The Parisian court of appeal has ruled that an iconic German painting, seized under suspicion of forgery in 2016, must now be returned to its owner Hans-Adam II, Prince of Liechtenstein.
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Tag: Forgery
French Museum filled with fakes still questioning how it happened a year on
In April 2018, a French museum dedicated to the painter Étienne Terrus (1857-1922) announced that over half of its collection were, in fact, fakes. Exactly how this catastrophic mistake was made remains a mystery over a year since the discovery. Continue reading
Fake Pollocks sold by mad collector circulating the art market
A forgery scandal on the scale of the Old Master fakes and Knoedler Gallery debacles has broken in the United States. Up to as many as 700 fake Jackson Pollock paintings may be circulating the art market according to a report by the International Foundation for Art Research (IFAR).
The Foundation has identified four fake Pollocks since 2013. Continue reading
Stubbs’ painting mistaken as copy quadruples in value
A painting previously thought to be a copy of a work by celebrated English artist George Stubbs has skyrocketed in value after it was reattributed to the artist himself.
‘Two Hacks, the property of Henry Ulrick Reay Esq of Burn Hall Co. Durham and their blue-liveried groom in a landscape’ (1789) depicts a groom exercising a pair of horses. It sold for US$215,000 (£177,000) at Christie’s New York in June 2016 with the attribution “After George Stubbs”. The vendor, the Huntington Library in California, had once considered the painting to be a genuine work by Stubbs. Later, in what art historian and BBC Fake or Fortune? team member, Bendor Grosvenor, has called “one of the biggest deaccessioning blunders of modern times” the library decided it was a later copy of an authorised painting held in the Ambrose Clark collection in America and offered it for sale. Continue reading
Sotheby’s take Weiss to court over fake Frans Hals
Sotheby’s have launched legal proceedings against London art dealer Mark Weiss and business partner Fairlight Art Ventures over the sale of a fake portrait by Frans Hals. The auction house stated that it had ‘been left with no other option’ after the sellers ‘refused to make good on their contractual obligations’ and repay the sale proceeds.
‘Portrait of a Gentleman’ is one of several disputed works at the centre of an art forgery scandal, which broke in October 2016. Weiss bought the portrait from collector Giuliano Ruffini for a reported US$3 million (£2.5 million) in 2010. He subsequently sold it to a US collector for approximately US$10 million (£8.4 million) in a private sale brokered by Sotheby’s in 2011.
Dealer in Knoedler forgery scandal escapes jail time
The Long Island art dealer who sold fake Abstract Expressionist art to New York’s Knoedler Gallery has been handed a get-out-of-jail-free card by a Manhattan judge.
Glafira Rosales was indicted by the US Government in May 2013 on charges of conspiracy, tax fraud and wire fraud from the sale of up to US$60 million (£42 million) worth of fake art to the former Knoedler Gallery. On Tuesday (31 January), District Judge Katherine Polk Failla sentenced Rosales to nine months of home detention as part of a three year supervised release for her involvement in the scheme. Continue reading
Sotheby’s declares war on art forgery
Sotheby’s auction house announced its acquisition of specialist art investigation firm Orion Analytical in a press release on Monday (5 December 2016).
Founded by James Martin in 2000, Orion Analytical began life as a niche firm offering materials analysis and consultancy. Over the years it has built a reputation for expertise in researching and investigating fake artworks. Now Sotheby’s is bringing this expertise in-house and has appointed Martin director of its newly created scientific research department. Continue reading
What to do if you discover you have bought a forgery
In December it was reported that the Michigan Court of Appeal has allowed a claimant to continue her lawsuit against a gallery relating to fake Salvador Dali prints, by ruling that the gallery’s alleged fraud had delayed the start of the limitation period (which would otherwise have now passed, barring her claim). Continue reading
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