Sotheby's declares 'Frans Hals' work a forgery

[Eugene]

Source: BBC

Sotheby's declares 'Frans Hals' work a forgery

6 October 2016 Entertainment & Arts

A work thought to be by Dutch artist Frans Hals that sold for a reported £8.5m ($10.8m) has been declared fake.

Sotheby's said it had "rescinded the sale and reimbursed the client in full" after tests revealed the painting, An Unknown Man, was "undoubtedly" forged.

The investigation followed reports that a sophisticated forger is at large.

The forger is also believed responsible for a painting attributed to Italian master Orazio Gentileschi that was loaned to the National Gallery.

The painting, David Contemplating the Head of Goliath, was loaned to the gallery by its current owner in 2013 and was on display until March this year. It has since been returned.

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Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-37574411


[font size=1]The work was reportedly sold for £8.5m in 2011[/font]

[Nuclear Unicorn]

1. I understand it wouldn't be £8.5m but any artist that talented would still do quite well.

[Lochloosa]

2. That was my thought. If you are that good why fake it?

[angstlessk]

3. Not sure who discovered the forgery first, but...

husband and I contemplated this outrageously expensive painting, and wondered who first authenticated the painting? There goes his reputation, and his fee?

Then we thought, what if the purchaser had someone copy/forge the exact painting, then claim it's a forgery, thus getting his cash back AND keeping the original??

[whistler162]

4. If done by Han van Meegeren might be worth

something.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92483237

[CTyankee]

5. that story fascinated me. nothing he did looked remotely like vermeer yet he was wily enough to

come up with a story that sounded plausible to so many people. I guess people wanted to believe that there were more Vermeers in the world and bought this guy's story...