Monday, September 23, 2013

Art Article II


    Only a couple weeks ago, a long-lost Van Gogh painting was rediscovered, tucked away in an old Norwegian attic. Art academics and Van Gogh lovers alike all marveled at the new masterpiece, thought to have been lost to time. However, one must think; how in the world do you lose an art piece? Especially one created by someone as famous as Van Gogh? Well, there’s a simple explanation for why it had been tucked away for so long; forgery. During the period in which the piece was first bought, art forgery was rampant and spooked many buyers into shamefully hiding away their spoils, thinking that they were tricked into buying something crafted by some master copycat.
    Art forgery had begun over 2000 years ago, when Roman artists mimicked Greek sculptures. Later in history, apprentices of famous artists all the way up to Renaissance times would have their pictures sold under the names of their instructors. Post-Renaissance nobles went through an antique-loving phase, which was a golden age for art forgers, who would go to great lengths to make their art seem authentic. Even Michelangelo, the famous painter of the Sistine Chapel and creator of lifelike sculptures such as The Pieta and David, had created some fake Greek sculptures, even going so far as to bury them and even breaking pieces off to make them seem authentic. Some “fake” art pieces from those past eras are still beloved today, despite their false identities being revealed.
    Today, art forgery is still wildly rampant, though there are many advanced ways of detecting fakes, such as testing the paint’s makeup, giving the suspicious pieces an x-ray, etc. Many “flunkie” artists are often the tricksters behind these fake artworks. Although the art of forgery is far from being exterminated, we can at least enjoy the fact that in this modern age art forgers can easily be caught and stopped.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Work Cited
Brown, Mark. " Newly discovered Van Gogh painting kept in Norwegian attic for years | Art and design | theguardian.com ." Latest news, world news, sport and comment from the Guardian | theguardian.com | The Guardian . N.p., 9 Sept. 2013. Web. 23 Sept. 2013.


Anonymous Author(s). "Art Forgery" Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Sept. 2013. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_forgery>.

No comments:

Post a Comment