Perth Amboy evening news., 1923-06-27
ART FAKES AND TAKERS
TOLD OF BY HASKIN
Daily Letter by Frederic j. Haskiu

WASHINGTON. June 27:-The
report that the Louvre and Metropol-
itan galleries have been tricked in
to buying faxed masterpieces has
aroused fear and suspicion in art
circles. For a time every picture
and statue will be regarded with an
extra degree of caution by connois-
seurs.
. Where fine art is bought and sold
there is always an atmosphere of
wariness. The business of taking
high art was found profitable back
in the days when Roman million
aires demanded only masterpieces
for their collections. There Is a
record of Petronius paying S330,000
for a single cup, and the story has
1t that when Nero's eye fell on this
treasure, Petronius ordered a slave
to shatter the cup beyond repair lest
Nero should seize 1t. With so much
emotional force conferred in art col
lections, and with so much money be-
ing spent by patrician Rome, art fax
ing was easily seen to be a game
worth any amount of risk and
trouble. Ever since there has been
a continuous battle of wits be-
$3.50 ~ SNAaE1A III LdhGh IildGItI-
pieces and art collectors, with deal
ers o allied with one side, and
again with the other.
So clever are the forgeries of art,
and So painstaking are the forgers
that the ablest critics are OCCASION
ally duped. Experts of the Louvre
have been deceived more than once.
a gold tiara figured in one of the
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art history. This beautiful head
piece of beaten gold was offered to
the Louvre by a Russian. An in
scriptfon on the head piece said
that ii was presented to the Scythian
king, Saitapharnes, by the Greek
colony of Olbia, zoo B. c. Firmly
convinced that the tiara was indeed
antique art, the Louvre paid $40,-
600 for it. Such delicate workman
ship, such excellence of design,
could never have been produced by
a modern craftsman, Partisan ex-
perts agreed.
The golden tiara remained in a
place of honor in the Louvre for
some years. Then a Russian jeweler
wrote a letter to a newspaper in
which he said hat the tiara was
made by a Russian goldsmith in
odessa. The French senate request
ed an investigation. The goldsmith
was brought to Paris. He was given
materials and tools and locked in a
room in the Louvre and told to re-
produce from memory parts of the
tiara. He did this without any diff
Guilty whatever. The workmanship
vas clearly the same, and the experts
were convinced.
Bust Fooled Experts
In another case the Louvre paid
$4,000 for a portrait bust
ed to be a product of the Italian
Renaissance. The real sculptor hap
pened to be an Italian, B~astianini,
who had a strong feeling for the
Renaissance style. This feeling he
turned to profit by making limitations
of old Florentine art. He did not
copy from existing art works as most
imitators do. His model was an old
man who worked in a cigar factory.
The bust, bought by the Louvre,
vas emphatically declared a MASTER
piece by the most experienced critics.
But Bastianini was later suspected
as the real artist. AS he was proud
of the praise his work had been
given, he admitted authorship of the
bust. At first he was not believed.
Finally he displayed the first plaster
cast. brought out his model, the old
cigar maker. and found witnesses
to testify that they had seen the bust
in process of making.
The embarrassed connoisseurs sur
rendered and withdrew most of their
testimonials of praise, and the Low
re had to admit itself tricked.
The range and detail of the meth
DDS by which forgeries are perpet-
rated are amazing. 1t is known that
canvas differs in different countries
and with different periods. So, If an
old master is to be reproduced, an
old canvas with a worthless painting
on it may be bought. The paint is
scraped off, and the style of a fa-
nous artist is accurately copied. The
picture is then aged by4cracking the
varnish, rubbing dirt into it., per-
haps even planting a touch of mold
to suggest neglected, damp surround
lngs. The long hidden masterpiece"
is then duly discovered and it starts
on it's career to be acclaimed or
laughed at by critics, according to
the skill of the deception.
The takers know the collectors
Land The critics. They know that an