man bought £100,000 fake -and it must be destroyed

[kev@frames]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/ ... rnace.html

am I the only one who saw the funny side of this?

[An Old Master]

Sorry, but I don't think it's remotely funny. It's just a pity the guy's son started digging and didn't leave sleeping dogs lie. I'm all for bringing art fraud to the fore, as we have had more forgeries in for restoration than is comfortable, but I don't think laughing at such disappointment has much to commend it.

[prospero]

Forgery or not, the guy must have actually liked the painting. He paid for it. What right has anyone to destroy it?

There are more forgeries in public galleries than anyone knows. Or ever will for sure. Some forgers have become so notorious that people actually collect their forgeries. With the result that others are forging the forgeries.


btw. I use the word 'forgery' rather than 'fake'. A fake is not intended to deceive.

[An Old Master]

I had a customer some years ago that had several million pounds worth of oil paintings in his house and was getting increasingly worried about security. I put him in touch with a superb copier; the guy copied all the paintings for £100k, my customer sold all the originals at auction, he still had the paintings on his walls, only he, the copier and me knew about it amd he was several mill. better off. Faking can be very profitable.

[Kwik Picture Framing]

was it in a frame?

[An Old Master]

Why the past tense?

[prospero]

The guy ought to photo the painting and keep knocking out full-size canvas prints. I reckon he would soon get his money back, given the world-wide publicity he is getting.

Copyright? Well if the forger shows up with a writ, more power to him.

[An Old Master]

I do like that idea.