The Fine Line Between Genius and Fraud in Art Forgery

The line between genius and fraud in art forgery can be very fine. This introduction to the art of forgery will look at where that line is and how it is frequently blurred.
Reading Time: 20 minutes

TL;DR

  • Uncover captivating stories of art forgery that blur the lines between genius and fraud, leaving experts stunned. Explore this intriguing world of deception and authenticity.
  • Delve into the intricate techniques employed by art forgers to replicate masterpieces flawlessly, challenging even the most discerning eyes. Enhance your appreciation for art through a deeper understanding of the craftsmanship involved.
  • Discover how the blurred boundaries between genius and fraud in the art world can inspire a new perspective on creativity and authenticity. Embark on a transformative journey of personal growth and fresh insights.

Introduction: The Art of Forgery

The creation of works of art that are falsely attributed to someone who did not create them is known as art forgery, which is a form of fraud. Forgers of art can be motivated by a variety of factors.

Throughout history, there have been many notorious art forgers. Some forgeries are obvious, while others are extremely difficult to spot, as we will discover.

The Motives Behind Art Forgery – Why Do People Do It?

The psychology of art forgery is a fascinating topic. It is a line between genius and fraud. How does one become a successful art forger? What are the motivations behind art forgery?

Art forgery is when an artist falsely claims copyright to a work of art in order to sell it as a genuine original. Things they might do include creating their own work of art or copying the style of other well-known artists. Some motives for art forgery include fraudulent financial gain, career advancement, and the desire to sabotage the art market.

Ellen Winner, a psychologist and professor emerita at Boston College who specialises in the psychology of art, has carried out scientific study this area. Winner has examined how we reason about philosophical questions about the arts, such as why we dislike perfect fakes.

“Why should we be concerned if a work of art is a forgery? If it looks great, why should we care?

Is it because we believe we can spot flaws in the forgery that are not as skilled or beautiful as the original? Maybe we convince ourselves that if we were to put them side by side, we will be able to detect the differences.

Is it because we know that a forgery is not worth much on the art market?

Is it because a forgery is deceptive in intent, and thus has an unethical taint?

Or is it because the original is more connected to the artist than the forgery is, and we like feeling a connection to a great artist? “

I am no psychologist, but I enjoy thinking about all of these things. Nonetheless, lets consider three major reasons why someone might create a forgery:

Art Forgery: Monetary Gain

Usually, the main motivation for fraudulence is financial gain. Fraudulent behaviour will happen when there is a demand for something that people have an issue with providing, so prices go up and perpetrators have the opportunity to make a lot of money.

Collectors sometimes ask for a specific piece so dealers encourage artists to create forgeries that are engineered to satisfy what collectors want.

This is not a new trend. In the 1st and 2nd centuries AD, artisans in Rome created copies of Greek sculptures to satisfy the demand for these highly admired pieces of art that had been produced over the preceding five hundred years.

Art Forgery: To Gain Recognition

The history of the arts contains examples of people who used forgery to gain recognition for their own craftsmanship or to amuse themselves by deceiving critics who had rejected their genuine work.

In-depth research to the level of an art historian is one technique used by forgers. This necessitates consulting the chosen artist’s catalogue raisonné. A catalogue raisonné is a complete and illustrated list of all known artworks by an artist. This can be achieved with written descriptions to enable third parties identify them properly.

A forger can find opportunities in the work of well-known artists by looking for paintings that the artists did not create but could have made. In addition, the forger can look for paintings that were once known to exist but have since vanished and for which no surviving images exist.

This is illustrated by a legend about Michelangelo. He carved a small sleeping Cupid in marble at the age of 21, based on ancient Roman works he admired.

The Sleeping Cupid was deceitfully sold as an antique in 1496 to Cardinal Riario, a well-known collector of fine arts, particularly sculpture, who prized it highly.

When the Cardinal discovered the fraud, he was so impressed by the quality of the sculpture that he invited the artist to Rome, as the work could rival the work of the most revered ancient sculptors. Michelangelo would then proceed to work on his three most important commissions.

Art Forgery: To Exalt or Malign

It has sometimes been found that forged documents have been produced by individuals to exalt (think or speak very highly of or to elevate to a higher position) or malign (say something negative) about someone or something. 

Sometimes hoaxes are created by misrepresenting religion, political parties, or races. Hoaxes are aimed at confusing or ridiculing the experts; others are aimed at parodying or ridiculing an artist or genre.

A counterfeit can be created using a variety of techniques. An exact replica, a composite of pieces, and a work done in the manner of an artist or time with false credit are examples. These strategies can also be found in writing and music, in addition to the visual arts.

An art forgery is a work of literature, painting, sculpture, or object d’art that claims to be the work of someone other than its genuine creator. Art forgeries can range from misrepresenting an authentic work of art to blatantly ripping off an artist’s style or work.

The Ethics & Legalities of Art Forgery

The majority of people would agree that art forgery is not a victimless crime. Exploring the ethical and legal implications of this often-overlooked form of fraud can lead to murky world.

This article seeks to explore some of the art forgery related ethical issues and offers guidance to those who are creating, buying, selling, or defending against art forgeries.

What are Ethics?

Many people think of ethics as a system of moral philosophy and principles. However, ethics is also the study of right and wrong behaviour. In other words, it is the study of morality and the moral principles that govern a person’s behaviour or the conducting of an activity.

The field of ethics is divided into three broad areas: meta-ethics, normative ethics, and applied ethics. The term is also applied to any system or theory of moral values or principles; such as, Integrity, Objectivity, Professional Competence and Due Care, Confidentiality, and Professional behaviour.

What are the Legalities?

When it comes to art, there are a lot of different interpretations of what is legal and what is not. Forgery is one of those areas where the obligations imposed by law can become a bit blurry. The question can be posed, is the forger a genius or an out and out criminal fraud?

The Victims of Art Forgery

Art forgers create works in the style of well-known artists, and often sell them as genuine works by those artists. Many forgeries are never detected, but some are eventually exposed. The victims of art forgery can affect a wide audience, for example:

  • the collectors who buy the works;
  • the reputation of the art historian or forensic experts;
  • the seller who unknowing get caught up in the fraud;
  • the museums that display them – knowingly or unknowingly;
  • the public that views them;
  • the artists whose reputations are harmed by the forgeries.

Misattributions can result from honest errors in scholarship or research. For example, you may want to explore the possibility that the work was done by a craftsman in his studio, by a pupil learning from the master, or even by a later follower of that painter. It is also possible that it was fraudulent. Furthermore, many female artists’ works were often wrongly attributed to men in the past.

The ‘Kings’ of Art Forgeries

Throughout history, there have been a number of well-known art forgers, each with their own motives. I use the word ‘Kings’ lightly, but let us take a look at some well-known art forgers and see if you can tell the real piece from the fake.

Thomas Patrick Keating

Keating (1 March 1917 – 12 February 1984) was an English art restorer and famous art forger who claimed to have faked more than 2,000 paintings by over 100 different artists. His forgeries are estimated to be worth more than ten million dollars in today’s money.

Keating, like many of the other artists on this list, saw the art gallery system as corrupt. According to him, the market was dominated by American “avant-garde fashion, with critics and dealers often conniving to line their own pockets at the expense both of naïve collectors and impoverished artists”.

In an attempt to destabilise the system, Keating retaliated by creating forgeries to deceive the experts. He justified his actions by invoking his socialist philosophy.

Embedded in his paintings were clues and ‘hidden time’ bombs that can be examined by fellow conservators and restorers to prove the paintings are fraudulent. A painter might, for instance, write text onto a canvas with lead white before beginning a painting, knowing that x-rays would later reveal the text. Flaws and anachronisms, including materials characteristic of the 20th century, were purposefully incorporated. This approach happens to be similar to that used by modern copyists of old artworks so as to avoid accusations of fraud.

While discussing the famous artists he forged in his book, The Fake’s Progress, Keating stated that: “I found it disgraceful to see how many of them died in poverty“. As a result of his shared poverty with these artists, he viewed himself as qualified for the position.

Since his death, Keating’s reputation as an artist has grown, and his once-worthless forgeries are now fetching high sums. In a clever twist of fate, this has fueled a booming counterfeit Keatings industry, of which he would have found the irony amusing.

Max ‘The Forger’ Brandrett

Brandrett honed his artistic abilities after fleeing his Barnardo’s children’s home at the age of 15 to join the circus. He discovered his passion for art while grooming elephants and painting trucks for two years.

Brandrett was tempted to try his hand at copying the great masters after a chance meeting with the famous forger Tom Keatings.

When word of his abilities spread on the black market, the Kray twins asked for a portrait of their mother, which they fortunately adored. Brandrett, on the other hand, paid the price with three prison sentences and vowed never to do it again, despite the fact that his most profitable piece fetched over £12,000 back in the 1980s.

Even today, many people have no idea what is on their walls! He prefers to work on detailed recreations that put his skills to the test, such as battle scenes, ships, and animals, content that his abilities are now recognized. Brandrett still makes copies of famous works, but this time it is legal because he changes one tiny detail in each image.

David Henty

Henty is regarded as one of the world’s best copyist artists today. His work is painstakingly and lovingly recreated down to the smallest detail. Over the course of 25 years, he has honed his craft to master the techniques and nuances of some of history’s most iconic artists.

Henty’s career as an artist began, predictably, with a brief stint in prison for forgery in the mid-1990s.

His work has deceived scientists and art critics alike, being virtually indistinguishable from originals of such artworks by famous past masters and twentieth-century artists.

A-Northern-Race-Meeting-L.S.-Lowry A-Northern-Race-Meeting-After-L.S.Lowry-D.-Henty

A Northern Race Meeting L.S. Lowry or Original David Henty after L.S. Lowry?

William ‘Billy the Brush’ Mumford

Mumford rose to prominence in the 1990s by imitating the works of L.S Lowry, Vincent Van Gogh, and Pablo Picasso, among others, and passing them off as originals. After putting more than £6 million in fake works through some of the art world’s most prestigious auction houses, he was eventually sentenced to two years in prison.

Mr Mumford now legitimately recreates these pieces under his own name, complete with a certificate of authenticity.

I recommend checking out Sydney Lima’s Vice Special interview with these interesting characters.

Helene & Wolfgang Beltracchi

Wolfgang Beltracchi (born 4 February 1951) is a German artist and convicted art forger who is widely regarded as one of the world’s most talented painters.

The Beltracchis acknowledged to impersonating various world-famous painters and creating hundreds of works by notable artists such as Heinrich Campendonk, Fernand Léger, and Max Ernst.

Beltracchi created and painted new works, continuing their narrations and lives, and signed them off with a counterfeit signature. Helene Beltracchi, his wife, then sneaked them onto the art market. For more than 40 years, the Beltracchis had been tricking collectors and specialists, outwitting the most influential actors in the global art world.

In the face of insatiable market demand, several auctioneers dismissed many questions, selling the paintings as real works by the supposed creators. It was not until Beltracchi’s use of a contemporary white pigment that the hoax was uncovered.

Jeannette Fischer, a Zurich-based psychotherapist, has authored a book titled, Psychoanalyst Meets Helene and Wolfgang Beltracchi, which details extensive discussions with the painter and his wife. More about the Beltracchis may be found in this Guardian article.

Shaun Greenhalgh

Shaun Greenhalgh, a British artist and former art forger, was born in 1961. Between 1989 and 2006, he produced a large number of forgeries over a seventeen-year period.
He successfully sold his fakes internationally to museums, auction houses, and private buyers, netting nearly £1 million.

Scotland Yard regarded the family as “possibly the most diverse forgery team in the world, ever,” thanks to his brother and elderly parents, who handled the sales side of the operation.

Han van Meegeren

Henry Antonius “Han” van Meegeren, a Dutch painter and portraitist, was widely regarded as one of the most skillful art forgers of the 20th century.

He turned to counterfeiting after becoming dissatisfied with his own creative career and the demands of an extravagant lifestyle.

In the 1860s, art historians rediscovered the 17th century Dutch master Johannes Vermeer. Van Meegeren was able to fill a gap in Vermeer’s output by constructing an early religious era, a period of work that was almost devoid of scholarship, and rendered plausible by the artist’s tiny body of work.

Van Meegeren, on the other hand, became a national hero after WWII. This came when it was found that during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, he had sold a counterfeit artwork to Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring.

“If my work hangs in a museum long enough, it becomes real.”

Elmyr de Hory

Elmyr de Hory

Elmyr de Hory’s life was like a work of art in itself. Every aspect of it was an epic gesture of deception. He immigrated to America after WWII, portraying himself as an aristocrat selling off his possessions to make ends meet.

Elmyr de Hory’s life was like a work of art in itself. Every aspect of it was an epic gesture of deception. He immigrated to America after WWII, portraying himself as an aristocrat selling off his possessions to make ends meet.

De Hory was both enigmatic and charming as he befriended the rich and famous. De Hory was a frustrated artist struggling to maintain a standard of living he desired but could not afford.

His post-impressionist painting style appeared dated in comparison to newer styles such as abstract expressionism. Following several failed attempts to launch his own art career, de Hory focused on his skill as a forger.

De Hory’s skill of deception did not always provide protection from betrayal. One notable example was with his nine-year partnership with Fernand Legros, who sold a large number of de Hory’s forgeries around the world. Legros sold over 40 of de Hory’s fake masterpieces to millionaire Algur Meadows in 1967, ending their lucrative and prolific collaboration.

The ensuing scandal revealed de Hory as the artist behind the works after the fraud was discovered. With Legros’ help, de Hory most likely inserted more than 1,000 forged paintings into the art market during his 30-year spectacular art forgery career. Many of these works have never been seen and are now housed in museums and private collections.

Eric Hebborn

Eric Hebborn (March 20, 1934 – January 11, 1996) was an English painter, draughtsman, art restorer, forger, and author. Hebborn attended the prestigious Royal Academy of Arts in London and received the Rome Prize, which recognises innovative and cross-disciplinary work in the arts and humanities.

These achievements could have launched an illustrious artistic and academic career. Instead, after the mid-twentieth-century art market dismissed his exquisite drawing skills, Hebborn became deeply critical of modernism’s dominant style and despised art dealers and experts.

Hebborn, like other forgers, discovered that his talents were better suited to creating works from bygone eras, in his case the Renaissance and Baroque periods.

Hebborn drew moral distinctions between creating, improving, and restoring art. His experience as a painting restorer taught him not only how to repair, but also how to enhance and forge works of art. When he realised how easily experts could be duped, his contempt for them grew.

Finally, he decided that it was ethical to sell his forgeries to experts and dealers who should be able to tell the difference between the real and the fake. He never sold his forgeries to amateur collectors as a stipulation of his own moral code.

John Myatt

John Myatt’s story exemplifies how one wrong step—and one wrong partner—can transform a struggling artist into a criminal art forger. Myatt’s artistic career began with promise. He received a scholarship to open his own art studio and supported himself for several years by selling and teaching art. His traditional, pastoral style, however, did not arouse the public’s interest enough to earn a living. He devised a plan to sell “genuine fakes” through a local newspaper advertisement in order to provide for his children.

Myatt’s idea was not illegal in its original form because Myatt had no intention of deceiving. He did not sell his copies of recognisable masterpieces as original works. He crossed the line from legal copies of original art to illegal art fraud when he teamed up with professional con man John Drewe. One of the most damaging art hoaxes of the twentieth century was perpetrated by the Myatt-Drew partnership.

Myatt forged over 200 modernist paintings, approximately 120 of which are still on the market, and Drewe most likely tainted the art historical record for future generations by falsifying provenance documentation. Collectors and curators rely on provenance, or ownership history, to prove the authenticity of an artwork.

“I gave a picture to a museum in the memory of my father which I hoped would please Mother. Everyone was so nice that I was soon to get into the habit of donating pictures to museums. Being treated so nicely by people was something I was unfamiliar with and I liked it very much.”

Mark Landis 2013

Mark Augustus Landis

Mark Landis may be the most well-known art forger who was never technically involved in a crime for which he was found guilty. He does not fit the stereotype of a charlatan out for money or an enraged artist out to punish a world that did not appreciate him.

Landis, on the other hand, has approached museums and galleries across North America for the past thirty years, declaring to be a wealthy philanthropist with a collection he wishes to donate in memory of his parents, who died. He has gone to unusual lengths to keep this fantasy alive in order to give away his forgeries, including falsifying documents, using aliases, and dressing up in costume.

Landis was diagnosed with schizophrenia when he was seventeen, but caseworkers believe bipolar disorder is a more appropriate diagnosis. His actions appear to be motivated by a desire for artistic expression and the validation he receives as a result of his mental illness.

Landis also creates custom commissions, and he donates a portion of his earnings to mental illness awareness, in honour of the many other people who face similar life challenges as he does.

Art Forgery Forensics

The premier art world circuit is a multibillion-dollar industry with numerous authentication services available to investigate artwork provenance.

It has been reported that some experts in the authentication of artwork discovered that between 70% and 90% percent of the artwork examined was a forgery. Not only that, but it is estimated that up to 50% of all artworks sold at auction are forgeries.

Have you ever wondered how art galleries, collectors, and museums determine whether or not a painting is a forgery? You will be amazed at the techniques used by an art forger to fake a buyer!

However, the worlds of art and archaeology have adapted nuclear physics laboratory techniques to determine where and when an artwork or artifact was created or originated from.

To identify forgeries, forensic art scientists will employ techniques ranging from x-ray fluorescence to electron microscopy.

Another method employs particle-induced X-ray emission (PIXE), which is a technique used to determine the elemental composition of a material or sample, such as the composition of paint pigments used in forgeries.

Tree-ring dating can sometimes identify a simple mistake such as using a frame from the same tree that provided wood for the frames of four paintings allegedly by different artists.

Bendor Grosvenor

Bendor Gerard Robert Grosvenor (born 27 November 1977) is a British art historian, writer and former art dealer. He is known for discovering a number of important lost artworks by Old Master artists, including Sir Peter Paul Rubens, Claude Lorrain and Peter Brueghel the Younger. As a dealer he specialised in Old Masters, with a particular interest in Anthony van Dyck.

How to Spot an Art Forgery: The Tell-tale Signs of a Fake

Art forgers are people who create fake paintings and sell them as originals. They can be very difficult to spot, but there are some ways to tell if a painting is real or not.

The first thing you should do is check for the provenance, the place of origin or earliest known history of the artwork. Look at the painting’s signature and check with an expert, if it doesn’t have one, it might be a fake.

The first thing to do is to look at the painting’s surface. Depending on the age of the artwork, if it has a very glossy finish without any aged imperfections, this should be a cause for concern.

Typically, the paint is often applied in layers and not all at once. Look at the brushstrokes in the painting and check for any signs of restoration or retouching on the painting’s surface.

The brushstrokes should also have some texture and variation in them. If they don’t seem natural or if they’re too uniform or perfect, these should heighten your suspicions.

Finally, look at the frame of the painting and the substrate that the work is painted on, and see if it looks like it was made in that time period or not. Remember many art forgers will actually look for historical materials to use, from canvas to frames all to trick you.

More experienced forgers prefer to use existing canvases from the period in which the work they are attempting to create would have originated. In contrast to artificial aggravated ageing methods, such as increased heat, humidity, oxygen, sunlight, and vibration, which are much easier to detect.

Other Unusual Forgeries

Famous artists would never think of making their work look like the work of other artists. They work hard to develop a unique style that made them instantly recognizable, and fortunately successful. This led to sales of millions of dollars. Many others make similar mistakes when it comes to art forgery techniques.

For example, famous artwork had signature traits (hence its originality), these traits could also be used by an impostor as proof that they were genuine. An often-repeated tell-tale sign is the variation in interpretation from one observer to another.

Wine Forgery

There have been literally ‘cases’ of wine forgery where merchants and even prominent collectors were duped by known con men who used various schemes to create fakes.

Rudy Kurniawan, a young wine prodigy who deceived investors out of millions of dollars, is one noteworthy example. The story is the subject of the Netflix documentary ‘Sour Grapes‘, which follows this tale of excess and deception.

Classic and Collectible Automobiles

Sophisticated ‘fake’ historic vehicles are on the rise, as are prices for genuine ones. Con artists utilize a variety of techniques to trick vintage vehicle enthusiasts into buying fake antique or even modern exotic cars.

Technology, restoration materials, and frequently eager, thrilled customers who have not done their homework are assisting scam artists in misrepresenting and, in some cases, cloning automobiles.

Additionally, colour printers and copiers are becoming more affordable and powerful, making it easier than ever for fraudsters to manufacture or change car paperwork. From the warranty and maintenance book to the stamps and signatures and service dates, all of which can be changed to fit the vehicle’s fabricated history.

Watches

A counterfeit watch (or replica watch) is an unauthorised copy of an authentic watch. High-end luxury watches are frequently counterfeited and sold on city streets and online. With technological advancements, many non-luxury and inexpensive quartz watches are also commonly counterfeited.

Manuscripts & Autographs

Manuscripts, which are handwritten documents, as well as autographs, particularly celebrity signatures, are vulnerable to forgery. Many collectors/buyers of these kinds of documents will frequently hire handwriting analysis experts.

Music

There are a number of cutting-edge online AI music composition tools for creators, also known as software as a service (SAS).

You can use these tools to create music in a variety of genres, including fake classical music.

How Does the Law Deal with Art Forgery?

Art forgery is a millennia-old problem, and one that stumps even the most seasoned art experts. In recent years, there have been a number of high-profile cases involving art forgery, such as the sale of a fake Pollock painting for over $80 million.

First of all, the law must establish that the forgery was intended and must be distinguished from copies produced with no intent to deceive.

‘In the Style’

The act of copying a painting or other work of art is in itself not forgery, nor is the creation of a work ‘in the style’ of a recognized painter, composer, or writer or of a particular historical period.

The Courts

Nevertheless, once a crime has been proved to have been committed, the consequences of art forgery become a case of fraud. In Ireland, this falls under Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud Offences) Act, 2001. If you are found guilty, you may face a fine or imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years or both.

Unless your offence has a mandatory sentence, a judge must consider aggravating and mitigating factors when sentencing you. Whereas aggravating factors may prevent a sentence from being reduced, mitigating factors may result in a sentence reduction. Unless you are a legal specialist, you would expect your solicitor or barrister to ask the court to take these facts into account on your behalf.

When it comes to sentencing, it all boils down to the level of the breach of trust, and the impact on the victim(s) when an art forger gains or causes loss through deception.

Obviously, these terms are depended upon the jurisdiction where the crime was committed and where the case goes to trial.

Art Forgery

Conclusion: There Is a Fine Line Between Genius and Fraud.

In the article, I discussed how artists are motivated to create forgeries, and how art forgery can be seen from a number of different angles including profit, fraud, and copyright infringement, among others.

Art forgery is a crime that has been around since the beginning of time. It is an act of fraud and deception, where someone copies an artist’s work and sells it as their own. It can be difficult to spot a fake painting, but there are some ways to tell if a painting is real or not.

There are many reasons that an artist would choose to create an artwork, such as financial gain or artistic creation. Many forgers regard the art market as a fraudulent enterprise, in which they were merely defrauding those who made a living by defrauding others.

However, there are also many reasons that artists would choose to create art that is falsely attributed to someone else. Sometimes, their motives are completely unknown and it can be hard to detect their forgeries. Whether for profit or for personal enjoyment, the creation of forgeries is no easy feat, and this is where the genius of the individual lies.

The future of art forgery is a topic that has been debated for years. The question is whether it will change the world of fine arts remains to be seen, particularly with the rise of NFTs and humans involved.

Art forgery is a highly sophisticated and difficult area of art to understand. It is good to know the warning signs and understand the laws but the main thing is to stay vigilant and never stop educating yourself!

In 1557 the poet Thomas Tusser wrote Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry, in which the phrase, “A Fool and His Money Are Soon Parted”. This old adage applies to both price and an artworks history.

Therefore, my only advice is buyer beware, like anything in life, if it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is! You don’t want a Sexton Blake – “fake” on your wall, to use cockney rymthing slang terminology.

In this post, I tried to explore what defines art forgery and the reasons why an artist might become part of that group. Hopefully, it has given you pause for thought for the next time you view a masterpiece!

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The time you spent reading this blog is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

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Adrian Reynolds, or ‘Ren,’ is a Dublin-based contemporary artist. His works are a reaction to the world around us. A world that continues to evolve quicker than ever. His work investigates colour, form, and texture, putting them at the intersection of abstraction and representation. His art has been shown in Ireland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

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