The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-12-07
ART FORGERIES IN PARIS. <!
AN ACCOHNT OF THE TRAFFIC IN
 SPURIOUS PAINTINGS

STU hIOGS PAINTINGS.
 Methods of Secret Syndicate of DeaI-
 CTS ExPOsed-Factories That Turn
 Out Fraudulent Pietures-Many of
 the Canyases Shipped to This Coun-
 try-TrIeks to Give the Appearance
 of Age.
 4 curious and instructive account of the traffic in spurious works of art, as conducted by the most expert and practised hands in Paris, is contributed by M. Ch. Franche to the current is- sue of the Revue Internationate jes Publications, journal devoted in the main to the discovery Of chemical frauds, Of the adulteration of food stuffs and kindred topics. It is the first of series of articles with which may prove to be the frankest exposure yet undertaken of a comerce that has not hitherto received attention it deserves.
 As the article deals largely with the socalled dealer expert, a few words concerning the qualities and functions of that important parsonage may be necessary to elucidate the facts gath cred by M. Franche and make their significance clear to American readers. To begin with, it must be understood that the Government does not, as may are apt to believe, hold itself respon- sible for the authenticity of the arti- cles sold at the Hotel Drouot.
 The official auctioneer (commissaire- priseur) may be, and frequently is ignorant of art and all things related to it, nor does he concern himself with the appraisement and puffing of the goods sold; that task falls to the lot of the expert who is chosen by the seller for his own benefit and the protection of the bidders. It is the expert who complies the catalogue, presides at the sale and estimates the value of the i various articles. ff .. .e As they are put up he comments up- on them, draws attention to their qualities or blemishes and sets price on them. The bidding may begin at the price named or below it, according to the inclination Of the bidders, but up to that price the expert is held re- sponsible. Should he, for instance, de- scribe a certain canvas as, say, a Dela- eroix and should it afterward be prov ed a forgery he would be compelled to refund the sum paid by the purchaser, or, supposing that sum to exceed the price named by him, as much of it as he had tacitly made himself respon- sible fer by his appraisal.
 At first glance this system of limit ed responsibility appears satisfactory enough, but a little reflection will re- veal the enormous abuses to which 1t is subject. Thus the discoveries of M. Franche show that there exists and has existed for many years a kind of secret syndicate of the more profiigate dealer experts, whose object is to monopolize the trade in works of art and not only to conference, but acti- vely to encourage the production and propagation of fraudulent limitations to serve their own ends. ...Esa 4. <.
 'Controlling every event at the Hotel Drouot, the dealer experts says M. Franche, "are in a position which un- ables them to instigate the seizure of pictures by pronouncing them spurious, and so they declare their vigilance by discrediting such as do not bear their stamp, thus achieving by ingenious if ignoble means practical control of works of art.''
 Under the patronage of these worth- ies a. considerable number of officines, or factories, have been established in Paris and its suburbs, where an army of copists and ''restorers" are employ ed from years end to years end in the production of masterpieces in imita- tion of sundry artists in demand Not long ago twenty paintings, bearing the name of three artists still living, and every one of them false, were seized just as they were about to be shipped to this country, the easiest market on the face of the earth for such goods. .,...,.
 The trade in the works of the school of 1880" is enormous. According to M. Franche, thousands have been sent to us, including, besides deliberate for geries, a vast number painted by Vil- lers, Mazon and other humble imita- tors of the great masters, and since promoted to the rank of originals hy the addition of such signatures as Diaz, Corot, Sc. Here is a typical example of the methods employed by the dealers In spurious goods: .
 The proprietor of. a shop in Paris having procured four landscapes by Corot, Daubigny, Diaz Tn. Rousseau hired good copyist, who, in return for comfortable lodging in the coun- try with a salary of $200 a month, un- dertook to make twenty-five copies, with slight notifications, of each of the four canvases. In ten months the task was finished to the satisfaction of the employer and the hundred pictures were sent to this country and sold at high price as originals from noted