Forgeries

Fakes are an incurable plague for the art market and though counter-measure techniques have been increasingly modernised since the second half of the 20^th Century forgers have probably some more good years ahead of them.

Historically, forgers did not wait long to make use of their talents especially as the art trade started as early as the 4^th century BC. During these times, Egypt and Greece were already exporting art objects and statues throughout the Mediterranean area. When Rome began to build up an empire most temples were already adorned with Greek statues and rich people then soon wished to also acquire some wonderful sculptures produced in Greece by the most skilled artists.

Greek statues were more and more in demand during the first Century BC and Roman merchants often experienced difficulties in supplying their customers. However, some of them found it more convenient to set up workshops in the city of Rome where they produced copies with the help of talented local artists. Such initiative enabled them to reduce import costs greatly and to avoid the risk of losing some of their treasured cargoes in sea accidents. Moreover, they contributed to promote a local industry which eventually freed itself from Greek influence.

There is however no need to say that many of these copies were eventually sold as genuine Greek works by some unscrupulous merchants who took advantage of the growing demand which lasted until at least 300 AD. Undoubtedly, many of these replicas were not meant to be sold as mere copies as long as the emergence of a specific Roman form of art was not in full gear.

It was during these times that most countries gradually came under the influence of the Catholic religion which rejected pagan rites and images and imposed its art standards instead. Everything was thus turned towards Christian symbols though some artists came to take some daring liberties during the construction of churches. Today, people visiting certain cathedrals are baffled when they come across some incredible statues and reliefs that have more to do with lust than religion. Nevertheless, Christianity became the main driving force regarding the works of artists of the Middle Ages. In addition, many among them were monks as the Church was the only art creating centre and these artists were above all dedicated to working in churches carving statues or producing wall paintings and prayer books miniatures.

Being monopolised by the Church, the art trade thus suffered a 1000-year freeze until the end of the 14^th Century when well-off families started to decorate their houses with statues and paintings. These however kept a strong religious meaning but many artists had started to develop their own personalities especially in Italy.

Already , during the 13^th Century, some of them had come to leave their names to posterity but as far as the art trade was concerned things only evolved 200 years later.

A major factor in the development of art was the unearthing in Italy of Roman statues at the end of the 14^th Century. Many artists were then subdued by these spectacular works of art which bore evidence of the existence of a previous highly-developed civilisation and they naturally came on to adapt their styles accordingly. This new awareness played a great part in the Renaissance movement process and drove many artists to some sort of general self-consciousness about their real abilities and talents. Consequently, they managed to free themselves further from the heavy tutelage of the Church put on them so far.

And the art trade came back to life as soon as artists like Mantegna, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael,

Michelangelo or Albrecht Dürer became famous throughout Europe. And naturally, forgeries appeared on the market.

One of the most famous forgers was Michelangelo himself who as a young student found amusing to make a copy of a Roman statuette showing Cupid asleep. He eventually sold it to a cardinal as a genuine antique piece but could not prevent himself from boasting about his trick. As a result on learning that he had been fooled the cardinal got infuriated and destroyed the statuette. One can easily imagine that such fake, as any Renaissance copy of a Roman or Greek work of art and albeit the fact that it was made by such a great artist, would today be worth a little fortune on the market.

Many copies of antique marble statues were made as early as 1500 as proved in a letter sent by the banker Jakob Fugger to his agent in Italy asking him to be cautious when buying sculptures for his Antiquarium in Munich. Albrecht Dürer was much copied during his lifetime and it is known that he often used to complain about those forgers who were going as far as to use his initials on bad copies. In one of his engravings relating to the life of the Virgin, the German master added the following inscription :

Sometimes artists had to please rival customers regarding one precise masterpiece and in order to avoid trouble they preferred to sell the original to one and its replica to the other. All the more, some princes ordered copies to ornate their different palaces. Most masters had pupils working in their studios and for a start they produced copies before reaching the status of assistant. In addition, during the 17^th Century, certain great painters such as Rubens, Van Dyck or Teniers went on to copy Renaissance masters just for sheer pleasure while several kings and nobles were content to obtain replicas of original works they did not manage to acquire from them. In addition, painting was often a family business which lasted over several generations between the 16^th and 18^th Centuries. Naturally such business generated copies within these families.

The Brueghel family, spearheaded by Pieter the Elder during the 16^th Century, was pobably the most famous and is surely the best example to set forth regarding copies. Brueghel's son, also named Pieter, went on to produce scores of replicas of his works while his other sons and next of kin made their names through genre or still-life paintings which often looked alike over more than 75 years.

There were thus countless tribes of artists (Pourbus, Francken, Heemskeerk, Teniers and so on) that flourished sometime during more than a hundred years as from 1560 especially in the Netherlands and Flanders.
Meanwhile, collecting became increasingly popular during the 17^th Century as kings like Philip II of Spain, Charles I of England and Louis XIV of France amassed hoards of works of art in their palaces. Otherwise, there were however not many dealers among whom some of them carried out other activities which had little to do with the art trade.

Art galleries were scarce until 1720 and it was from England that the trade reached a more interesting level during the 18^th Century when young lords took a habit of embarking on a grand tour of Italy and Greece during which they were visiting archaeological sites and bringing souvenirs back home.

Many French treasurepieces found their way to England over more than 10 years before Napoleonstopped the haemorrhage and greatly compensated for it by sending his armiesto plunder Italy of many of its main works of art in order to fill thenewly-created Louvre Museum. 

A NEW BREEDOF COLLECTORS

Museums were setup in several European countries throughout the last quarter of the 18^thand the first quarter of the 19^th Centuries and did much topromote the understanding of art. Kings, princes and nobles were no longerthe main collectors and were progressively replaced by those who had benefitedfrom the ongoing industrial revolution. Industrialists, merchants and bankerswere also prone to buy fine art pieces. The press also had a certain impacton collectors especially as Salons came under the close scrutiny of artcritics in the early years of the 19^th Century. Such attentiondid much for the reputation of many painters, notably Constable, Turner,Gericault, Delacroix or Ingres who were to have a deep influence over thenew schools of painting which emerged after 1870. 

So far, collectorshad not been too much troubled by the problem of fakes as the market wasstill small in comparison with that of today. However, it must be rememberedthat as soon as 1760 hundreds of copies made by the numerous followersof several 17^th Century masters had been circulating throughoutEurope as a result of a growing demand among upper and even middle classpeople. Such habit of copying was perpetuated almost throughout the 19^thCentury and it happened quite often that some superb copies were mistakenlyclassified as genuine. A painting like "The Studio" by Vermeer,who was unknown during the first part of the 19^th Century, bore 

for a long time theforged signature of Pieter de Hooch who was much sought by collectors around1850. Meanwhile, dozens of faked Frans Hals and Greco paintings had appearedon the market as early as the 18^th Century. 

With the rediscoveryof Medieval art and architecture, many artists and craftsmen went on toproduce Gothic styled furniture, tapestries and objects between 1820 and1860. Some of them tried to bring a touch as much realistic as possibleto their creations sometimes to such a point that specialists happenedto be fooled. 

The new breed ofart specialists whom we know now as experts started to be truly operationalonly after 1850. They were above all historians or museum curators whowrote books and studies about painting and other art forms. Most of themstrove to do their best in their respective fields but communication waspoor between them and they often made mistakes because they had not thetechnological means that the experts of today are supposed to use. 

As a result, thesespecialists were not fully prepared to carry out the huge tasks confrontingthem. There were already books and catalogues before 1900 but these werenot so well-documented while much pioneer work was being done in the fieldof art. 

At the same time,tourism in Italy became much popular and certain dealers there realisedthat they could make some easy money by selling fakes to many rich visitorswho could not tell the difference between a true 16^th Centurypainting and a copy. 

Art dealers becamemore active after 1870 and they too were considered as experts though thoseselling Impressionist paintings were not yet troubled with fakes sinceonly a few discerning people had banked on works by Manet, Monet, Sisley,Renoir, Pissarro or Degas. Other schools however were the target of forgers.Already in 1875, there were thousands of copies of Corot's paintings onthe market not to mention that Corot himself had put his signature on manyof those works that were submitted to him apparently because he felt honouredto be copied. One of Corot's imitators was Paul Désiré Trouillebertwho was himself a good Barbizon painter. 

With the triumphof the industrial revolution in Europe copies mushroomed everywhere andin all fields. There were pieces of furniture, Greek and Roman artefacts,medieval miniatures, glass, armours and bronze sculptures so well reproducedthat many experts were at a loss when asked to give an opinion about these. 
By the year 1875,there were thus numerous forgers throughout Europe but many among themplayed more or less a game to baffle specialists rather than seeking tomake a lucrative business just like Michelangelo did in fooling this stupidcardinal. Some of these forgers were certainly more than thrilled to misleadsome well-known collectors or museum officials, the most incredible storyin the last part of the 19^th Century being the purchase by theLouvre Museum of a Scythian gold tiara of circa 500 BC which had fact hadjust been made by a goldsmith full of genius named Rouchomovsky who livedin Odessa. When they were first told that they had been cheated the Louvreofficials found the story most amusing and when Rouchomovsky came to Paristo prove his claim, they first laughed at him. Some months later they werein complete disarray in the face of indisputable evidence while the presswent on to gloat much about the scandal. 

Nevertheless, themarket remained small until the First World War and copies were not yetconsidered as a major issue. One quite intricate problem already concernedbronze sculptures and notably recasts. Today, one needs an eagle's eyeto tell the difference between an animalier bronze sculpture made by Baryehimself during the 1840's and a replica made 50 years later which wouldbe worth twice as less. 

Barye himself wasa founder beside being a sculptor but he went bankrupt and his works werecast in another foundry before the Barbedienne firm acquired the artist'scopyrights just after his death. Similar problems regarding scores of othersculptors arose before 1914 while some liberties were taken with severalartists , notably Daumier and Degas, who had limited themselves to makingplaster or wax pieces. It seems important to stress that Daumier's andDegas' bronzes only appeared on the market during the 1920's while mostfounders did not bother to put a date on their casts. As a result, it isoften difficult to determine whether a Barbedienne, a Siot, a Susse orany other founder's cast of a bronze sculpture by Barye, Fremiet, Mèneor else was made in 1875 or 1920. 

Worse, when copyrightsfor these artist were no longer protected several French founders did nothesitate to make replicas during the early 1980's to the effect that pricesfor bronzes fell down. In Italy a few foundries in Florence have made aspeciality of producing fine antique copies sold as such but some peoplehave been suspected of having gone further in the process of transformingcertain copies so as to sell them as genuine. 

Modern bronzes havebeen cast in such quantities that it is hard to verify their exact production. Even some numbered series have been duplicated well above their seriallimitation , notably casts by Dali which were produced after his death.In addition, certain moulds regarding other artists were not destroyedas provided by the legislation notably in France when a number of foundries,especially Valsuani, went bankrupt. These moulds were ideally instrumentalin the production of new casts and the fraud was not easy to detect. Thishappened with bronze tables and fittings by Diego Giacometti which flowedonto the market at the end of the 1980's before the owner of the foundryresponsible for the forgeries was arrested. 

According to Frenchlaws, a bronze cast during the lifetime of an artist is considered as anoriginal work of art though it comes itself from a mould deriving froma plaster model. However, copyrights last 70 years after the death of anartist and his heirs have the right to produce new bronzes. One must notforget that founders like Susse, Barbedienne, Siot and others continuedfor years to reproduce the works of artists who were no longer under theprotection of copyrights. Strangely enough, an official institution likethe Rodin Museum has been issuing casts made less than a decade ago whereasthe artist disappeared in 1917. One should note that there is an enormousdifference between a Rodin bronze made before his death and a ten or twenty-yearold cast bearing the Museum's label . The problem is that there are notmany collectors who know that a Rodin cast by Rudier or Barbedienne 100years ago is worth the money paid for it while a Museum cast should beconsidered as a mere copy. Still, such practice has not been vigorouslycondemned yet. 

Ironically, the RodinMuseum has been named as plaintiff in a court case regarding the biggestfraud of the century. 

On January 17^th1997, Guy Hain, a well-known bronze dealer appeared before a court in Lure,central France, under the accusation of having produced thousands of fakedsculptures eventually sold as originals by Rodin, Renoir, Maillol, CamilleClaudel, Carpeaux, Barye, Fremiet, Mène and other sculptors. 

Guy Hain, who usedto run a shop in the plush Louvre des Antiquaires centrein Paris, found the making of forgeries probably more lucrative than hisbusiness when the art market became one of the main targets for speculatorsbetween 1987 and 1991. 

His main idea wasto approach the Rudier foundry which had been in charge of producing Rodin'sbronze at the turn of the century and convince Georges Rudier and eventuallyhis son Bernard, the grand-nephew of Eugène Rudier , the exclusivefounder of Rodin and lately of the Rodin Museum who had succeeded his fatherAlexis , to use original moulds to make recasts so well achieved that mostexperts would have been fooled. 

Banking on the nameand reputation of Rudier, Hain went on to trick auctioneers, dealers andexperts throughout the world by going as far as replacing Georges' signatureby that, more prestigious, of Alexis. Consequently, thousands of fakesappeared on the market and certain pieces were sold at record prices. 

Hain sold forgeriesfor an estimated total of 25 million dollars before a police inspectorfrom Dijon, Burgundy, who had just dismantled the trafficking of fake Giacomettibronzes, put a stop to his illegal business in January 1992. 

At least 20,000 kilosof bronze sculptures were seized in various foundries in Burgundy and outsideParis while two auctioneers in the town of Rambouillet were charged withcomplicity for having sold hundreds of forged pieces in several auctions. 

Most forgeries wereproduced with the help of original moulds from the Rudier foundry as wellas from plaster copies made as duplicates for the production of bronzecasts some 75 or 90 years ago. With such methods, it was hard, and sometimesimpossible, to detect these forgeries. 

The Georges Rudierstamp usually found on old casts was often erased and replaced with theAlexis Rudier signature while copies of different sizes were made regardingthe "Eternal Spring", "Balzac naked ", "The Kiss" , "The Bronze Age","The Thinking Man " and "Ratapoil" by Rodin as well as a maternityby Renoir, the "Causeuses" by Claudel and several other sculpturesby Barye or Mène. 

Between 1987 and1991, the Rambouillet auctioneers sold forgeries for almost three milliondollars notably sculptures bearing the signatures of Barye, Mène,Fratin and Rodin. An imposing bronze of "The Kiss" by thelatter was notably sold for 4,2 million francs (US $ 800,000 ) in Rambouilletwhile a big size of the "Bronze Age" fetched 3,5 millionfrancs (US $ 700,000) in Paris in 1989. 

Now the market haseven been more wrecked since hundreds of copies, notably French animalierbronzes and also works after the American artist Frederick Remington havebeen made at low costs and introduced onto the market from Taiwan or south-eastAsia since the early 90's. 

Regarding marblesculptures, many fakes were detected during the middle of the 19^thCentury, notably Renaissance statues which in fact had been made by GiovanniBastianini (1830-1868) who created some superb pieces which were eventuallybought as genuine by the Louvre and the Victoria and Albert museums. Specialistsnever suspected the trick which was in fact revealed by a jealous dealer. 

LOADS OF FORGEDPAINTINGS

Back to paintings,the market underwent after World War One a complete facelift as soon asImpressionist works became popular. Moreover modern art, through Cubism,made its revolution and new customers appeared on the scene. 

Several artists suchas Van Gogh, Gauguin, Manet, Sisley, Cézanne and Renoir reachedfame after their deaths and were therefore much copied. 

However, it was inthe wrath of World War Two that forgers became extensively busy. As soonas the Germans invaded a large part of Europe, Nazi leaders enacted a planto plunder several collections belonging to their political opponents andJewish families. All the more , they claimed all works of art which wereallegedly part of the German patrimony. One of the main Nazi leaders involvedin the plunders was Marshall Goering who formed collection of old masters'paintings. 

Goering was interestedin masterpieces and was told one day that he could have some remarkablepaintings by Vermeer in Holland. The Nazi leader went on to buy one ofthem, Mary-Magdalene washing the feet of Christ, from a certain Hans VanMeegeren. In the 1930's, several experts, including Bredius, the best specialistfor Vermeer's works, had said they had no doubts about the authenticityof this work and others including the "Pilgrims" which wasto be bought by the Boymans museum of Rotterdam. 

At the end of thewar, Van Meegeren was arrested on charges of having been involved in collaborationistactivities with the Germans. While in prison, Van Meegeren baffled allspecialists on confessing that he had in fact forged pictures certifiedas by Vermeer sold to Goering and the Boymans museum as well as to othercollectors. 

Suffering from beingconsidered as an obscure artist, the forger told investigators that foolingexperts had been for him some kind of sweet revenge. He added that it hadbeen quite exciting to ridicule art critics who had scorned his own works. 

Strangely enoughthe war did not affect the art market much especially in occupied Pariswhere trade blossomed despite economic restrictions. With the return ofpeace, the French capital became the main art trade centre while the UnitedStates was just seeing the emergence of its modern school of painters. 

Picasso, Braque,Matisse, Miro, Dali were at their heights and scores of books and catalogueswere being published as part of a recognition of their works. From thenon, the market was in constant development. In the late sixties forgersbecame busier than ever, notably David Stein and Real Lessart. The formerbeing specialised in fake Chagall, Picasso, Dufy and post - impressionistpaintings, the latter working for an agent called Fernand Legros who wasselling his production with forged certificates. A former ballet dancer,Legros fooled a few rich American magnates, including Arthur Meadows, theowner of the General American Oil Co. in Texas. 

Legros once useda subtle stratagem on entering American territory. When asked by U.S customswhat was in his luggage, Legros used to explain that the paintings he wasbringing were merely copies. Eager to verify, U.S customs officials wouldcall upon art experts to determine whether Legros was not trying to cheatthem and driven by such suspicion , these specialists concluded that thesepaintings were in fact genuine. Unmoved by the fine mposed on him Legroswould then further impress his customers by showing them the U.S customsdocuments proving the authenticity of the works he was selling . 

David Stein, whohad managed one day to have a forged Picasso authenticated by the masterhimself, was arrested after Marc Chagall fell upon a forged painting exhibitedin a New York Gallery. He later started a career as a painter after servinga prison term. 

Legros, who had RealLessart and an Hungarian named Elmyr de Hory working for him, was arraigneda few years later and jailed for a while. He who lived like a prince endedhis life in misery and died from a throat cancer. 

Elmyr de Hory, wholived on the island of Ibiza, made hundreds of forgeries including workssigned Van Dongen. The Dutch artist , apparently in need of money at theend of his lif, endorsed more than once the paternity of such fakes whichwere sold by Legros. 

In the 1960's certainartists repudiated some of their own works probably because they felt somedissatisfaction about their quality or about the low prices at which thesewere sold. This was notably the case with the Italian master Giorgio deChirico who was charged in 1969 for having seized some of his sculpturesas forgeries whereas he had signed a legal contract for their production.Another master, Maurice de Vlaminck refused to authenticate some of hisown works simply because he did not like them anymore. He also was chargedand received a fine for having rejected a painting which was in fact genuine.

In England, manyexperts were destabilised by the Keating scandal in the 1970's. Tom Keatinghad made a speciality of producing forged water-colours by Samuel Palmeror oil paintings by Flemish, Dutch , English and French old masters. 

Keating , who camefrom a poor family, failed to reach fame and therefore wanted to avengehimself by producing forgeries of all sorts, oil paintings and drawingswhich were to be certified as genuine works by Gainsborough, Degas, Boucher,Fragonard, Renoir, Modigliani and Van Dongen notably.
The poet Jean Cocteau,who was the friend of many famous artists, produced hundreds of drawingsduring his lifetime. These drawings being so easy to copy, there have beenmore forgeries than originals on the market during the past ten years. 

Other forgeries havebeen produced regarding Van Gogh, Boudin, Stanislas Lépine, Vuillard,Matisse, Fernand Léger, Georges Braque, Maurice Utrillo, GeorgesRouault, Jean-Michel Atlan, Michel Basquiat, Franz Kline, Marie Laurencin,André Lhote, Serge Poliakoff, de Staël, Karel Appel, GiorgioMorandi, Chaïm Soutine, Modigliani, Pignon, Signac,
Bernard Buffet,Malevich, Tatlin and scores of well-known artists in France, Italy, Britain,the U.S or Russia notably.