-AW.indd 63 02/12/2014 09:27 Attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, La Bella Principessa, dated 5 th century, chalk and ink on vellum, 33 × 22 cm (3 × 8 ⅝ in), private collection
Leonardo da Vinci, Salvator Mundi, c. 490– 59 , oil on walnut, 45.5 × 65.6 cm (8 × 25 ⅞ in), private collection
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01122014_Art of Forgery-AW.indd 64 02/12/2014 09:27 01122014_Art of Forgery-AW.indd 65 02/12/2014 09:27 Raphael, Mercury Offering the Cup of Immortality to Psyche, 1517/1, red chalk and metalpoint, 26.9 × 22.7 cm (10 ⅝ × 9 in), Staatliche Graphische Sammlung, Munich
Attributed to Raphael, Female Figure with a Tibia, dated c. 504 -509, pen and brown ink, 30.5 × 44.5 cm (2 × ½ in), J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles. Suspected to be a forgery by Eric Hebborn
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06012015_Art of Forgery-AW_v2.indd 84 07/01/2015 16:10 01122014_Art of Forgery-AW.indd 85 02/12/2014 09:28 Han van Meegeren, after Vermeer, The Supper at Emmaus, 93, oil on canvas, 8 × 30.5 cm (46 ½ × 5 ⅜ in), Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam
Johannes Vermeer, Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window, 65–659, oil on canvas, 83 × 64.5 cm (33 × 25 ½ in), Gemäldegalerie, Dresden
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01122014_Art of Forgery-AW.indd 96 02/12/2014 09:28 01122014_Art of Forgery-AW.indd 97 02/12/2014 09:29