Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-07-21
From the Pail Mall Gazette.

picture buyers place much reliance upon
their Judgment"
Such the opinion which / received a
Few days ago in course of conversation with
Partisan gentleman who has at least
twenty Corots in his gallery-genuine Cor
OTIS, not the spurious works which are
palmed off by dozens on wealthy English
men and Americans. l had called upon
him to put him in possession of the facts
connected with the controversy now Being
waged over the Prince of Wales gift to the
Dublin Gallery of Modern Art. and had just
explained that the supposed masterpiece
was really poor copy of picture by Mes
zoly in the Budapest Museum when he de-
Hvered the above decisive Judgment. Know
ing the ways of picture forgers, and having
exposed fraudulent practices of Partisan
marchandS experts in the June issue of the
North American Review, his words did not
surprise me in the least. Without having
seen the Dublin Corot, any intelligent con-
noisseur. in spite of the letters which Messrs
Agnew, Buttery, Wallis and Colnaghi have
written to the London Press, would have
said the same.
Certificate With Painting.
Never has the traffic In spurious pictures
been carried on on such extensive lines as
1. is today" continued the picture lover,
when we were comfortably seated in our
easy chairs. Something will have TO be
done to put a stop to It, and I'm glad TO
see suggestions being made with that
ODJeCI. Every picture lIldl painted now
adays should have a certificate signed by
the artist in the presence of official wit
nesses. That would be a guarantee of its
authenticity, and do much to prevent these
picture forgers from carrying on their trade
in works by living masters. AS to works
by painters of the past. the forgery of
these should be prevented as much as pos-
sible by bringing in a more stringent law
against falsifers. The present law in France
is badly in need of being amended. BY
the bye, suppose you have seen that the
tenth chamber of the correctional tribunal
Is al present trying number of these
men? They are charged with forging pic
lures by COrot, Courbet, Chintreuil, Dupre,
Theodore Rousseau, DiaZ, Daubigny, Sisley.
Willette and others. The works were seized
at the Hotel des Denies, the official sale
rooms in the Rue Druot. and at their pri-
vate residences. Among them are three
spurious Willettes. l was present when
the offense, and l had the curiosity to lis
ten to some of the evidence. 1t was most
pathetic to hear what Willette had to say.
He was the only living artist out of all
those whose works had been forged, so he
was naturally put into the witness box. AS
he spoke l could imagine very much the
same sort OF protest would have been ut
tered by Corot and Courbet and Rousseau
had they been there"
DO you remember his words2"
In the MAN, not textually. He said
that after twenty years incessant work
and in spite of success he had only just been
able to make a living out of his art be-
cause of the large number of forged pic
lures and drawings bearing his name which
are on the market in France and abroad.
And he expressed the opinion that auction
GERS, who frequently sell forged canvases
genuine works of art, should be made
responsible for their errors. Yes; you are
quite right; something Will have to be done
to put an end to this scandalous traffic.
The United States is the country where
nest of the spurious ancient and modern
masters which are forged by hundreds on
Z ha aN,nfIr .4Tlf sold mi hf "a ~ 10
doubt, as the Dublin case proves, that some
of them find their way into English collec-
tons. Paris. Vienna, Berlin, Rome and ST.
Petersburg are the principal centcrs of the
trsffc, and wealthy Englishmen and Amer
leans who come over from London and New
York with the object of picking up treas
ureS for their galleries run great risk OF
being swindled, unless accompanied by n
sure friend who is au courant with the
tricks of the trade. The higher IN price "a
picture may be the less chance there Is,
generally speaking, of il being genuine, and
the truth OF this is getting so universally
reCC gniZed among collectors that the major
ity OF those who form collections of pictures
and other works of art look nowadays for
treasures. not in the shops in the large cit
les, but in those of secondhand dealers In
the provinces. Every large city has it's spe-
cialty in the manufacture of spurious works
OF art; the country districts, not yet dis
covered by the fo-ger, constitute the safest
hunting ground for the Englshman or
American who does not wish TO be swndled
GU; of his monev.
Not very many weeks ago the Journal of
Paris published the following paragraph oh
this subject: DO our readers know that
there exists in Paris a mandatory IN
which artists, receiving large salaries, copy
the canvaseS of our great masters? These
pictures are sent to the United States &
high duty is paid on them and being thus
stSmped as authentic, they then sold
for their weight in gold TO American mill
honaires. In the gallery of one of these
collectors can be seen quite a number of
pictures, the originals OF which are either in
Paris or in the PROVINCES. The only change
which need be made in this substantially
true statement is this: The writer should
have said "a number of manufactures" for
they simply swarm all over France, prin-
cipaily in the Montparnasse and Montmar-
tire quarters OF Paris. Some of these pic
ture-forgers are attached 10 this or that
contemporaries man who has his shop on
the grand boulevards and his branches In
London OF New York; others supply tie
trade" in general Ziem, Henner Charles
jacques, Corot. Diaz, Courbet and Dupre
are the artists whose works are most cop
led, but there is not artist OF any note
who has not had his picture copied often
with variations, by these men. The forgery
Is done so cleverly that l defy any one save
the most experienced judges to detect the
fraud NJ Jules Claretie, the eminent MEM
Der OF the French Academy once knew an
artist who could copy the works of Diaz SO
perfectly that only Diaz himself could not
be deceived; A few years ago the same
dealers shop in the Rue Pigalle but
doubling its authenticity he asked the ar
list who was friend of his. to go round
with him and examine the picture 80 this
ls really a Dupre?' asked the painter, hold
Ing the canvas on a level with his eyes
Certainly, sir; and very excellent exam
pie of that artists work. Excellent IL is
] admit" responded Dupre. but only as an
initiation. This picture is copy of one of
my works which / know for a certainty to
be in England" The dealer tried to argue
the point. but Dupre, naturally. held his
gre und. and so firmly that the man at last
admitted he had bought the picture from an
artist who made a speciality of producing
forged DuDres and Items.
could quote a hundred similar examples
20 prove how widespread is the traffic in
spurious masters Nearly every good
picture has its worthless double" and 1t IN
one of these, falsely attributed to Corot
which. in my humble opinion has found it's
way to the capital of the Emerald Isle
Electric Bread Unwholesome.