Art of forgery: Fakes, mistakes and discoveries at the National (UK)
In 1845 when the National Gallery bought a forged painting after mistaking it for a Holbein, its director was forced to resign amid establishment uproar. Now, nearly two centuries after the blunder, the gallery's current director, Nicholas Penny, reckons self-respecting art institutions should be proud to have a few fakes in their illustrious collections.
Yesterday he announced the gallery's first ever exhibition of 40 fakes, copies and imitations in the gallery's own permanent collection, saying: "It's not a bad idea to have duds and fakes". He added: "I wish we had more fakes, I'm not worried about the reputation of the institution. It's important to know how clever forgers can be. The National Gallery is a place where we show great masterpieces but it's also a place where you can study the history of art.
"It would be very naïve for people to think it's something we should be ashamed of, or something that we should get rid of."
Dr Penny said that while he was running the National Gallery in Washington, forgeries had been "deliberately acquired". "The histories of mistakes of this kind encourages extreme caution and a certain humility," he said, adding that even expert art historians sometimes got it wrong. He cited the legendary 19th century German curator, Wilhelm Von Bode, as someone who, "made some mistakes but was one of the greatest connoisseurs alive".
The exhibition called "Close Examination: Fakes, Mistakes and Discoveries", to be staged next June, will feature the infamous Holbein forgery, called A Man with a Skull, as well as a painting that was originally acquired by the gallery as a work by Rembrandt, called An Old Man in an Armchair. It was signed and dated falsely and it was subsequently noted that the "loose treatment of the beard, fur coat and right hand, was weak" and could not have been created by the hand of the great painter. The gallery concluded that the painting instead, "displays a debt to Venetian, and in particular Tintorettesque portraiture" and is now attributed to an unidentified pupil or early follower of Rembrandt...
Read entire article at Independent (UK)
Yesterday he announced the gallery's first ever exhibition of 40 fakes, copies and imitations in the gallery's own permanent collection, saying: "It's not a bad idea to have duds and fakes". He added: "I wish we had more fakes, I'm not worried about the reputation of the institution. It's important to know how clever forgers can be. The National Gallery is a place where we show great masterpieces but it's also a place where you can study the history of art.
"It would be very naïve for people to think it's something we should be ashamed of, or something that we should get rid of."
Dr Penny said that while he was running the National Gallery in Washington, forgeries had been "deliberately acquired". "The histories of mistakes of this kind encourages extreme caution and a certain humility," he said, adding that even expert art historians sometimes got it wrong. He cited the legendary 19th century German curator, Wilhelm Von Bode, as someone who, "made some mistakes but was one of the greatest connoisseurs alive".
The exhibition called "Close Examination: Fakes, Mistakes and Discoveries", to be staged next June, will feature the infamous Holbein forgery, called A Man with a Skull, as well as a painting that was originally acquired by the gallery as a work by Rembrandt, called An Old Man in an Armchair. It was signed and dated falsely and it was subsequently noted that the "loose treatment of the beard, fur coat and right hand, was weak" and could not have been created by the hand of the great painter. The gallery concluded that the painting instead, "displays a debt to Venetian, and in particular Tintorettesque portraiture" and is now attributed to an unidentified pupil or early follower of Rembrandt...