Husband-and-wife Forgers Bag Jail Term Over Fake Artworks

Published: 2023-02-12
Views: 491
Author: Editorial
Published in: Law & Legal

The Beltracchis fraud  has been exposed after many years of painting fakes, fabricating evidence, and painstakingly cleaning their tracks.

CNN reports that this discovery set off a series of circumstances that would lead to the exposure of a multi-million dollar fraud that had deceived purchasers and galleries all over the world.

Their problem started when one of German husband-and-wife team, Wolfgang Beltracchi's works, "Red Picture with Horses," which had been misidentified as being by expressionist artist Heinrich Campendonk, had been sold at auction for a record-breaking 2.8 million euros (at the time, $3.6 million).

Titanium was detected in the picture through analysis, but it had only been used as a white pigment since the 1920s.

Wolfgang's artwork had made its way into both private collections and auction rooms, including that of actor Steve Martin.

Even professional art appraisers had been duped by the Beltracchis, or, as they later claimed, one of them had been paid a sum of money sufficient to effectively purchase his quiet.

After operating their businesses for more than 30 years, Wolfgang and Helene were each given prison terms of six and four years in 2011, respectively, however both were freed early.

Instead, he bought a zinc pigment from a Dutch vendor who didn't tell him it also contained titanium

In addition, they were mandated to pay 38 million euros worth of damages.

The pair, along with two associates, were convicted of forging 14 artworks. Dozens more were excluded from the trial due to statutes of limitations. But they claim to have produced around 300 fakes, many of which have never been conclusively identified.

Rare van Dyck painting sells for $3 million. The owner originally bought it for $600

Their success was rooted in meticulous research and an obsession with detail. Taking what they called "cultural trips," the couple traveled to locations where the artists they were emulating had painted, or to see original works in museums around the world. They also immersed themselves in the artists' letters and diaries, as well as the scholarship surrounding their work.

The fictitious history the duo created for their inventions were influenced by these investigations.

Although the paintings were mostly the product of Wolfgang's imagination, they frequently bore titles of known but regarded as lost works (for which no photos were available), thereby filling in any gaps in the canvases of artists without drawing attention to themselves.

The pair bought vintage frames and canvases at flea markets, and they even utilized a camera from the 1920s to shoot images of their creations that looked like they had been there for a while.