Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1916-03-11
Antiques to Order
BY FREDERIC ]. HAsKIN

of forty thousand So easy has this
particular game become that the art
forger has even presumed to trade up
on the names of living artists. One
writer states that Corot, Henner. In
ness, Wyant and Homer Martin were
all successfully initiated and forged In
their lifetime and that t. Sidney Coop
err found two hundred and f1fty-five
spurious copies out of two hundred
and eighty-six works supposed to be
his
The art forger, of necessity. must be
well educated in many lines He must
understand chemistry. he must be we'll
versed in history and he must be an
astute business man. The study OF
human nature, of acids with which to.
treat different articles, the kind Of a
hat Mark Antony wore and the colors
used in various periods. must all be
within his ken. Some art forgcries
have Eeen SO remarkable as to deceive
even the best experts of Europe.
For example, acting on the advice
of committee Of infa!lible art con-
noisseurs, the Louvre purchased for
forty thousand dollars what was al
legged to be the crown Of the Scytl,ian
king Satapharnes, presented to him
by the Greeks of Olbia in 200 B. c. OF
exquisite workmanship and intricate
design, The Louvre was Just consratu-
lating itself upon it's good fortune in
obtaining this treasure when a French
ieweler came forward with the startl-
ing revelation that he had seen the
crown made by a Russian named
Rouchomowski. After much heated dis
cussion among the art authorities. a
French editor went after ROuchomow-
ski and brought him to Paris. There
he was locked up and told to duplicate
the crown. which he did with such APP
parent ease that there was no longer
any room for doubt.
Giovanni Bastianini. a sculptor OF
the nineteenth century, turned out cum
ming forgeries that deceived the lead
ing art institutions Of Europe His
bust of Savonarola, created such a stir
that Russian princess was only pre-
venteN from building temple for it by
the timely appearance of an Italian
who proved it to be fake. 1t is now
n
ish museum
For many years Michael Kaufman,
clever German mason, was respons-
ible for large amount of early Roman
pottery which nysteriously made it's
appearance throughout Europe. En-
couraged by the storm of comment
which greeted the unearthing of a Ro-
man oven of his own invention, he pro-
ceeded to discover one hundred and
seventeen of them, all of which were
enthusiastically bought by the art
museums. He was not detected in his
secret manufacture of Roman art I'M
til he yentured to dig up an Emperor
Antonius in Hessian boots and wearing
a wig of the period of Louis XIV,
which even the most credulous art con-
noisseurs refused to accept. So In
genious were some of Kauffmans de-
signs, however, that even now the
question of their authenticity often
comes up.
The duplication of old masters now
is becoming very difficult since the
x-ray and the acknowledgement have
been brought into play. The x-ray dis
closes the whole structure of the pic
ture, just where the artist corrected
his own work and the presence of an
others repairs. BY the use of the mi
crophotograph, perfected by Professor
A. P. Laurie of Edinburgh, the brush
work of the artist may be studied and
compared. An artists brushwork is
something distinctly Individual and in
! imitable. Therefore, if you have any
doubt concerning the validity of pic
ture attributed to renowned artist,
take microphotograph Of some i'm
portant part such as the eye and COM
! pare it with another known original by
the same man. If they were both done
by the same hand, the brushwork will
be identical; if not, the difference is
easily discernible