Collecting Art: Fakes, Forgeries and Copies

25 April 2021

So, you’ve decided you’d like to buy a work of art. You’ve explored various genres, styles and periods, set your budget and then you find out that there are fakes and forgeries, and the whole process of buying something for your walls is not as straightforward as you thought it would be.

In the last few months, fake works by Amadeo Modigliani, El Greco and Francisco de Goya that were about to be sold for over £10m were halted in Spain, a man in California was sentenced to five years in prison for trying to sell fakes by Andy Warhol, Keith Haring and other blue chip artists, and a fake Old Master portrait sold as a work by Frans Hals was the centre of a court dispute.

Fake works of art as well as copies have been around for a very long time. And trying to sell fakes is not a new practice but one that has caused a lot of complications and controversy over time. In order to understand the differences, it might be helpful to look at the terminology. Fake is used for something that is not what somebody claims it is and forgery indicates the act of crime, a specific work made in order to cheat people, which is different from simply making a copy of a well-known painting. Many artists have copied works by great masters either to practice the style, to explore how an artist made the composition and to show off their own mastery of different genres. A copy of an old master by a younger or modern artist for example is recognised as such and bears no resemblance to a forgery made to dupe, signed with a fake signature.

Forgeries are made to make money, lots of it, and whilst not produced to show the artist’s skills many forgers appear to have been disillusioned by the art world, often being trained artists themselves and not achieving the success they had hoped for or expected. As such forgeries can also be seen as revenge art, to spoof the art world.

If you are in a fortunate position to buy directly from an artist, which is often the case with emerging artists (whom we should all support!), then you do not need to worry about authenticity. However, if you are looking to buy at auction or in a gallery there are several things to look out for.

It is always prudent to ask for the history of the work, who owned it (this is what is known as ‘provenance’ in the art world), whether the work was exhibited somewhere, if it was recorded in an exhibition catalogue or in any other literature and whether it is signed or numbered. These factors are all considered when determining the value and importance of a work of art but also when it comes to establishing authenticity. It is crucial though to understand the whole oeuvre of an artist and the evidence or lack of a signature for example is not an indicator for all artists.

You’ll often see art experts turning a painting around even before looking at the actual work, this is to examine any labels on the reverse of the frame or any marks on the stretcher. The back of a painting is also looked at to see whether a canvas has been restored or lined (another canvas covering the original one for stability or to cover up damage). Certain chalk marks can indicate previous auction history and the evidence of many labels often means a fascinating history of the work.

When it comes to previous owners, it is always best to have a full picture; gaps in ownership are questionable. And whilst names of important owners can certainly add to the value of the work, some names may get alarm bells ringing, particularly when they are of galleries that have dealt in looted art or of affiliated accomplices, whether they possessed the work legitimately or not.

For works of art in less reputable auction houses or galleries, especially works from the Nineteenth and Twentieth Century I’d almost say that each work should be looked at with a ‘Buyer beware’ attitude; an untrained eye may not see the difference between an original work and a copy and for some artists there are many! As an example, it is often said that the French Nineteenth Century landscape painter Corot painted 3,000 works but that 5,000 are in private collections, indicating the amount of fakes, copies or works in a similar style that are on the market. I have seen many of those and experienced many unfortunate scenarios.

Some years ago, I was asked to value a work of art by an Italian master to determine whether it was worth more or less than the apartment it was in. Two sisters had inherited from their late father and one of the sisters was keen to have the painting. She already had a house, and it would remind her of her dad as it had hung above his chair for many years. The work had been acquired in the 1930s and was a study for a well-known painting in a national museum. I had seen a photo, I knew the measurements and I determined that it may well be the same value as the apartment if it were the real work but that I had to examine it in the flesh in order to provide an auction estimate. However, one brief look at the actual work and I knew I had to shatter her dreams. It was indeed the size of a known, unlocated study, but it was sadly a loosely overpainted image cut out from a newspaper at the time when the large original had been unveiled. Her work was therefore almost a painting by numbers. It was not hard for me to see this but no amount of explaining would convince the owner, it did not make sense to her especially not as it had been in her family so long. I dread to think the conversation that took place between the two sisters afterwards.

When it comes to Old Master paintings there is whole other layer of complexity to authenticity as attributions can change over time. For more modern artists, especially those of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries there is the benefit of the catalogue raisonné. These comprehensive catalogues detail the complete output of an artist in chronological order.  They will also include lost or unlocated works (always a draw for forgers) and they list previous auction history where known, the current location if the work is in a public collection or it may simply say ‘Private Collection’. If a work isn’t listed there are many expert committees, sometimes including descendants of the artist and those that compiled the oeuvre catalogue that will examine the work in the flesh and provide their verdict of authenticity.

Of course, if there is any dispute about authenticity there are many scientific tests that can be done to establish whether a work may be a fake or not. For modern works, a pigment analysis may not be conclusive as the same materials will have been used in the fake as those available in the artist’s studio but for older works it can be easier to determine. I’ve always found the study of pigments and artists’ materials fascinating; decades ago the less experienced forgers probably thought they would get away with simply using the same colour but a type of white or blue can indicate if a work was painted at the time or at a later date. Many forgers go out of their way to find old wood, old canvas and use other original materials however some drawings have been made to look original simply by soaking the fakes in tea.

How can you avoid buying a fake? My advice would be to always ask an independent expert or art advisor to have a look at the work for you, be 100% sure of the full provenance and ask for a certificate of authenticity and a guarantee. If a work turns out to be a fake, you’ll be sure to have your investment back.

Using an art advisor is always recommended if you are serious about building your collection. Not only to help you straddle the challenges of authenticity and provenance but also to ensure that you get a foot in the door of many galleries. What most new buyers do not realise is that works in galleries are not for sale to everyone who walks through the door. Many dealers and gallerists will sell certain works only to those collectors they know well to ensure the work is treated with respect and not bought for investment. They want to make sure that works are kept in collections for a while and not sold for a higher price a year or so later (the term for this in the art world is ‘flipping’ a business that makes no one happy other than the person making a quick buck). There are often waiting lists for in-demand artists and where you are on the list is no indicator of your chance of getting your hands on the work. Art advisors know the ins and outs of the artworld and can help make those valuable introductions.

This article was written for Salutions Magazine Group.