Part of the scam seems to be that pieces are loaned to museums for a few years so that they can add that to the item's provenance when they want to sell it through an auction house.
Stannous Flouride Correct. That’s why some museums refuse to take privately owned pieces on loan. Museums should be permanent repositories for artefacts, not promoters of the antiquities trade.
Yep. I know a guy who did exactly this at Yale. Loan it, cite the loan, bingo, you've got a prestigious history. In his case I'm not sure the art was even a fake, it just needed its provenance polished up.
Yes, that's real crafty and cunning. It's really sad that we can't enjoy buying and selling antiquities and antiques to the fullest because of criminals that fake things. There needs to be a law where if one is convicted of making forgeries of antiquities and antiques he or she will be imprisoned for life with no parole. No appeals and no deals either. I would ( just in case) like this man in the video, have all the fake stored somewhere until it can be examined thoroughly before destroying them.
The point is, they're not worthless. Experts are willing to pay big money for these pieces because they are still top quality. As a piece of art, they should still go for a good price, just not top money.
You can buy reproductions online of loads of antiquities, but once an object in a collection has been proven a fake it isn't sold on, simply because it could reappear on the market again. You'd be surprised how cheap some reproductions sell for.
Nick Farinacci Heck just paint them yourself. Most of that stuff looks like my 5 year old nephew painted them anyway. I’ll guarantee you nobody would even question it.
Rush's Tumor I can buy expensive art without a bank. Cash. Can’t do that with a house or land without raising red flags of your income and where it comes from. Banks are easier way to get caught than art. Paper trails are never good.
matanuska high I’m not saying your wrong about art being used to money launder, it’s common knowledge in collectors circles. but you might be surprised how often real estate is used, regardless if they have to take a few extra steps paper work wise. Just read about billionaires row for the most egregious examples
Larsanator if you find a seller willing to renegotiate after sale value agreed, possible. Needs help from selling agent as well to find suitable seller willing to take some clean some dirt cash
Still though, since its about circulation, you would expect there would be more than enough genuine antique art to buy at crazy prices to launder money.
the justification for this disproportionate ratio is that the heads, being the thickest part of the statue, are most likely to survive for 2-3 millennia.... they also tend to be made of higher quality/ purer material - as it's the most malleable on, since faces need more molding and detail work than the rest of the statue
They don't get the clue: every sculpture is easy to make a exact copy, with not so much effort, sculptors knew the difference, and that is professional secrets.After copy has been made, they do afterworks mastering original look, especial, at bronze sculpture.For many ordinary people....they dont know the difference between forgery and original, because its an art mastery.
Outside of being a great emperor, Augustus's one mistake should have led to that head examination. Letting his failed general brother in law take legions into Germany was a pretty bad one.
They're missing the boat - open up an art gallery/museum with only known fakes, showing how great the forgers were. You'd make more in ticket sales and pay far less for your displays.
Of course they sued you, You were making their art investment worthless. It was a matter of not losing their money. If the court can shut you up the rich will use it to nail you.
I have heard in art school that forgeries can sometimes be worth more than the originals simply because of the skill of the artist and the beautiful pieces they are able to make, that coupled with the "infamy" of certain forgers and you have value even in a forgery. For instance, did you hear how excited that man sounded when he said it was going to be the first forgery by The Spanish Master that he was able to examine. This "Spanish Master" is already making a name for himself based on the quality of his forgeries and soon it might be a "thing" to have some "exciting black market art" from a "famous forger". We are the ones that place value on objects based on our own criteria, if we decide that forgeries by The Spanish Master are valuable, then they will be. Edit: Museums really should only display the real ones as real, but since they have so many forgeries they should exhibit the forgeries in an exhibit of their own, a forgery room, maybe where they display the forgeries next to the real ones to show how realistic the forgers can make it, or how obviously fake.
@@DanWoodTomwoodson Michaelangelo started as an art forger. He was caught and could have been severely punished however the cardinal thought he was so talented that he hired him as a personal artist.
i'm 2 years late, but you'll be pleased to hear that there are a couple of "fake art" museums! there's one in the USA i think, and one in Austria if i'm not mistaken. lots of art forgers (ex-forgers) also have their fakes displayed in galleries (or sell them legally). John Myatt has his fakes in a London gallery, for example.
Really pains me to know these forgers are melting ancient coins to make fake art objects. Ancient coins handled by hundreds or thousands of humans, who are no longer alive, leave a tiny negative mark on a coin. Like the saddle seen in ancient stairs or the shine on the paw of a library lion.
...Roman empire lasted for 1000 years but sheer number or bronze heads is still remarkable to me. I mean what are the odds that there are so many heads and so few busts and are all in near perfect condition...
So.... The Art World knows ,collectively, that there is a forger, often recognized as The Spanish Master. He has been forging in specifically, Ancient Bronzes for 45 years., and possibly has made 300 pieces. Yet.... Not one Museum director will look critically at his own collection, and if confronted, will deny that HE has been duped. Not one Museum director will look critically at his colleagues' collections, and try to find any examples. Not one Museum director will even take a critical look at the collections of Museums they compete with. The more denial there is, and resistance to provenance, the bigger this issue becomes. Every high end collection world has this issue. Wine, Art, Manuscripts, Maps, even Automobiles. Why don't we get a national tour group together and go see all the Spanish Masters' works on display around the US? Waltz right into Museums, and tell the staff, "We are here to see just the Spanish Masters' works, please."
I know this is a comment you posted a while ago - but I'm just reading it now and I whole-heartedly agree. I think this is exactly what should happen. Kind of like the museum of counterfeits/forgeries in Thailand (I think its in Thailand... it might be Cambodia!).
The fine art world is a scam and I love forgeries being caught. It's like saying FU fo the rich bastard trying to get away with not paying taxes. I also think after they catch forgers they should go to the top of the art world and have a chance to prove themselves under their own style
This is SO much worse now than it was four years ago. And not just with sculpture or antiquities but with all types of art. With online bidding gaining in popularity, now, everyday people are spending their savings or inheritance money just to own one "museum piece" and they are falling for every fake out there. So sad!
if they produce art that moves people with emotion and beauty...they will hopefully be discovered and rewarded...if these qualities are absent...then that is usually reflected in the value buyers place on their work... ...Look at Warhol...Poons, Lichtenstein...Koons....Basquiat...even Jackson Pollock and Edward Hopper...etc....all sold for millions while still alive....Koons now sells for $50 million plus for his work..
@@zeroceiling stop the CAP. Many of the so called masterpieces were pretentious. You don't need to explain to someone why the art is important to incite appeal. Aesthetics is lost in art nowadays
8:11 "Even the best of us can fall for a fake... There's nothing more to say..." He definitely knew he would be sued if he even slightly implied that it was being intentionally passed off as real
Excellent documentary, so well filmed, and the montage too, someone is having fun, so much humour, the sequence with Chris Leon in the BMW with the Swiss landscape along operatic music is as funny as his entrance near Marseille (once theatres the Rolling Stones festive spirit) along 'Sympathy for the Devil'.
So it's typical for the "Spanish master" that he never succeeds in creating a "real" classical head. But maybe they do it all the time. Just that these pieces wouldn't be suspected.
The result of the super duper high radiation ct scan could be achieved simply by looking inside through the bottom of the head with an endoscope or camera to see that there was no patina there. What about for instance investigating the broken edge of the sculpture. A metallurgist versed in metal fatigue methods should be able to recognize when a surface came undone in one blow or a cut or was sculpted that way.
33:30-36:20 From the documentary, the CT scan took cross sectional scans of the entire bust. This would allow them to determine metal stress or fatigue lines from the inside to the outer layer. The material scientists present would have taken metal samples and chemically analyzed it. Modern material science is the product of a combination of discipline including metallurgy, chemistry, and physics. I think the documentary underplay the level of scientific sophistication that was needed to arrive at their conclusion.
@@taotzu1339 It would take several hours to educate an audience as to the specific techniques, the science behind them, and then their application within the context of the artists technique vs. that of the sophisticated art forger. I think those who understand the implications of conducting such a thorough analysis on the bust already have forgone the conclusion that any additional tests or means of positively confirming the result.
Anyone with an eye for detail can see fake bronze sculptures parading as antiques - as the sculptor has injected expressions and a bit of themselves into the work - it looks odd - whereas in antiquity the sculpture was totally form based and restricted in expression. Ultimately rich collectors don't care about whether an artwork is genuinely from antiquity or not - all they care about is its 'value on the art market' ....the real criminals are the 'ART Dealers' who pass on these fakes as real - or suggest them as possibly the real deal - the end result is always suggested at auction - 'caveat emptor' or buyer beware!!
Forgers do "exact copy" from the original, in that point is truth, never to be discovered because, if you want to "discover", you must have an artist knowledge!
I am so happy to read your comment on expression! It's the first thing I looked for - and found - in the first three minutes of this video. Who needs experts and x-rays? It's about feeling ... subtle energies and intuitions .. something's not quite right - ah! there it is - the mouth, the lips. I'm no expert, simply an art lover who's seen a lot of it , soul food. Can 'smell it' when something's off no matter how minute (Virgo Rising in my chart!). Thank you for "restricted in expression".
The "Spanish Master" also has difficulty rendering consistency in the eyes. In all the examples they showed, one eye was slightly higher than the other.
Yes, my impression exactly. The 'Spanish Master' has a style (an expression of themselves - who they are - like a fingerprint) and he/she can't help putting it into their work.
...but the expert can tell the difference. That's kind of the point of the documentary. They also say, quite validly, that you can't study history using forgeries.
its the thought and inspiration that created the image in the mind of the artist...so you are paying for a part of his soul...so to speak......a forgery on the other hand...is like a dead body...it still looks the same but some aspect of it is different...
They can definitely tell the difference and part of the reason for the doc was to show how they're being passed off intentionally regardless just for the cash
THEY JUST SED they have not had originals in that radiation testing!!! , you have to test EVERYTHING,, have a library of information to have this be """SCIENTIFIC"" do they have this information??? no they have opinion,,,,
Pertaining to the libel suit, the fact that the piece disappeared and even more revealing the fact the gentlemen has carried on with his public research says a lot about the outcome of the undisclosed settlement reached. I would confidently bet the decision went the way of it being a fake or that the case for it being a fake was very convincing and the plaintiff absolutely refused to allow any degree of independent validation of its legitimacy thus completely destroying their case and very likely resulting in their paying for fees and lost time of the defendant as an agreement to stop further public embarrassment that comes from a publicly known ruling against them.
It might be that the Spanish Master deliberately creates deviations from the real antique busts. If he is caught he can state in court that it is obvious that this statues are not genuine. That might help to reduce his sentence a bit.
"The Spanish Forger" is the name which was given to a forger active in the first decades of the twentieth century and who probably was Spanish. One picture he produced was alleged to show Columbus arriving on the American shore and you still see it used that way. It was sold to Wilfrid Voynich, a bookdealer then resident in London. He sold it to the British Museum/Library which realised it was a forgery. Voynich did the honourable thing and bought it back, though it has resurfaced since. The Spanish forger's title has just been re-used for the modern maker(s) of these heads.
36:00 Added to my other comment (Playing devils advocate here) but of course the insane of a sculpture the metallic alloy is going to appear less corroded... It has been sealed for god knows how long within itself. No air or sunlight gets to it. So unless the head was broken away from the bust around the same time as it was made (very rarely), then you can't just say "Its corroded more on the outside, therefore, must be a fake"... What a load of tosh
Head of Augustus from New York - Mouth too weak, like the 'model's teeth were too small. Artist struggled to get the eyes right, calculated break at neck. Hair is boring. Often pieces are too romantic. Frequently the eyes don't match.
What...and lose out on tens of thousands of dollars in commission? Not to mention ostracizing a member of the exclusive art/antiquities clique (which happen to be both buyers and sellers) thereby giving cold feet to other collectors who were thinking of putting their own items up for auction. This ripple effect could cost an auction house millions of $.
Berny, it only costs them the reputation in the whole network, that is if the buyer bleat this to the papers or higher up trustees. most times they are too embarrassed .
It does beg the question, doesn't it? However, those willing to buy a piece with murky provenance might be unwilling to bear the expense or be too naive or too trusting of their dealer to ask for the item in question to be studied as a possible forgery. The documentary did an excellent job of explaining how dealers get around this by not taking personal responsibility for the sale, etc. Also, as it's not a matter of simply doing a CT scan, you are involving a number of experts, and as we saw, a regular CT scan was too weak to "read" the interior of the head, and it also required expert interpretation, so that is a lot of expense and rare expert opinions, as gathered for this documentary. Why would one do that if one trusted their dealer and it had already been sold before as a believable antiquity? I believe these are some of the reasons why your question wouldn't result in this, as well as the reasons provided in the documentary. Other types of art might not benefit as much from a CT scan for determining if it's the genuine article. I'm thinking of some paintings. Although? in an attempt to properly "date" a canvas, I know some forgers have been known to paint over a canvas from the correct era, which would x-ray or CT scan as an underpainting and might provide a clue. But that alone might not be the smoking gun. Excellent documentary, btw... on a subject that I truly enjoy learning about and have been studying. Fascinating...very well presented doc.
They don't also have to because buyers want to think it's real, almost as if it's more important to get the bragging rights by owning something, it being authentic ain't that important if everyone thinks it's real and it serves it's purpose. Furthermore if you have owned something years and can't even retrack to seller, you don't want to hear you spend 200k on bullshit and look like a fool. This same stuff is happening in wine auctions, auction house wants the commission and buyer want's to think it's real so who is there to bring anybody in reality.
Am I to understand that after 2 CAT scans, someone decided to take a flashlight and look at the inside surface of the head and find out that the Spanish Master was too lazy to age that surface?
Who ever the Spanish is he should go legit.He could make a fortune selling his own works to the art world and not be afraid of hiding in some dark alley.
Such an interesting documentary. As an artist myself, I am always looking at the provenance of what it is I am buying even though it's on a different scale than these wonderful pieces of art or, fakes.
I've never heard a better case for using gut strings for early classical music. The wonderful countertenor whose voice is heard briefly is Philippe Jaroussky.
So who says these “experts” are always right about their views.....someone can make a lot of money by saying this or that piece is fake and that one I have is real.
Strange story. 20 years ago I was a sculpter, I was good but worked mostly in ceramics. At a show, a guy who seemed Turkish came up to me and asked if I worked in stone. I had absolutely no desire to chisel away at rock. He told me I should try and he'd pay me a lot for Greek and Roman busts because he has clients looking for them. He was pushy. He asked me if I think I could do this or that.. I said "Given enough time, probably and I'd hate every minute of it" He kept on me about it, gave me his card and walked off. Now it all makes sense.
I know this isn't murder or pedophilia, rape, or major drug dealing, but really these kinds of People need to be put in prison for life with no parole. Tampering with history ( lying about it ) is a terrible thing and can perturb the course of society and rob us of the knowledge of what we came out of, and what our ancestors were like. We need to get very serious about the penalties for the ones who commit forgery of antiques and antiquities.
I also liked how the archeologist admired the artistic quality of the fake bronze had. It only shows that for him, it is a matter of honest historical research rather than a question of whether he is allowed to like the piece :-)
Strong high Art market is not equal to a strong economy, it's a proxi. The population being productive should reflect a strong economy... though this is manipulated to reflect ones political wish.
They say that the sculptures would be immediately worthless should they be proven fake but aren't they at least worth something on merit alone? it's impressive art whether genuine or not.
"Worthless" was an exaggeration, but if a bronze head sold for 2 million is discovered to be a fake someone would be willing to pay one thousand for, it will seem almost worthless in comparison.
at 41:02, I got to the Met all the time, and I've seen that partiular bronze head in person; after watching the video, I can't help but realise how fake it looks, and on the description card, it even says something like 'private collection'! I would never have been suspicious before, but now it's too obvious to deny
I just wonder what percentage of museum pieces are in fact forgeries, whether art or statuary. No wonder it's such a lucrative market for forgers!! Does it look good?? Yeh. Put it on show. Who knows or cares.....
Eventually these will have value as fakes. Even the researchers said that they were beautiful and well done. They were just mad they were being passed off as historical pieces. If they were just sold as amazingly done bronze heads, they wouldn't have a problem.
Would it be possible to perform non-destructive metallurgical analyses on the sculptures. Bronzes May contain many different elements. Trace elements mined in one region of the world may rule out bronzes created of Roman Cesar’s. Use science to bring some credibility to this space.
I have one of them Elvis Presley paintings, the one on velvet and I know it’s the real thing. I got it at a garage sale. It was done by a Spanish master.
To pick up a piece of filth on the floor of a art exibition is concidered stealing, it might belong to a painting that needs restoration. Your question does not make sense.
For all of you saying the fakes are still an art: If a modern construction company cloned the Pyramids in the Mexican desert, would you pay for them anywhere more than the construction cost?
The Getty Museum Kouros was cited by many as a fine example of ancient art, when now it is considered a forgery. As for paintings, there may be computerized scanning techniques that match the number and characteristics of brushstrokes in a painting with the actual pattern of the famous artist (in addition to researching materials, age, etc.)
The confounding thing (for collectors of these figures) which I've noticed about the "Kouros" type, as you can observe in the ones held in the Acropolis Museum or the Athens Archaeological Museum is that so many look like copies of one another.
It is deeply in bedded in human nature that cheating is the surest way to make a quick profit. It's not going to change in any way. It's like trying to stop men from checking out women's backend.
Fakes don't really bother me. You still purchased something beautiful, you just over paid for it. Kudos to the Spanish master for his ability to fool so many. However, the documentary was excellent.
That's all very postmodern of you but I couldn't disagree more strongly. Fakes, like these, distort our knowledge and understanding of history. In a world where truth is becoming ever-more difficult to decipher, it is imperative that all efforts are made to determine the authenticity of historical artifacts. They are, after all, our last connections to our ancient past.
I wouldnt say hes fooling anyone, hes just the same artist as the antiquity guys and to me his imitations copies or works or whatever u want to call it is worth the same as that 2000 year old junk. To me anyway. People only care about it cause they put a huge value to it.
@@Andytlp I´m guessing you´re not European? "He´s just the same artist as the antiquity ones" - nope, he isn´t. He has a different idea of beauty, has a totally different relationship with the person he´s portraying. Those things always show up. I can look at the original Augustus and tell the sculptor had WAY more respect (or fear) for him than the forger. Also, forgeries can distort our knowledge of the past. The two Augusti look very similar, but the genuine Augustus looks Italian to me. The fake one looks more like Central European or French. If there were many forgeries like this, people might start forming weird theories about the looks or origins of Ancient Romans. Italians would feel like their identity is being threatened, and BAM! we might have a war. National identities are a sensitive topic in Europe. And, sometimes, a question of your very existence. Just look at Ukrainians, how livid they get whenever Russians question their origin and culture.
How do you know the art expert isn't a fake he could just be jealous that's how he's making a living if people want to buy a fake so be it they don't know everything 1000s of years ago they must of had good artist and bad artist you only have to look at paintings that sell for millions that are utter crap
Fascinating and pretty sobering. I wonder how many forgeries have I seen back when I was living and travelling through Western Europe? Thanks for sharing this documentary.
And what a different would it make ? Did you buy some ? By the look, they all beautiful, that's what you did , looked them , right ? The forger / artist created a master piece for you to see . So , from your view point , doesn't make any difference . The difference is in the price ,what you have nothing to do with ! Right ? 😀
Part of the scam seems to be that pieces are loaned to museums for a few years so that they can add that to the item's provenance when they want to sell it through an auction house.
Stannous Flouride
Correct. That’s why some museums refuse to take privately owned pieces on loan. Museums should be permanent repositories for artefacts, not promoters of the antiquities trade.
You are right, he mentioned that at the end of the video.
I forgot I've already watched this. :-)
Yep. I know a guy who did exactly this at Yale. Loan it, cite the loan, bingo, you've got a prestigious history. In his case I'm not sure the art was even a fake, it just needed its provenance polished up.
Yes, that's real crafty and cunning. It's really sad that we can't enjoy buying and selling antiquities and antiques to the fullest because of criminals that fake things. There needs to be a law where if one is convicted of making forgeries of antiquities and antiques he or she will be imprisoned for life with no parole. No appeals and no deals either. I would ( just in case) like this man in the video, have all the fake stored somewhere until it can be examined thoroughly before destroying them.
Note to self: remember to age inside of sculpture the same as the outside.
-Spanish Master
Probably won’t show up in his UA-cam recommendations for at least another 5 years
Ah ha! I’ve found you!!
@@justinmartin4662 HE'S not the GENUINE Spanish Master.
@@johnllewlyndavies222 He's the Spanish Master forged by the Spanish Master..oh wait.
There’s a reason for that... ancient Turtle Wax. Made from real turtles
so how do I go about buying worthless proven forgeries for next to nothing, because Id love to decorate my house with certified fakes for dirt cheap.
The point is, they're not worthless. Experts are willing to pay big money for these pieces because they are still top quality. As a piece of art, they should still go for a good price, just not top money.
@@magichands135 I disagree, no expert would spend big money on a known fake.
You can buy reproductions online of loads of antiquities, but once an object in a collection has been proven a fake it isn't sold on, simply because it could reappear on the market again. You'd be surprised how cheap some reproductions sell for.
Nick Farinacci Heck just paint them yourself. Most of that stuff looks like my 5 year old nephew painted them anyway. I’ll guarantee you nobody would even question it.
Go to any art museum basement and make cash offers. Over 65 percent of everything down there is bogus.
The reason everyone is tight lipped and says nothing is because Art Dealing is really Money Laundering.
Exactly.....
Rush's Tumor I can buy expensive art without a bank. Cash. Can’t do that with a house or land without raising red flags of your income and where it comes from. Banks are easier way to get caught than art. Paper trails are never good.
matanuska high I’m not saying your wrong about art being used to money launder, it’s common knowledge in collectors circles. but you might be surprised how often real estate is used, regardless if they have to take a few extra steps paper work wise. Just read about billionaires row for the most egregious examples
Larsanator if you find a seller willing to renegotiate after sale value agreed, possible. Needs help from selling agent as well to find suitable seller willing to take some clean some dirt cash
Still though, since its about circulation, you would expect there would be more than enough genuine antique art to buy at crazy prices to launder money.
With all these heads on the market, you'd expect an equally vast market for separated torsos and limbs...
Authentic, but low-value body fragments would be the perfect material to melt down for a million-dollar fake head. I wonder ...are there any left ?
LOL
the justification for this disproportionate ratio is that the heads, being the thickest part of the statue, are most likely to survive for 2-3 millennia.... they also tend to be made of higher quality/ purer material - as it's the most malleable on, since faces need more molding and detail work than the rest of the statue
Well I have a fake torso I know I could sell if only someone would lend me a hand or two.
Ba-dum-chh
Good job Dr Stefan Lehmann - we need more people with integrity like you.
Purchasing antiquity sculptures a lot are you to need a professional appraisal?
Nothing is as it seens...
Anti-Indiana Jones: 'That doesn't belong in a museum!'
Ha, they should make a new film where he's stealing these from museums and taking them to a scrapyard.
Indi-anti? I named the dog Indi-anti!
If I had the Spanish Master's talent.....I would have done a little more research...
BETTER yet, I would have started My Own ART career and Become a Famous ARTIST!!
He or she likely creates what sells well, not what looks convincing. There is almost no overlap between these categories.
...mastering any craft takes time, so does reasearching history. I guess one has too little of if to master both...
Why bother? It all sold.
They don't get the clue: every sculpture is easy to make a exact copy, with not so much effort, sculptors knew the difference, and that is professional secrets.After copy has been made, they do afterworks mastering original look, especial, at bronze sculpture.For many ordinary people....they dont know the difference between forgery and original, because its an art mastery.
"So Augustus will have to have his head examined again"
I noticed and enjoyed that one, too!
Outside of being a great emperor, Augustus's one mistake should have led to that head examination. Letting his failed general brother in law take legions into Germany was a pretty bad one.
They're missing the boat - open up an art gallery/museum with only known fakes, showing how great the forgers were. You'd make more in ticket sales and pay far less for your displays.
Great idea!
My God, you're a goddamned genius!!! They are TRULY missing the boat!!! Wow!!! Great idea!!!
There have been exhibits dedicated to forged art. Specifically the Spanish master. Some of his known forgeries are still worth good money
Good idea, probably against the law in most countries though 🤷🏼♂️
@@xanderx8661 4564
Of course they sued you, You were making their art investment worthless. It was a matter of not losing their money. If the court can shut you up the rich will use it to nail you.
Luckily, this documentary is genuine -- no doubt about that!
Nope, forged camera was utilised
Has your account been subject to forensic analysis?
Absolutely fantastic documentary! Do more stuff like this please.
The Alexander looks like something you'd pick up in a good gardening centre.
😂😂😂😂
I have heard in art school that forgeries can sometimes be worth more than the originals simply because of the skill of the artist and the beautiful pieces they are able to make, that coupled with the "infamy" of certain forgers and you have value even in a forgery. For instance, did you hear how excited that man sounded when he said it was going to be the first forgery by The Spanish Master that he was able to examine. This "Spanish Master" is already making a name for himself based on the quality of his forgeries and soon it might be a "thing" to have some "exciting black market art" from a "famous forger". We are the ones that place value on objects based on our own criteria, if we decide that forgeries by The Spanish Master are valuable, then they will be.
Edit: Museums really should only display the real ones as real, but since they have so many forgeries they should exhibit the forgeries in an exhibit of their own, a forgery room, maybe where they display the forgeries next to the real ones to show how realistic the forgers can make it, or how obviously fake.
Forgers were imitating the work of Van Meegeren, a forger himself.
In the Royal Armouries in Leeds UK, several forgeries of medieval items are displayed in this way, in their own exhibition of fakes.
@@DanWoodTomwoodson Michaelangelo started as an art forger. He was caught and could have been severely punished however the cardinal thought he was so talented that he hired him as a personal artist.
i'm 2 years late, but you'll be pleased to hear that there are a couple of "fake art" museums! there's one in the USA i think, and one in Austria if i'm not mistaken. lots of art forgers (ex-forgers) also have their fakes displayed in galleries (or sell them legally). John Myatt has his fakes in a London gallery, for example.
@quistwing Nice! I'll have to check those out, thank you!
What an eye opener. Excellent documentary. This is a must watch for all those with a passion for ancient art works.
Or to all forger wannabe 😀
@@laz5590 Yeah I think I went into the wrong business. I need to start forging art lol
There are plenty of forgeries of modern works, too.
Or to people who love conmen . I love forgery bank robbery & counterfeit money . I've missed my calling .
Have you watched the biggest art con of the 20th century ?
Fakes in the art world is an astonishing documentary! I truly did appreciate it so much. Thanks a lot for sharing! Keep it up!
old new who cares
@@williamnordeste9653 you do enough to of left a comment
Welcome to the art world: where everything is made up and the points dont matter!
Alex because it is subjective. The process of making art is meaningful but money and the current culture make it impure.
That's funny!! Drew friggin carie
Really pains me to know these forgers are melting ancient coins to make fake art objects. Ancient coins handled by hundreds or thousands of humans, who are no longer alive, leave a tiny negative mark on a coin. Like the saddle seen in ancient stairs or the shine on the paw of a library lion.
Augustus looked shocked when he heard he was fake.. 😂😂😂
😂😂😂😂😂
Excellent video. Very interesting, informative and worthwhile video.
...Roman empire lasted for 1000 years but sheer number or bronze heads is still remarkable to me. I mean what are the odds that there are so many heads and so few busts and are all in near perfect condition...
there were so many bronze heads in the streets of rome you could hardly walk
Conveniently for these Bronze heads, radio-Carbon C14 dating will not work as it's only possible for organic textures...
At the end of the day, 'masterpieces' aren't about art... they're about age. In a thousand years, the Spanish master will be worth millions !
The " Spanish Forger", is passing down his " craft of how to " onto younger brillant and talented people, whom are making sculptures ......
So....
The Art World knows ,collectively, that there is a forger, often recognized as The Spanish Master.
He has been forging in specifically, Ancient Bronzes for 45 years., and possibly has made 300 pieces.
Yet....
Not one Museum director will look critically at his own collection, and if confronted, will deny that HE has been duped.
Not one Museum director will look critically at his colleagues' collections, and try to find any examples.
Not one Museum director will even take a critical look at the collections of Museums they compete with.
The more denial there is, and resistance to provenance, the bigger this issue becomes.
Every high end collection world has this issue.
Wine, Art, Manuscripts, Maps, even Automobiles.
Why don't we get a national tour group together and go see all the Spanish Masters' works on display around the US?
Waltz right into Museums, and tell the staff, "We are here to see just the Spanish Masters' works, please."
I know this is a comment you posted a while ago - but I'm just reading it now and I whole-heartedly agree. I think this is exactly what should happen. Kind of like the museum of counterfeits/forgeries in Thailand (I think its in Thailand... it might be Cambodia!).
I love it, a great idea.
MarkH10 isn’t it grand when these so-called art collectors’ egos are so fragile that they are in denial about their own collection of art forgeries?
The fine art world is a scam and I love forgeries being caught. It's like saying FU fo the rich bastard trying to get away with not paying taxes.
I also think after they catch forgers they should go to the top of the art world and have a chance to prove themselves under their own style
This is SO much worse now than it was four years ago. And not just with sculpture or antiquities but with all types of art. With online bidding gaining in popularity, now, everyday people are spending their savings or inheritance money just to own one "museum piece" and they are falling for every fake out there. So sad!
If people cared to buy art from alive artists then maybe artists wouldn’t have to make copies and fake old art
if they produce art that moves people with emotion and beauty...they will hopefully be discovered and rewarded...if these qualities are absent...then that is usually reflected in the value buyers place on their work...
...Look at Warhol...Poons, Lichtenstein...Koons....Basquiat...even Jackson Pollock and Edward Hopper...etc....all sold for millions while still alive....Koons now sells for $50 million plus for his work..
@@zeroceiling stop the CAP. Many of the so called masterpieces were pretentious. You don't need to explain to someone why the art is important to incite appeal. Aesthetics is lost in art nowadays
8:11 "Even the best of us can fall for a fake... There's nothing more to say..." He definitely knew he would be sued if he even slightly implied that it was being intentionally passed off as real
He was probably framed!!
A small group of super rich ripping off and cheating other super rich..good! How cares let them keep going.
Excellent documentary, so well filmed, and the montage too, someone is having fun, so much humour, the sequence with Chris Leon in the BMW with the Swiss landscape along operatic music is as funny as his entrance near Marseille (once theatres the Rolling Stones festive spirit) along 'Sympathy for the Devil'.
Thank you for your feedback! We always appreciate it :)
Pure class!!!
So it's typical for the "Spanish master" that he never succeeds in creating a "real" classical head. But maybe they do it all the time. Just that these pieces wouldn't be suspected.
They should just have a museum of known forgers.
That would be very cool! I would absolutely visit. They're part of the history of Earth
There is one in Vienna
Soundtrack from “The Talented Mr. Ripley”
The result of the super duper high radiation ct scan could be achieved simply by looking inside through the bottom of the head with an endoscope or camera to see that there was no patina there.
What about for instance investigating the broken edge of the sculpture. A metallurgist versed in metal fatigue methods should be able to recognize when a surface came undone in one blow or a cut or was sculpted that way.
33:30-36:20 From the documentary, the CT scan took cross sectional scans of the entire bust. This would allow them to determine metal stress or fatigue lines from the inside to the outer layer. The material scientists present would have taken metal samples and chemically analyzed it. Modern material science is the product of a combination of discipline including metallurgy, chemistry, and physics. I think the documentary underplay the level of scientific sophistication that was needed to arrive at their conclusion.
@@taotzu1339 It would take several hours to educate an audience as to the specific techniques, the science behind them, and then their application within the context of the artists technique vs. that of the sophisticated art forger. I think those who understand the implications of conducting such a thorough analysis on the bust already have forgone the conclusion that any additional tests or means of positively confirming the result.
You only have to read the several 'disclaimer' pages at the end of an auction catalogue to get an idea of the mentality of these institutions !
Anyone with an eye for detail can see fake bronze sculptures parading as antiques - as the sculptor has injected expressions and a bit of themselves into the work - it looks odd - whereas in antiquity the sculpture was totally form based and restricted in expression. Ultimately rich collectors don't care about whether an artwork is genuinely from antiquity or not - all they care about is its 'value on the art market' ....the real criminals are the 'ART Dealers' who pass on these fakes as real - or suggest them as possibly the real deal - the end result is always suggested at auction - 'caveat emptor' or buyer beware!!
Forgers do "exact copy" from the original, in that point is truth, never to be discovered because, if you want to "discover", you must have an artist knowledge!
I am so happy to read your comment on expression! It's the first thing I looked for - and found - in the first three minutes of this video. Who needs experts and x-rays? It's about feeling ... subtle energies and intuitions .. something's not quite right - ah! there it is - the mouth, the lips. I'm no expert, simply an art lover who's seen a lot of it , soul food. Can 'smell it' when something's off no matter how minute (Virgo Rising in my chart!). Thank you for "restricted in expression".
The "Spanish Master" also has difficulty rendering consistency in the eyes. In all the examples they showed, one eye was slightly higher than the other.
Yes, my impression exactly. The 'Spanish Master' has a style (an expression of themselves - who they are - like a fingerprint) and he/she can't help putting it into their work.
Is there an exhibition somewhere about the „Spanish Master“? I would love to visit it.
if an expert cant tell the difference between a fake and the real thing,
then the fakes are just a good as the real thing.
...but the expert can tell the difference. That's kind of the point of the documentary. They also say, quite validly, that you can't study history using forgeries.
@@EGarrett01 It's like using counterfeit money instead of real money
its the thought and inspiration that created the image in the mind of the artist...so you are paying for a part of his soul...so to speak......a forgery on the other hand...is like a dead body...it still looks the same but some aspect of it is different...
They can definitely tell the difference and part of the reason for the doc was to show how they're being passed off intentionally regardless just for the cash
Are you sure the Spanish Master is not actually Chinese, i mean those guys can copy anything like nobody's business...😁😁😁
I dunno if it’s the translation but the art dealer at 4:08 made me laugh. I love how he talks.
german guy so impressed you'd think he's the one making them...
What a great documentary. Very well done, and absolutely jaw-dropping to think so many forgeries are being shown as authentic.
THEY JUST SED they have not had originals in that radiation testing!!! , you have to test EVERYTHING,, have a library of information to have this be """SCIENTIFIC"" do they have this information??? no they have opinion,,,,
Pertaining to the libel suit, the fact that the piece disappeared and even more revealing the fact the gentlemen has carried on with his public research says a lot about the outcome of the undisclosed settlement reached. I would confidently bet the decision went the way of it being a fake or that the case for it being a fake was very convincing and the plaintiff absolutely refused to allow any degree of independent validation of its legitimacy thus completely destroying their case and very likely resulting in their paying for fees and lost time of the defendant as an agreement to stop further public embarrassment that comes from a publicly known ruling against them.
It might be that the Spanish Master deliberately creates deviations from the real antique busts. If he is caught he can state in court that it is obvious that this statues are not genuine. That might help to reduce his sentence a bit.
"The Spanish Forger" is the name which was given to a forger active in the first decades of the twentieth century and who probably was Spanish. One picture he produced was alleged to show Columbus arriving on the American shore and you still see it used that way. It was sold to Wilfrid Voynich, a bookdealer then resident in London. He sold it to the British Museum/Library which realised it was a forgery. Voynich did the honourable thing and bought it back, though it has resurfaced since. The Spanish forger's title has just been re-used for the modern maker(s) of these heads.
36:00 Added to my other comment (Playing devils advocate here) but of course the insane of a sculpture the metallic alloy is going to appear less corroded... It has been sealed for god knows how long within itself. No air or sunlight gets to it. So unless the head was broken away from the bust around the same time as it was made (very rarely), then you can't just say "Its corroded more on the outside, therefore, must be a fake"... What a load of tosh
Head of Augustus from New York - Mouth too weak, like the 'model's teeth were too small. Artist struggled to get the eyes right, calculated break at neck. Hair is boring. Often pieces are too romantic. Frequently the eyes don't match.
Tha false antique heads could allways be showen in a garden surounded by flowers just foe decoration sake .
Very interesting information. One would think that the auction houses would do a CT scan on the sculptures before putting them out on the market.
Too expensive
What...and lose out on tens of thousands of dollars in commission? Not to mention ostracizing a member of the exclusive art/antiquities clique (which happen to be both buyers and sellers) thereby giving cold feet to other collectors who were thinking of putting their own items up for auction. This ripple effect could cost an auction house millions of $.
Berny, it only costs them the reputation in the whole network, that is if the buyer bleat this to the papers or higher up trustees. most times they are too embarrassed .
It does beg the question, doesn't it? However, those willing to buy a piece with murky provenance might be unwilling to bear the expense or be too naive or too trusting of their dealer to ask for the item in question to be studied as a possible forgery. The documentary did an excellent job of explaining how dealers get around this by not taking personal responsibility for the sale, etc.
Also, as it's not a matter of simply doing a CT scan, you are involving a number of experts, and as we saw, a regular CT scan was too weak to "read" the interior of the head, and it also required expert interpretation, so that is a lot of expense and rare expert opinions, as gathered for this documentary. Why would one do that if one trusted their dealer and it had already been sold before as a believable antiquity? I believe these are some of the reasons why your question wouldn't result in this, as well as the reasons provided in the documentary.
Other types of art might not benefit as much from a CT scan for determining if it's the genuine article. I'm thinking of some paintings. Although? in an attempt to properly "date" a canvas, I know some forgers have been known to paint over a canvas from the correct era, which would x-ray or CT scan as an underpainting and might provide a clue. But that alone might not be the smoking gun.
Excellent documentary, btw... on a subject that I truly enjoy learning about and have been studying. Fascinating...very well presented doc.
They don't also have to because buyers want to think it's real, almost as if it's more important to get the bragging rights by owning something, it being authentic ain't that important if everyone thinks it's real and it serves it's purpose. Furthermore if you have owned something years and can't even retrack to seller, you don't want to hear you spend 200k on bullshit and look like a fool. This same stuff is happening in wine auctions, auction house wants the commission and buyer want's to think it's real so who is there to bring anybody in reality.
Am I to understand that after 2 CAT scans, someone decided to take a flashlight and look at the inside surface of the head and find out that the Spanish Master was too lazy to age that surface?
Who ever the Spanish is he should go legit.He could make a fortune selling his own works to the art world and not be afraid of hiding in some dark alley.
Excellent cinematography.
@Rahim Muy excelente !
The good news is that your sculpture is genuine. The bad news is that it is now highly radioactive.
Radiation doesn't cause radiated items to become radioactive.
I like the song Radioactive, from the 80's.
what a stupid comment ....clearly u understated nothing fro what they said
Made in India..
Such an interesting documentary. As an artist myself, I am always looking at the provenance of what it is I am buying even though it's on a different scale than these wonderful pieces of art or, fakes.
Thanks for watching and for sharing your thoughts on the topic. We’re glad you liked the documentary.
lots of painting on ameican museum are fake . but they dont declare it to keep their prestige
I would pay to be an apprentice... The Spanish master... What a legend
OUr museum haz a couple pictures by rembrandt and those are nat on display ,nat sure why
Informative. I had longed to watch a documentary on this topic. I request for a similar one made on painting. Thank you DW!
There have been several documentaries on fake paintings from the 'Masters' over the decades. They are indeed fascinating!
I’m willing to bet they all fake some just faker than others
everyone knows art is a way to launder money
I'm going to start making fake Spanish Master works.
And the music at the beginning, a subtle joke - Scherza Infida - from Handel's Ariodante. Icing on the cake
Thank you. I was looking for this specifically.
I've never heard a better case for using gut strings for early classical music. The wonderful countertenor whose voice is heard briefly is Philippe Jaroussky.
So who says these “experts” are always right about their views.....someone can make a lot of money by saying this or that piece is fake and that one I have is real.
Strange story. 20 years ago I was a sculpter, I was good but worked mostly in ceramics. At a show, a guy who seemed Turkish came up to me and asked if I worked in stone. I had absolutely no desire to chisel away at rock. He told me I should try and he'd pay me a lot for Greek and Roman busts because he has clients looking for them. He was pushy. He asked me if I think I could do this or that.. I said "Given enough time, probably and I'd hate every minute of it" He kept on me about it, gave me his card and walked off. Now it all makes sense.
I love how he said “this is so fake it stinks!” 😂😂😂😂😂😂
The EARS are a dead giveaway on that fake bronze Augustus
The content of this channel never ceases to amaze me. Brilliant!!
whatever happened with just Carbon 14 dating? that would immediately tell them if its even the correct age!
Great documentary.
I know this isn't murder or pedophilia, rape, or major drug dealing, but really these kinds of People need to be put in prison for life with no parole. Tampering with history ( lying about it ) is a terrible thing and can perturb the course of society and rob us of the knowledge of what we came out of, and what our ancestors were like. We need to get very serious about the penalties for the ones who commit forgery of antiques and antiquities.
Everything is fake! Give your money to us instead.
Errr... Sherlock Holmes never wore a "deerstalker". Oh, right: Oscar White Muscarella was being ironic with his print?.....
I also liked how the archeologist admired the artistic quality of the fake bronze had. It only shows that for him, it is a matter of honest historical research rather than a question of whether he is allowed to like the piece :-)
but the real question is,who is this elusive SPANISH MASTER? Can a documentary be made about him and his alleged exploits?
I imagine this Spanish master reading Lehmann's book and taking lots of notes.
Strong high Art market is not equal to a strong economy, it's a proxi. The population being productive should reflect a strong economy... though this is manipulated to reflect ones political wish.
They say that the sculptures would be immediately worthless should they be proven fake but aren't they at least worth something on merit alone? it's impressive art whether genuine or not.
Probably not. Its like a knock off Louis Vuitton handbag. Not even worth 10% of the original
@@drshaynescott yeah but a sculpture takes a lot more time and effort than a leather handbag.
"Worthless" was an exaggeration, but if a bronze head sold for 2 million is discovered to be a fake someone would be willing to pay one thousand for, it will seem almost worthless in comparison.
Unless you’re a wealthy art collector, this is not your problem. The wealthy fooling the wealthy...good one...hahahaha.
Carbon dating can be done. Oxidation of metals can accurately work.
Not really. One never knows the conditions in which the piece was kept. By the sea? In a dry climate? Under sand for a thousand years?
at 41:02, I got to the Met all the time, and I've seen that partiular bronze head in person; after watching the video, I can't help but realise how fake it looks, and on the description card, it even says something like 'private collection'! I would never have been suspicious before, but now it's too obvious to deny
Mention to the Curator in passing how fine an example of The Spanish Master he has.
I just wonder what percentage of museum pieces are in fact forgeries, whether art or statuary. No wonder it's such a lucrative market for forgers!! Does it look good?? Yeh. Put it on show. Who knows or cares.....
beautiful opera recording in the intro- anyone know the recording and artist?
Eventually these will have value as fakes. Even the researchers said that they were beautiful and well done. They were just mad they were being passed off as historical pieces. If they were just sold as amazingly done bronze heads, they wouldn't have a problem.
this is exactly why the free market should NOT be dealing in works of archeological importance.
No, this is why people need to research what they buy.
Would it be possible to perform non-destructive metallurgical analyses on the sculptures. Bronzes May contain many different elements. Trace elements mined in one region of the world may rule out bronzes created of Roman Cesar’s. Use science to bring some credibility to this space.
strange how it's not possible to date the material by sample analysis, microscope or other means. carbon / material fibre dating not possible?
They did that!!!!!
I have one of them Elvis Presley paintings, the one on velvet and I know it’s the real thing. I got it at a garage sale. It was done by a Spanish master.
So if a forgery is worthless, is it a crime to steal art if it's determined to be a forgery?
If i steal your shoes, is it still count as a crime?
Stealing isn't allowed.
To pick up a piece of filth on the floor of a art exibition is concidered stealing, it might belong to a painting that needs restoration. Your question does not make sense.
worth has NOTHING to do with stealing.
Looked to me Stephan like you'd got yourself a bronze cast of a very young Kenny Dalglish on your hands there mate.😜
Academics and scientists stepping in to the art market racket and telling forgers they are on their radar. I love it.
For all of you saying the fakes are still an art: If a modern construction company cloned the Pyramids in the Mexican desert, would you pay for them anywhere more than the construction cost?
The Getty Museum Kouros was cited by many as a fine example of ancient art, when now it is considered a forgery. As for paintings, there may be computerized scanning techniques that match the number and characteristics of brushstrokes in a painting with the actual pattern of the famous artist (in addition to researching materials, age, etc.)
Always look at the edges.... that is where you will find an original painting vs a Forgery....
The confounding thing (for collectors of these figures) which I've noticed about the "Kouros" type, as you can observe in the ones held in the Acropolis Museum or the Athens Archaeological Museum is that so many look like copies of one another.
It is deeply in bedded in human nature that cheating is the surest way to make a quick profit. It's not going to change in any way. It's like trying to stop men from checking out women's backend.
Fakes don't really bother me. You still purchased something beautiful, you just over paid for it. Kudos to the Spanish master for his ability to fool so many. However, the documentary was excellent.
That's all very postmodern of you but I couldn't disagree more strongly. Fakes, like these, distort our knowledge and understanding of history. In a world where truth is becoming ever-more difficult to decipher, it is imperative that all efforts are made to determine the authenticity of historical artifacts. They are, after all, our last connections to our ancient past.
That's like saying, "I don't mind if people lie to me and cheat me all the time."
I wouldnt say hes fooling anyone, hes just the same artist as the antiquity guys and to me his imitations copies or works or whatever u want to call it is worth the same as that 2000 year old junk. To me anyway. People only care about it cause they put a huge value to it.
@@Andytlp I´m guessing you´re not European? "He´s just the same artist as the antiquity ones" - nope, he isn´t. He has a different idea of beauty, has a totally different relationship with the person he´s portraying. Those things always show up.
I can look at the original Augustus and tell the sculptor had WAY more respect (or fear) for him than the forger.
Also, forgeries can distort our knowledge of the past. The two Augusti look very similar, but the genuine Augustus looks Italian to me. The fake one looks more like Central European or French.
If there were many forgeries like this, people might start forming weird theories about the looks or origins of Ancient Romans. Italians would feel like their identity is being threatened, and BAM! we might have a war. National identities are a sensitive topic in Europe. And, sometimes, a question of your very existence. Just look at Ukrainians, how livid they get whenever Russians question their origin and culture.
How do you know the art expert isn't a fake he could just be jealous that's how he's making a living if people want to buy a fake so be it they don't know everything 1000s of years ago they must of had good artist and bad artist you only have to look at paintings that sell for millions that are utter crap
that dega in the toilet really tied the room together
I think you think that you are amusing. But you could be faking it.
You mean the antique Roman ashtray I bought for 20000 USD could be a fake??
Fascinating and pretty sobering. I wonder how many forgeries have I seen back when I was living and travelling through Western Europe? Thanks for sharing this documentary.
And what a different would it make ? Did you buy some ? By the look, they all beautiful, that's what you did , looked them , right ? The forger / artist created a master piece for you to see . So , from your view point , doesn't make any difference . The difference is in the price ,what you have nothing to do with ! Right ? 😀