Examining Art Fraud

Abstract

This chapter reviews the processes that establish whether a given art work is authentic, including scientific tests, consultation with experts and examination of the provenance. Of these, the role of provenance is underscored as a major process. Unfortunately, in numbers of cases, the true authorship of a work proves difficult to determine, leading to contentious situations where the authorship of a work remains in dispute. There are few examples of true fraudulent intent among the instances of non-authentic art, although these few cases are likely to be widely known and reported. While the actual number of such frauds is difficult to state definitively, it seems safe to conclude that most often the assumption of criminal intent in non-authentic art is unwarranted. Therefore, while terms such as “fake” or “forgery” are widely used in discussions of non-authentic art, the hidden assumptions of such words regarding intentionality will prove to be incorrect.

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