MAGAZINE

Can you love a fake piece of art? By Melissa Hogenboom

Art forger John Myatt now paints "legitimate fakes" in the style of Miro, Matisse and Monet, among others

A court battle is fought over whether a painting is fake, a drawing said to be Warhol is disputed, but is there ever a case for cherishing the fake and the forged?

Wrong signature. Dubious provenance. Fake.

These are words an auction house dreads to

hear. This is exactly what happened recently with

a drawing hailed as an early Andy Warhol. It was

denounced by his brother as a fake but

discussions on its authenticity are ongoing. A

work by Van Gogh or Munch can fetch tens of

millions. Cast a shadow of doubt over its

provenance and that value rapidly declines. But if

it has a level of draughtsmanship, colour and

imagination that is nearly enough to fool an

auction house expert, isn't that worth something?

January 1948: Van Meegeren, who had been

arrested as a "political delinquent" after the

liberation of Holland, declared that lack of

appreciation of his merits as an artist was the

cause of his war-time activities.

September 1950: He was a fertile painter - instead

of making reproductions of old masters, he painted

original pictures... even art experts mistook them

for authentic pieces.

January 1957: Here was a man who, as the result

of long and laborious study, could reconstruct the

whole process of Vermeer's painting... he could

paint not merely a replica but that "original"

Vermeer the Christ at Emmaus which for a while

took everyone in.

The Times Newspaper

Han van Meegeren is a candidate for the greatest forger ever. The Dutchman came closest to being

acclaimed as an artist in his own right after gaining notoriety forging 17th Century Dutch masters

that would fool art-loving Nazis. While his own paintings were of little interest to critics, his forgeries

earned millions and conned, among others, Hitler's deputy Hermann Goering.

Van Meegeren was arrested in 1945 and charged with treason for selling a Vermeer - classified as a

Dutch national treasure - to the Nazis. Facing a possible death penalty, he confessed all - that he

was a forger. The Dutch authorities didn't believe him. To prove he was no traitor, he was asked to

paint a copy. "A copy," Van Meegeren is reported to have exclaimed, "I'll do better than that. Give

me the materials and I will paint another Vermeer before witnesses."

Before the war, frustrated that his style of painting did not suit the world's new-found interest in

modern art, Van Meegeren had forged a Vermeer in his own style that was "unlike any previous

Vermeer", says Frank Wynne, who wrote a biography of the forger. "What infuriated him was a skill

that would have made him famous in an earlier age was of no interest to anyone at a time when the

world was interested in post-impressionism."

His experiment worked. His painting, The Supper at Emmaus, was hailed as a previously unknown masterpiece by Vermeer and was one of the most visited paintings in the Netherlands until it was revealed to be a fake.

Van Meegeren wanted to prove that a famous signature on a painting hugely influences how

beautiful we think it is, says Wynne. "A famous artist's signature gives us the romantic notion that

their paintings are sacred artefacts that were touched by the hand of a genius." Van Meegeren's

work has since come to be appreciated in its own right.

He has even inspired other forgers to fake his work, an example of

which was recently presented to the BBC's Antiques Roadshow, and

valued at only £200 to £300.

Convicted forger John Myatt has had a little of the same recognition.

He was arrested in 1995 for fraudulently selling around 200 paintings

in the style of modern masters. He claimed he didn't initially set out to

dupe art collectors, but after a fake sold at auction for £25,000, his

collaborator John Drew offered him half the cash in a brown

envelope. A partnership of crime had begun. Myatt painted fresh

works in the style of famous modern artists while Drew created false

paper trails, showing previous supposed sales. It was - according to

Scotland Yard - the start of "the biggest art fraud of the 20th

Century".

Myatt was convicted for conspiracy to defraud, and spent four months in Brixton prison. He now

legitimately sells his paintings in the style of famous artists, with "genuine fakes" written on the back.

But he believes 120 of his illegal forgeries are still in circulation.

This recently discovered 'Warhol' is under scrutiny by his brother

Like Van Meegeren, Myatt does not simply copy

famous works. His paintings are entirely new, but in

the style of a master. He says he "climbs into their

minds and lives" and searches for the inspiration

behind their work. Later this year he has an

exhibition in his own name and says people seem to

be "fascinated by fake paintings".

"There can be quite a lot of demand from people

who can't afford a Van Gogh but are looking for the

same aesthetic experience for a fraction of the

price." Pretentious critics and the "disgusting

amounts" of money changing hands can leave

people feeling alienated by the art world, he adds.

"People also like the idea that experts are fallible

and make mistakes."

Famous forgers

Han van Meegeren painted in style of Vermeer (his work is left, Vermeer's on right), estimated to have duped

buyers out of £65m in today's money

Tom Keating had own auction at Christie's and presented TV arts show

Eric Hebborn published guide to art forgery and had documentary made about his life

Geert Jan Jensen claims to have exposed the greed and hypocrisy of the art world through his forgeries

William Mumford jailed for two years in March, having created up to 1,000 paintings imitating artists such

as Francis Newton Souza, Maqbool Fida Husain, Kyffin Williams, John Tunnard and Sadanand K Bakre

Forgers have a certain charm because they are seen to be rebelling against the establishment, says

Philip Mould, art detective and presenter of BBC's Fake or Fortune.

Myatt's 'genuine fakes' sell for up to £45,000

He believes their outsider status captures the public imagination in a similar way that graffiti artist

Banksy has.

But he stresses that he finds this type of deception disgusting and says forgers are "unattractive

chancers" who will only ever make a fraction of the value of the masters they are copying.

"The world of fakery is shabby, venal and unromantic. It is just a slightly more glamorous form of

criminality."

Of course, even great masters have had their originality questioned. French impressionist Paul

Gauguin claimed that "art is either plagiarism or revolution".

Vernon Rapley, head of security at the V&A and formerly in charge of Scotland Yard's arts and

antiques unit, says that people's interest in criminal masterminds makes the world of art forgery

appeal to a wider audience than art lovers alone.

But he says it is wrong for forgers to benefit financially following criminal convictions for fraud.

The Emmaus painting, centre, at a Dutch museum Van Meegeren once conned

"There are thousands of art students who can do the same job [as forgers]. It is repugnant that

forgers are able to benefit from the notoriety of their crimes."

Myatt admits that his popularity may be a direct result of the crimes he committed. He says when he

came out of prison he had no interest in painting again but now accepts that "a good thing can come

out of something bad".

For some, Mould says, it may simply be the story behind a forged work of art that makes it so

appealing. The story is of a man tricking authority, but Myatt recognises his was not a crime without

victims.

"If I ever saw one of my paintings again I would just smile to myself and say nothing. What's the

point? The person selling it would lose a lot of money if I revealed it to be a fake, and that would be

an immoral thing to do."