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Copying of famous works has happened from the time immemorial. Roman sculptors produced copies of Greek sculptures. Presumably the contemporary buyers knew that they were not genuine.
Before the commercial art market, copying a work of a master was considered a tribute, not a forgery. In the previous centuries, many painters like Rembrandt had workshops with apprentices that studied painting techniques by copying the works and style of the master. As a payment for the training, the master had a right to sell these works for money. Some of these works have been later erroneously attributed to the masters.
The art forgery became more prominent in the Renaissance when the interest of antiquities increased their value. This soon extended to contemporary and recently deceased artists. In the 16th century imitators of Albrecht Dürer's style of printmaking added signatures to them and thus increased the value of their own prints. These are currently considered forgeries. Some now famous artists, like Michelangelo, also created forgeries for their own reasons.
The 20th century the art market has favored artists like Salvador Dalí, Pablo Picasso, Klee and Matisse and they have been common targets of art forgery. Usually the forgeries are sold to art galleriesAn art gallery or art museum is a space for the exhibition of art, usually visual art, and usually primarily paintings and sculpture. It is also sometimes used as a location for the sale of art. Generally, the term art gallery is used to mean a building o and auction house s who cater to the tastes of art and antiquities collectors.
Copies, replicas, reproductions and pasticheThe word pastiche describes a literary or other artistic genre. The word has two competing meanings, both discussed below. Pastiche as imitation In much current usage, the term denotes a literary technique employing a generally light-hearted tongue-in-ches are legitimate works. They become forgeries when someone intentionally tries to pass them off as genuine items even if they know better.
Sometimes a difference of a legitimate copy and deliberate forgery is blurred. Guy HainGuy Hain ( is a French art forger who produced number of fake bronze sculptures. Guy Hain begun as a seller of veterinary products. In his job he met a number of veterinarians who had antique bronze sculptures of animals and developed an interest of them. used the original molds to create copies of Auguste Rodin's sculptures. What made them forgeries was that he signed them with the name of Rodin's original foundry.
Art forger must be at least somewhat proficient in the area he is trying to imitate. Many forgers have been fledgling artists that have tried to get a break into the art market and eventually resorted on forgery. Some forgers have borrowed the original items, copied it and given the copy to the original owners.
Although many art forgers are in he business solely for money, some have claimed that they have created forgeries to expose the credulity and snobbishness of the art world, essentially claiming that they have performed only hoaxA hoax is an attempt to trick an audience into believing that something false is real. Generally there is some material object involved, which is actually a forgery. Unlike a fraud or con (which usually has an audience of one or a few), which are made fores of exposure. These claims have usually surfaced after they have been caught.
Most forgers usually copy artists who are already dead, but the others may try to imitate still living artists. At May 2004, for example, Norwegian painter Kjell Nupen noticed that a Kristianstad gallery was selling unauthorized signed copies of his work.
If the dealer of the forged art is aware of the fraudulent nature of the item, they may end up exploiting the painter by threatening to expose them.
Some of the exposed forgers have later sold their work attributing them as honestly copies or selling them as their own work. Some forgers have actually gained enough notoriety to become famous for their own right. Forgeries painted by late Elmyr de HoryElmyr De Hory (1906-1976) was a famous Hungarian-born painter and art forger whose forgeries have become popular in their own right. He claimed to have sold over thousand forgeries all over the world. Most of the information we know about the first years have become valuable collectibles.