Author’s Note
155 Words
Author’s NoteWorks of Art have been forged for centuries – usually the imitation being for profit.
Albrecht Dürer was obliged to obtain an Imperial decree declaring the imitation of his woodcuts and engravings a criminal offence. The art of faking has flourished since the Rococo period, when petty Princes and newly created Nobles employed the forgers because they wished to display famous works of art.
Today the demands of American and Arab millionaires are so enormous that even the long-established centres of ‘faking’, such as Paris, Rome, Florence, Vienna and Madrid, find it almost impossible to keep up with the demand.
The most famous modern forgers were Hans van Meegeren, who admitted to painting the Vermeers that were ‘discovered’ between 1935 and 1945 and the sculptor Alceo Dossena, who in 1927 voluntarily disclosed the secret of his forgeries.
Both these men produced such magnificent fakes that their work may be regarded as something much more significant than mere fraud.
- Writer
