Forgers and Forgeries

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BY W. G. Constable CURATOR OF PAINTINGS MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, BOSTON
ART TREASURES OF THE WORLD NEW YORK AND TORONTO
ART TREASURES OF THE WORLD
100 SIXTH AVENUE, NEW YORK 13, N. Y.
IN CANADA: 1184 CASTLEFIELD AVENUE
TORONTO 10, ONTARIO
Printed in U. S. A. AT14 W
Copyright 1954 by Harry N. Abrams, Incorporated. Copyright in the United States and foreign countries under International Copyright Convention. All rights reserved under Pan-American Convention. No part of the contents of this book may be reproduced without the written permission of Harry N. Abrams, Incorporated. Printed in U.S.A.
The usual idea of a forgery is of something deliberately fabricated to appear to be what it is not; something conceived in sin, and carrying the taint of illegitimacy throughout its existence. In fact, however, many things made for quite innocent and even laudable purposes have been used to deceive and to defraud, by means of misrepresentation or subsequent manipulation. So the essential element in forgery lies in the way an object is presented, rather than in the purpose that inspired its making.
Still, it is objects made to deceive which have always held the center of the stage. Without doubt, the main motive for their manufacture is to make money. But often there is an element of drama, even of romance, in the way they come into existence. A famous example is a Sleeping Cupid which the young Michelangelo is supposed have carved in imitation of the work of classical antiquity and which, after being buried in the ground, was bought by a dealer and sold as an antique, being rated as such until its true origin was revealed. Though the element of deceit was present from the beginning, the primary purpose of the work was a challenge to the past; and it is significant that Michelangelo’s early biographers counted the success of the imposition to his credit, since it proved that he could successfully rival the sculptors of Greece and Rome.