Paintings by Han van Meegeren (1889-1947), on display at the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam, 11 May 2010. Van Meegeren is known for his forgeries, particularly works by the Dutch master Johannes Vermeer.
Robin Utrecht | AFP | Getty Images
Art forgeries are more common than you think, but the stories about them are often untold.
That’s according to Helen Mulcahy, a partner at Fieldfisher LLP and a lawyer specializing in art and fraud.
“They don’t usually get exposed,” Mulcahy told CNBC via video call. “Reputation in the art market is very important… not many people like to go to court,” she said. Cases are often settled privately, in part because buyers feel “embarrassed.”
Mulcahy advises wealthy clients on the checks they need to make when buying art, including attribution and provenance, that is, who owns a piece of art and when and where it changed hands. This information is detailed in exhibition records, auction catalog references, certificates or other documents.
“The provenance should also describe its medium, its size, the date it was made. Sometimes it’s not always the artist, it might be attributed to the artist, it might be a school, a circle, so there’s some level of decline,” Mulcahy said. Checking provenance is relatively simple in the primary market, where collectors buy from a living artist’s studio or representative, but not in the secondary market, which refers to the resale of works.
Buyer beware
“(It was) good training for working at an auction house because… you get pictures emailed by people asking for estimates. You’re used to seeing pictures on a screen and determining if they are real.
He also spoke of a feeling that something was unreal, a feeling shared by contemporary art dealer Jake Roberts. “You can’t assume that a piece of art is legitimate, you have to be able to ‘prove’ that it’s authentic…Anything that feels ‘off’ when buying it, no matter how small, will stop me from buying,” Roberts said. told CNBC via email.
“Any time high-value items are involved (art/fashion/jewelry, etc.), there are going to be people trying to make money through fraud,” Roberts said. And if the artist is prolific and has a large market, “fakes will be more common,” Roberts said. He said.
Adam Szymanski, an art consultant and researcher in Toronto, Canada, said that the art industry conducts “a lot of due diligence” to verify the authenticity of works when making transactions. “Having said that, there are still a lot of inauthentic works circulating, especially among deceased artists,” he told CNBC by phone.
Take the Canadian native artist Norval Morrisseau as an example. He is known as “Picasso of the North” and died in 2007—his forgers were legion. Last year, Ontario Provincial Police seized more than 1,000 forged paintings, culminating in his arrest after a lengthy investigation. Gary Lamont’s sentencing, who oversees their production. According to a report from the U.S. Department of Justice, Lamont and others may have made as much as $100 million in criminal profits. Smithsonian Magazine.
Photograph taken in 1977 by Canadian artist Norval Morrisseau. In 2023, Toronto police seized more than 1,000 forged Morisot paintings.
Graham Besant | Toronto Star | Getty Images
Szymanski said the scandal has “crippled” the market for Morisot’s art: his works usually sell for about $40,000, but there are “several similar” works by the artist Work by Jean-Paul Riopelle sold at auction It sold for more than $1 million in November.
“As you can imagine, there’s so much fear in the market because no one wants to buy something that’s not authentic. People are confused,” Szymanski said.
“sensational story”
Freya Sims, chief executive of LAPADA, the trade body for the Art and Antiques Dealers Association, said she had seen fakes in museums and private collections, but for her the popularity of fakes “ It’s lower than you think.”
“The stories being published are either sensational stories or stories about big money changing hands, but in reality there is little point in investing time in building something of relatively low value,” she told CNBC via email.
“A generalist dealer can make mistakes when selling something from a more rarefied discipline,” she added. Sims said LAPADA works with other agencies to organize exhibitions, vetting works for authenticity, condition and proper labeling before they are put on display.
Misattribution can also occur, Sims said. “The Massacre of the Innocents”, early 17 years oldth– Painting of the Century by Peter Paul Rubens, incorrectly cataloged in the 18th centuryth Shijihe Credit to the little known Jan van den Hoecke. Auction house Sotheby’s authenticated it as a Rubens and sold it in 2002 $76.7 million —At the time, it was the highest price ever paid for an Old Master painting at auction.
“Artist attributions can change over time, and that’s not necessarily due to forgers — it could be that experts evaluated something in the past and gave it an incorrect estimate,” Sims said. describe.
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