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National Gallery announces exhibition of forged paintings
Ben Bailey21.07.09
An exhibition of forged and wrongly-attributed paintings is to be at the heart of the National Gallery's next summer season, it was announced today.
A number of works either produced as deliberate fakes or incorrectly thought to be works by great masters will be put on display to highlight the work of gallery researchers who determine the authenticity of items in the collection.
Gallery director Nicholas Penny said forged paintings were a vital part of the collection, as they enabled scholars to learn the techniques of the counterfeiters.
"I wish we had more fakes," he said.
"You only get good at spotting them if you know what you are looking for.
"The National Gallery is a place where we display great masterpieces and it's a place where we study art in all its complexity.
"It's really naive for people to think that having forgeries is something you should just be ashamed of."
Dr Penny said there were very few forged paintings produced with the express intention of deceiving people, but many copies of great paintings were made and then passed off by dealers as the real thing.
Among the works to be shown is a painting acquired by the gallery in the 1920s which was thought to be from the 15th century but has since been found to be a 20th century fake.
Reader views (2)
"I wish we had more fakes,". Maybe he has.....
- Graham, London
There is more to art than the price tag. The only people really concerned about forgeries are the people who have forgotten this. Museums have to deal with these people more frequently than they might wish, but there is no reason for them to fully capitulate. If the fake Leonardo is such tripe, let's put it on the wall so we can all see for ourselves.
- Bloke, London
