What do you think of this fact?
A forger has to think of everything: the canvas, the frame, the style, the picture’s history. Wolfgang Beltracchi thought of almost everything. One tiny detail still brought him down.
A couple fools the art world
For decades, Wolfgang Beltracchi and his wife Helene forged paintings by famous artists. According to a CNN report, Beltracchi later claimed to have painted around 300 forgeries in the style of about 50 artists.
He didn’t copy known paintings. Instead, he invented new works that looked as if the artist had really painted them. According to CNN, the couple claimed the paintings came from the collection of Helene’s grandfather.
Betrayed by a paint
One of these pictures was “Red Picture with Horses”, supposedly by the painter Heinrich Campendonk from 1914. According to CNN, it sold for 2.8 million euros.
But during an examination, experts found titanium white in it. That white paint wasn’t available to buy in 1914. So the painting couldn’t possibly date from that time.
According to the finance magazine MoneyWeek, the pigment also turned up in a supposed Max Ernst. Its owner, French publisher Daniel Filipacchi, had paid 7 million US dollars for it.
Bonus fact: According to CNN, Beltracchi had run out of zinc white. He bought a Dutch pigment that didn’t say it contained titanium. A single paint purchase ended a decades-long career.
In 2011, the Beltracchis were convicted. According to CNN, Wolfgang Beltracchi got six years in prison, his wife four. They were convicted for 14 forgeries, even though there were probably many more.
To this day, there may still be Beltracchis hanging in museums or collections without anyone knowing. A pretty unsettling thought for anyone who paid a lot of money for art.