Trove of Old Master Paintings May Be Fakes in 'Biggest Art Scandal in a Century'
- October 04, 2016 13:21
A list of some 25 allegedly fake Old Master paintings worth around £200 million ($255 million) could soon be released after a judge ordered an investigation in the UK, reports the Daily Mail.
Among the works caught up in the controversy is an £8.4 million ‘Frans Hals’ that Sotheby's was forced to take back from a U.S. buyer.
Questions began about a number of recently sold Old Masters when a painting supposedly by German Renaissance master Lucas Cranach was seized by authorities at an exhibition in the South of France. According to the Daily Mail, "Venus," dated 1531, had been sold by the Colnaghi Gallery in London in 2013 to the Prince of Liechtenstein for £6 million and the painting is now being analyzed by Louvre experts.
The Cranach, Hals and other works have been traced to an unknown French dealer named Giulano Ruffini, 71, who insists, ‘I am a collector, not an expert.’
Art dealer Bob Haboldt said to the Daily Mail: ‘This is the biggest art scandal in a century. There has been nothing like this since the “early Vermeer” scandal of the 1940s [when doubt was cast on a number of pictures by the Dutch master].'
