Page 72 - Studio International - October 1967

Art prices stock of natural ultramarine of a well-known immediately revealed as spurious when more
objective methods were employed. The late Dr
artists' colourman, paying a large sum for a few
current ounces. His mistake was to adulterate it with cobalt Coremans's book, Van Meegeren's Faked Vermeers
blue, a pigment not prepared for artists' use until
and De Hooghs: A Scientific Examination, published
1802, although it had been well known for cen- by Cassel in 1949, is a model for future investiga-
turies as a pottery colour. Van Meegeren also tions of this kind, although it did not satisfy the
found it necessary to buy seventeenth century purchaser of some of Van Meegeren's work who
canvases by minor artists from which he cleaned threatened legal action against the author.
the original painting to form a support for his own The first thing that the well-tutored porcelain
work. collector learns is that the most certain way to get
In the case of paintings done after about the together a bad collection is to rely on marks.
middle of the nineteenth century, however, pig- Equally, the collector of paintings is ill-advised to
ments are not likely to be of very much help, since rely on signatures. Forgeries, of course, are com-
Uncovering the forger's methods
they were made by artists' colourmen for general mon. Signatures are added to every forged paint-
by George Savage sale to more or less standardized formulae. Neither ing, and, since both genuine and false are done
would either canvas or stretcher present much with a brush, detection is not so easy as with a
difficulty to the forger. In the examination of such signature forged with a pen. In the case of an old
paintings, therefore, we are, for the most part, painting where the paint has had time to harden,
There are, of course, many paintings which are thrown back on three factors—style, technique, and the recent addition of a signature will probably
beyond reproach. For one reason or another there history. wipe off readily with a solvent without affecting
is, or can be, no doubt of their attribution. Most of To take the question of history first, an apt the underlying paint-layer. To add to the diffi-
these can be traced directly back to the artist's illustration of its value may be sought in the re- culties, however, a few painters have been known
studio, either bought from him or from a relative searches of one of my friends into an Old Master to sign forged work out of goodness of heart, and
immediately after his death. Paintings in this cate- painting. With a great deal of labour he was able some painters have been known to reject perfectly
gory (often acquired before the artist became worth to assemble its history from the year in which it genuine signed work because they no longer like it.
forging) have since been in collections which can be left the artist's studio to the present day with the Picasso and Chirico are cases in point.
traced, many have been exhibited publicly, and a aid of inventories and references in old documents, In the field of sculpture we meet difficulties with
good proportion have been illustrated frequently, with no gaps of consequence during which it limited editions. At least one well-known sculptor
often in definitive monographs on the artist's work. dropped out of sight. It was, in fact, a master- is reputed to have made after-casts beyond the
Usually, these are the paintings for which the piece of research. But one factor was missing from original edition when he had an opportunity of
highest prices are paid, although, even here, price his calculations—the possibility that it had, at selling an extra copy. The chances in such a case
varies with quality. Nevertheless, a poor quality some time or another, been changed for a replica. that the artist would later claim the after-cast to be
painting with a good history will bring a higher Despite its impressive history, therefore, the style a forgery are quite large. It would be more con-
price than something of equivalent quality without of the painting, and the materials of which it is genial than the admission of his own culpability,
one. composed, still had to be investigated, and it was and I have heard of one case in which this could
Then we have a category of paintings of which on these that the final attribution was made. have occurred. The remedy is a satisfactory assur-
there is no record during the artist's lifetime, their That history, style, technique, and the materials ance that the moulds were destroyed after comple-
history beginning at some time subsequent to his employed must all agree if an attribution is to be tion of the edition.
death. These include works which were disposed regarded as sound is evident, and this agreement is In cases of this kind an after-cast, if genuine,
of for trivial sums, perhaps to pay a debt at a time made the more essential because fake pedigrees are would marginally be less valuable than one belong-
when his work had not attracted public support, sometimes constructed. Paintings are often offered ing to the initial series, and by its existence might
and which then dropped out of sight to be re- for sale in auction-rooms and private galleries with affect the value of the others. The greatest danger,
discovered later. Generally, these are not numerous, expert opinions or authenticating documents from however, lies in rejection of a perfectly genuine
and the chance of finding an entirely unknown or the artist or a close relative attached. In the case of work, which would then become valueless.
unrecorded painting is small. Such works need to reputable dealers and the large auction-rooms it is Technique can be of the greatest help in some
be judged on their merit as paintings, and by their safe to assume that these have been checked, and cases, and none at all in others. Van Gogh's later
style. It is to this category that most forgeries pur- that the vendors have satisfied themselves that the technique of paint-handling, its rapid application
port to belong. documents are genuine and refer to the paintings in thick layers, presents the forger with formidable
Modern paintings present peculiar difficulties not being offered. But instances exist of forged certifi- difficulties if his work is examined closely. These
to be met in the case of old ones. Old canvases can cates, or even of certificates wrongly given, and were partially overcome by Otto Wacker, who
be approximately dated, and old stretchers differ genuine certificates are sometimes appropriated made some deceptive forgeries in the 1920s at a
in construction, as well as in the age of the wood. to another painting. The fact that the widow of a time when Van Gogh was beginning to command
Pigments also were not standardized in former painter enjoys the special privilege under French high prices. For a time they even deceived so
times, and an analysis of paint fragments taken law of being able to challenge the authenticity of a noted an authority as de la Faille. But for these
from the canvas is often revealing. Prussian blue, painting by her husband, and, if she proves her technical difficulties Van Gogh would be a very
for instance, was discovered in 1704, cadmium case, of demanding the destruction of a spurious suitable subject for the enterprising forger, be-
yellow in 1817, and the chromium oxide pigments work, gives to her certificate a special value. This cause the early history of some of his paintings is
during the course of the nineteenth century. The has occurred in the recent past in the case of the unknown, and chance discoveries are therefore
occurrence of any of these pigments in the original widows of Derain, Marquet, and Utrillo. possible. Wacker opened a gallery in the Viktoria-
paint-layer dates a painting inevitably. Synthetic So far as expert opinions are concerned, an expert strasse in Berlin in 1927 with a considerable num-
ultramarine was first devised by Guimet in 1824, is only as good as his knowledge, but preference ber of paintings by Van Gogh reputed to have
and can be separated from natural ultramarine ought to be given to one prepared to do something come from the collection of an anonymous noble-
made from lapis lazuli by sufficiently expert more than judge by superficial appearances. By man, a character who frequently makes an appear-
examination. Natural ultramarine has always been itself style is not a sound guide, and the grossest ance in transactions of this kind.
rare, and on several occasions in the past it has errors in the past have been made by accepting this Van Gogh's technique is very deceptive. His
been virtually unprocurable, notably during the as the sole, or even the major criterion. Van paintings seem to have been done at white heat,
eighteenth century. Van Meegeren, who ground Meegeren's Vermeers, for instance, were judged on but in fact their structure is remarkably coherent.
his own colours, came to England to purchase the grounds of style, history being absent, yet they were To imitate the surface-effect Wacker painted over
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