Artworks can go for very high prices, especially those made by acclaimed masters and come with much historical value. They are therefore not excused from instances of fraud and replication. Here are some of the most popular forgery scandals that not only shook up the art world, but cost affected collectors huge sums and led to severe punishments for culprits.

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Notable Art Forgery Scandals in History
Published on May 3, 2018
Artworks can go for very high prices, especially those made by acclaimed masters and come
with much historical value. They are therefore not excused from instances of fraud and
replication. Here are some of the most popular forgery scandals that not only shook up the
art world, but cost affected collectors huge sums and led to severe punishments for culprits.

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Image source: widewalls.ch
One such scam is perpetrated by a painter named Han van Meegeren in the late 1930s and
1940s. He would fake works by Vermeer by baking them to make them look aged. His
lucrative scheme earned him $60 million by selling these fakes to museums and even the
Nazi figurehead Hermann Göring.
Another is the famous Knoedler forgery ring. A female art dealer and her boyfriend hired a
Chinese painter based in Queens, NY, to forge abstract expressionist work by the likes of
Rothko, Motherwell, and Pollock. Although the Knoedler Gallery which housed and sold
these works still insists that these are just part of an undocumented collection, the gallery
closed in 2011 when the forgery scandal came to light.
Another ring was busted in 2011, as thousands of fake bronzes being sold for millions were
discovered. The forger was a Dutchman named Robert Driessen, who sold fake Alberto
Giacometti sculptures. As of 2015, people were still getting caught selling works included in
this forged collection.

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Image source: wikipedia.org
There’s even an art dealer who has taken these fakes to eBay. Using various aliases,
Michigan-­‐based Eric Ian Hornak Spoutz made fake yet elaborate paperwork to help sell
forged art by Joan Mitchell and Willem de Kooning. He was charged with wire fraud.
New York-­‐based Sadigh Gallery is a family-­‐owned business that takes pride in providing quality
service to every customer. All the antiquities it sells are guaranteed authentic, and items come
with a Lifetime Certificate of Authenticity. For more insights on art and antiquities, click here .