,,on ,,the ,,cover ,,pages ,a forgery of a ,greek bronze statuette 7,,back ,,cover71 and a genuine example 7,,front ,,cover74 ,such 8type0 forgeries are exceptionally difficult to detect4 ,probably made for the tourist trade4 ,retail ,price #a4jj ,,forgers and ,,forgeries ,,by ,w4 ,g4 ,constable ,,curator ,,of ,,paintings ,,museum ,,of ,,fine ,,arts1 ,,boston ,,art ,,treasures ,,of ,,the ,,world ,,new ,,york ,,and ,,toronto ,,art ,,treasures ,,of ,,the ,,world #ajj ,,sixth ,,avenue1 ,,new ,,york #ac1 ,n4 ,y4 ,,in ,,canada3 #aahd ,,castlefield ,,avenue ,,toronto #aj1 ,,ontario ,printed in ,u4 ,s4 ,a4 ,,at#ad ,w ,copyright #aied by ,harry ,n4 ,abrams1 ,incorporated4 ,copyright in the ,united ,states and foreign countries under ,international ,copyright ,convention4 ,all rights reserved under ,pan-,american ,convention4 ,no part of the contents of this book may be reproduced without the written permission of ,harry ,n4 ,abrams1 ,incorporated4 ,printed in ,u4,s4,a4 ,the usual idea of a forgery is of something deliberately fabricated to appear to be what it is not2 something conceived in sin1 and carrying the taint of illegitimacy throughout its existence4 ,in fact1 however1 many things made for quite innocent and even laudable purposes have been used to deceive and to defraud1 by means of misrepresentation or subsequent manipulation4 ,so the essential element in forgery lies in the way an object is presented1 rather than in the purpose that inspired its making4 ,still1 it is objects made to deceive which have always held the center of the stage4 ,without doubt1 the main motive for their manufacture is to make money4 ,but often there is an element of drama1 even of romance1 in the way they come into existence4 ,a famous example is a ,sleeping ,cupid which the young ,michelangelo is supposed have carved in imitation of the work of classical antiquity and which1 after being buried in the ground1 was bought by a dealer and sold as an antique1 being rated as such until its true origin was revealed4 ,though the element of deceit was present from the beginning1 the primary purpose of the work was a challenge to the past2 and it is significant that ,michelangelo's early biographers counted the success of the imposition to his credit1 since it proved that he could successfully rival the sculptors of ,greece and ,rome4 ,such challenges to the past have undoubtedly inspired men who were or ultimately became professional forgers4 ,this seems to have been the case with ,giovanni ,bastianini 7#ahcj-ahfh71 the ,italian sculptor4 ,his admiration for early ,renaissance ,italian sculpture bred in him a spirit of rivalry which issued in the production of remarkable imitations to be exploited as originals through collaboration with a dealer4 ,alceo ,dossena 7#ahgh-aicg7 also seems to have wanted to prove himself the equal of earlier sculptors1 though later he knowingly embarked on the making of forgeries of medieval and ,renaissance ,italian sculpture1 skillful enough to be purchased as originals by various museums4 ,the case for conscious rivalry with the past is clearer with ,rouchomovski1 the nineteenth-century goldsmith1 whose abilities1 though sufficient to give him a reputation in his own right1 led him to make the famous tiara of ,saitaphernes1 which was purchased by the ,louvre as ,greco-,scythian work of the third century ,b4,c4 ,with other forgers1 however1 desire to confound connoisseurs and the learned world has been uppermost1 generally bred by neglect or adverse criticism4 ,so it seems to have been with ,thomas ,chatterton and his eighteenth-century imitations of medieval poems2 perhaps it operated in the case of ,t4 ,j4 ,wise and his forgeries of nineteenth-century pamphlets2 and apparently ,i4 ,f4 ,ioni1 the ,sienese painter and restorer1 well-known for his forgeries of ,italian primitive paintings1 derived at least as much satisfaction from trying to take in eminent authorities as from the money he made4 ,certainly such motives inspired ,h4 ,a4 ,van ,meegeren1 the most famous forger of our time4 ,van ,meegeren1 a dexterous painter1 skillful in imitating others1 did not receive the recognition to which he felt his gifts entitled him1 and turned his talents to forging the great ,dutch masters of the seventeenth century4 ,in #aicg he achieved spectacular success with his sale to the ,rotterdam museum for #bjj1jjj of his ,disciples at ,emmaus1 as an early work by ,jan ,vermeer4 ,a vivid light is thrown on his motives by a remark he made in #aidg after his arrest and trial3 8,the ,disciples represented the master-stroke in my plan for vengeance40 ,later1 the desire to fill his pockets seems to have become paramount4 ,a similar case may be that of the ,piltdown skull1 once thought to be the earliest surviving relic of prehistoric man4 ,recent intensive examination has proved that though the cranium is of respectable antiquity1 the lower jaw is that of a chimpanzee doctored to appear ancient2 and there is some reason to think that it was made and planted near where the cranium was found1 by a disgruntled museum technician who wished to prove that he could fool the learned world4 ,illustration3 ,,left3 ,a forgery by ,giovanni ,bastianini1 part copy and part style imitation4 ,,right3 ,a fragment of an original relief by ,desiderio da ,settignano on which the forgery was based4 ,but whatever mixture of motives may go into making a forgery1 the predominant one is almost always financial gain4 ,it follows that what the forger makes is mainly determined by the market for his goods1 which in turn depends on current activity among collectors and in the learned world4 ,in the ,middle ,ages1 fantastic curiosities and saintly relics were much in demand1 and forgers saw to it that the supply was kept up4 ,later1 the growth of scientific knowledge and religious skepticism spoiled this market2 while recognition of the artist as an individual and the development of art collections stimulated production of forgeries imitating the work of particular artists or of particular epochs4 ,these have since been the staple of the forger's trade1 reflecting the tastes of the day4 ,the eighteenth-century collectors' passion for classical antiquity helped to sustain in ,rome a flourishing industry for the supply of classical statues and gems1 with ,thomas ,jenkins1 painter1 art agent1 and banker as one of its leading figures2 ,english ,regency taste produced a fine crop of imitations of ,svres and ,meissen porcelain1 made both in ,england and elsewhere2 the ,gothic revival1 bringing in its train a new enthusiasm for ,italian primitives1 created hitherto neglected opportunities for the forger1 who maintained an active sideline in keeping up the supply of ,palissy ware and ,italian majolica1 until the taste of the aesthetic period turned his attention to ,delft ware2 and in our own time we have seen the forger swing from fabricating ,famille ,rose and ,famille ,verte to meeting twentieth-century demands for the art of the ,t'ang1 ,sung1 and earlier ,chinese dynasties4 ,illustration3 ,,above3 ,an example of a flourishing nineteenth-century industry3 a forgery of a fourteenth-century ,italian diptych1 with 7,,below7 a genuine example for comparison4 ,the crackle and facial types indicate the forgery4 ,illustration3 7genuine example7 ,just as he responds to changes in taste or in learned activity1 so the forger follows in the footsteps of the tourist1 for whom he has provided flint implements to be discovered in prehistoric sites2 ,greek and ,roman coins1 gems1 and statuettes at appropriate places in ,italy1 ,greece1 and ,asia ,minor2 scarabs and small sculpture in ,egypt2 and today1 pottery and figurines in ,central and ,south ,america4 ,nor does the forger confine his attentions to the art of the past1 but extends them to contemporary work4 ,constable and ,corot were imitated while they were still living2 forgeries of ,renoir1 ,degas1 ,picasso1 ,matisse1 and others are common today2 while1 among ,americans1 ,winslow ,homer and ,ryder fabrications circulate freely4 ,artists are apt to be forgetful as to what they have produced1 especially in the case of sketches1 and have been known to deny authorship of perfectly genuine work2 so that risks of confrontation are not too great4 ,with a contemporary artist recently dead1 his work not yet fully known or catalogued1 a vogue for collecting him fanned by a skillful entrepreneur1 prices not so high as to provoke critical examination1 and with not too many genuine examples accessible for comparison1 the forger is in velvet4 ,the two main methods of making forgeries1 manufacture and misrepresentation1 are in practice often combined2 but it is convenient to discuss them separately4 ,the simplest type of manufactured forgery is the straight copy1 although this has considerable disadvantages4 ,in addition to the necessity of choosing the right materials1 imitating the right technique1 and giving a proper appearance of age1 the risks of confrontation with the original are great in these days of systematic combing of collections1 aided by swift and easy travel1 by photography and widespread publication4 ,sometimes1 the forger attempts to meet this risk of confrontation by introducing variations into a design1 so that the forgery may pass as a version of the original4 ,but even so1 comparison of the two is almost inevitable1 with the almost equally inevitable exposure of any defects in the copy4 ,it is this risk that makes forgers prefer to copy objects that are types rather than those stamped with the individuality of some particular master4 ,the strictly controlled design and iconography of much ,byzantine painting1 and its standardized technique1 encourages modern repetition2 and the putting of one more copy on the market is not in itself likely to arouse suspicion4 ,similarly1 the fact that eighteenth-century ,chinese potters paid homage to those of earlier dynasties by making most admirable copies of their work1 confuses the situation in favor of the forger4 ,another advantage 7to the forger7 of such objects is that many of them can be reproduced by casting4 ,with some knowledge of the materials used for the originals and some skill in giving an appearance of age1 such things as ,chinese grave figures1 ,greek or ,near ,eastern bronzes1 and coins can be produced in quantity4 ,sometimes1 indeed1 variation in the material of the cast is an aid to deception2 as in the case of ,renaissance bas-reliefs1 when a cast in wax or stucco may1 after some manipulation1 be passed off as a sketch for a marble original4 ,illustration3 ,,above3 ,a forgery of ,vermeer by ,van ,meegeren1 purporting to be an early work of the artist1 purchased as an original1 compared with 7,,below7 the earliest known painting signed by ,vermeer4 ,illustration3 7genuine example7 ,more common than straight copies of particular objects1 however1 are imitations of the style of some period or master4 ,this avoids the risk of comparison with a more or less identical original1 and helps in passing off the forgery as an unknown example of the style it imitates4 ,it was on this basis that ,bastianini1 ,rouchomovski1 and ,dossena worked1 as did the ,german painter ,roerich in his imitations of ,cranach and other early ,german masters4 ,usually such imitations of a style do not embody a new conception or an original idea2 for the most part they consist of borrowings from original works1 pieced together to make a more or less consistent whole4 ,often1 these borrowings are secondhand1 being taken from photographs1 engravings1 or reproductions in books4 ,a specific case was the use of ,weisser's ,bilderatlas zur ,weltgeschichte 7#ahhb7 by ,rouchomovski for the reliefs on the tiara of ,saitapharnes4 ,the use of such models is1 however1 the ,achilles' heel of the forger4 ,once their source is tracked down1 detection of the imposture is almost certain4 ,illustration3 ,a forgery of fourteenth-century ,italian wood sculpture by ,dossena4 ,illustration3 ,an ,x-ray revealed modern nails in the interior4 ,that1 perhaps1 is why forgers have on occasion virtually abandoned the use of models1 either wholly or in part1 and produced objects different from anything that is known1 but which could fit into some particular historical or cultural background4 ,here1 they are exploiting not only ignorant enthusiasm but the desire among the learned to extend knowledge of little-known epochs of human history1 or to find material that will justify theories about them4 ,comparatively crude examples are the so-called ,baphomets1 stone figures said to have been worshipped by the ,knights ,templar2 and the 8medieval0 pilgrim's badges made in nineteenth-century ,london by ,william ,smith and ,charles ,eaton1 now widely known as 8,billies and ,charlies40 ,the appeal of the unknown was more skillfully utilized by ,rouchomovski and ,van ,meegeren4 ,in the tiara of ,saitapharnes1 existing models had been used1 through reproductions1 for the reliefs and inscriptions2 but as a whole1 the tiara was something of a kind unknown1 yet eagerly sought for1 and so was more readily accepted when it came into the market4 ,similarly1 unknown early works of ,vermeer had long been a matter of speculation among art historians1 and in certain quarters a hypothetical character for them had been built up2 so that when ,the ,disciples at ,emmaus appeared and more or less fitted the bill1 it was all the more easy to believe in it4 ,illustration3 ,a forgery of ,egyptian limestone sculpture 7,,right7 compared with a genuine example of the type 7,,left74 ,the forgery was proved so by analyzing the binding material of the color4 ,so far1 the forgeries discussed have been substantially new constructions4 ,this is to be expected when the motives of challenge to the past or self-vindication are at work2 usually1 however1 the forger prefers to use a genuine piece1 wholly or in part1 as a starting point for his operations4 ,this has none of the disadvantages of a copy2 it avoids some of the difficulties of finding suitable materials2 and it provides a pattern for such things as color1 texture1 and surface condition1 in any changes or additions that the forger may make4 ,one possibility is to construct a forgery with the aid of genuine fragments1 or on the basis of a damaged original4 ,joseph ,nollekens1 the eighteenth-century ,english sculptor1 who worked with ,thomas ,jenkins in ,rome1 himself tells of making extensive additions to pieces of ,roman sculpture found as the result of excavation1 which in due course went into famous collections in ,england4 ,similarly1 ,dossena sometimes used fragments of genuine quattrocento work in his forgeries4 ,this1 too1 was the method favored by ,ioni for making his early ,italian paintings4 ,one great convenience of such procedures 7for the forger7 is that if suspicion is aroused and investigation made1 it can always be alleged that the added work is merely honest restoration4 ,indeed1 the line between restoration and forgery sometimes becomes blurred4 ,occasionally there appears in the art market a graft of a piece of one original onto another2 its sellers would be consumed with indignation were it suggested that they had handled a forgery4 ,the exploitation of genuine work1 however1 often takes much simpler forms than that described above4 ,the signature of a master may be added to a school piece1 or to anything that bears some superficial resemblances to his work2 sometimes1 indeed1 the addition is to a work by the master himself1 to convince the doubting and to increase its sale value4 ,not infrequently1 however1 there is present an inconvenient signature of the real author1 which has to be obliterated or manipulated into something more attractive4 ,a special form of manipulation is to put on some anonymous portrait a name which more or less fits the dress and character of the sitter1 and so increases its sale value4 ,shakespeare and ,milton are often so honored2 and many mediocre portraits picked up in ,england have been adorned with the names of ,colonial worthies1 and thus found a ready market in the ,united ,states4 ,all the examples of forgery so far mentioned are of the manufactured type1 however little work may have been expended on them4 ,in this they differ entirely from the forgeries which depend wholly on misrepresentation1 a genuine article of one kind being passed off as of another1 without any physical change4 ,it is not usual to brand such things as forgeries1 and legally they are not so regarded2 but morally1 in that something is made to appear what it is not1 they seem to be truly forgeries4 ,illustration3 ,,above3 ,a forgery 7partly cleaned for examination7 of a fifteenth-century ,florentine portrait1 compared with a genuine example 7,,below74 ,the forgery is on an old panel1 but was finally proved false by the presence of titanium white1 a twentieth-century pigment4 ,illustration3 7genuine example7 ,a simple and widespread means of falsifying in this way is a certificate of authorship and genuineness4 ,sometimes1 the writers of these are of the highest competence and probity4 ,these two qualities are not always combined1 however2 and the certificate then becomes either intentionally or innocently misleading4 ,unfortunately1 most certificates are written for a fee1 and there is always temptation for the writer to err on the side of pleasing his employer2 while there is no question that sometimes certificates have been given deliberately to defraud4 ,moreover1 forged certificates bearing reputable names are not unknown1 a special variety being the stringing together of words from a genuine letter1 with all qualifying or negative phrases omitted4 ,there is1 however1 a more insidious method of giving a certificate1 that of publication of an object in a reliable journal4 ,editors are generally careful enough2 but they are defenseless in the face of a plausible case put forward by a name of some reputation1 especially when the passage relating to the object is included in a more general context4 ,this kind of certification is particularly difficult to cope with1 since such articles will continue to be cited in later publications1 perhaps mainly to controvert them but nevertheless renewing their availability for dishonest purposes4 ,construction of false pedigrees is another means of misrepresentation1 much used in the case of copies or versions4 ,sometimes1 a pedigree is completely false1 naming imaginary former owners whose existence cannot be proved but equally cannot be disproved4 ,sometimes1 such history as the object may have is grafted onto that of another and accepted version1 so that the two may become confused4 ,a special case of this is the planting out of objects in houses whose owners are ready1 for a consideration1 to describe them as having descended in the family1 or even as having been bought from the maker by an ancestor4 ,the skill1 ingenuity1 and knowledge of the forger and of those who exploit his work1 are opposed to the skill1 ingenuity1 and knowledge of the collector and the learned world4 ,the unaided human eye1 if it has a trained and well-informed mind behind it1 can go a long way in detecting forgeries4 ,it is surprising how forgetful1 careless1 or ignorant a forger can be4 ,he may employ materials whose inconsistency with the period to which his work claims to belong can be seen even by the unaided eye4 ,more common is the introduction of such things as types and details of costume1 or the use of coats of arms1 that are later than the alleged date of the work4 ,all such evidence1 however1 needs scrutiny1 since it may simply be a case of later additions to a genuine object4 ,more useful1 therefore1 may be tracking down the source of a forger's borrowings4 ,if1 for example1 these at first sight seem to come from an original work1 but follow much more closely the variations from that original in a later copy or engraving1 the conclusion is obvious4 ,again1 investigation of pedigrees1 checking of literary references1 searching through exhibition records1 may all reveal suspicious or occasionally damning evidence of falsified history4 ,illustration3 ,,above3 ,a forgery of a portrait by ,cranach1 and 7,,below7 a genuine example4 ,a style forgery1 skillful1 but coarser than an original4 ,illustration3 7genuine example7 ,to tests based on observation and historical verification1 we must add those mainly dependent on feeling4 ,for the sensitive and trained observer1 a number of indefinable characteristics will 8add up0 to a definite conviction of genuine or false4 ,qualities of surface and handling1 subtleties in color and in the definition of form1 the degree of unity in conception and treatment1 and the emotional character of the work are among the things which influence such decisions4 ,thus1 a copy1 however exact1 may reveal itself as lacking the coherence and the feeling which inspired the original2 and the most skillful imitation of some older work may be recognized as a creation of its own time4 ,nobody can completely divorce himself from the prevailing thoughts1 opinions1 assumptions1 feelings1 and standards of his own period2 and inevitably these will color whatever he produces1 whether he be a forger or an original artist4 ,scorn is often poured on judgments of the type described1 and the expert who produces them in a court of law is the delight of the skillful cross-examiner4 ,true1 the only merit of snap opinions based on defective sensibility and inadequate experience is that they have a fifty-fifty chance of being right2 but with sensibility backed by knowledge1 an almost supra-rational instinct develops as to what is genuine or false4 ,the so-called impression or hunch is1 in such circumstances1 more accurately described as a synthesis of many experiences4 ,it is often forgotten that such almost instinctive judgments are not confined to art and archaeology4 ,they play an important part in the sciences 7where they are called hypotheses71 in politics1 in war1 in business1 and many other fields4 ,their value varies with the men who make them2 but this does not lessen their potential value1 and their occasional indispensability4 ,in the detection of two particular types of forgery they are especially useful4 ,imitations of contemporary work can be very baffling1 since the forger works with materials which were or might have been used in genuine work1 does not have to give an appearance of age1 and works against the same general background as does the artist he imitates4 ,similarly1 a school piece which is misrepresented as the work of an old master1 was produced in a similar physical and emotional environment4 ,in such cases1 a final verdict often has to be based on nothing but imponderable elements of style1 realizable only through feeling based on knowledge4 ,illustration3 ,,above3 ,an imitation of the work of ,john ,constable1 distinguished from an original 7,,below7 by its coarse handling and mistakes in topography4 ,illustration3 7genuine example7 ,the methods so far described of detecting forgeries may well be as old as the practice of forgery itself4 ,certainly1 they form the basis of all investigations of which we have records1 as well as of those made today4 ,their efficiency1 however1 has been immensely increased by the development of scientific methods of investigation4 ,the first great step forward came with the use of photography1 which permitted comparison of suspicious objects with genuine examples in a way hitherto impossible4 ,next came the application of various scientific techniques to the analysis of the physical constitution of an object4 ,so spectacular have been the results in some cases as to create a blind faith in such methods of investigation1 almost as though a piece of scientific apparatus were an oracle which when consulted would answer 8,yes0 or 8,no0 to the question of whether an object is genuine4 ,the limits of scientific investigation are1 however1 clearly marked4 ,this method is solely concerned with the physical make-up of an object1 and is completely indifferent as to who made it1 when and where it was made1 and why it was made4 ,all that it does is to make possible the discovery of physical facts bearing upon these matters1 which have to be observed and interpreted by human minds and used as the basis for human judgments4 ,illustration3 ,,above3 ,a forgery of a painting by ,utrillo adapted from a genuine example1 compared with another genuine picture 7,,below74 ,note the clumsy handling of paint and drawing in the forgery4 ,illustration3 7genuine example7 ,the scientific procedures with which we are concerned here fall into two main groups4 ,of these1 one includes various techniques for extending the range of human vision4 ,the simplest is examination by microscope1 which enables characteristics of a surface to be seen that would otherwise be invisible1 so that1 for example1 painted cracks or cracks artificially induced can be distinguished from crackle due to age4 ,with the microscope1 too1 evidence of removals and additions can be obtained1 such as the manipulation of signatures and inscriptions1 or the presence of repaint or artificial patina2 while the structure of pigments1 stone1 etc41 can be ascertained1 as a step toward their identification4 ,more elaborate is examination under various rays of the spectrum1 to which the human eye is not sensitive but whose results can be recorded4 ,the best known of these is ,x-ray1 which penetrates certain substances but is held up in different degrees by others1 especially metals1 so that a photographic film behind an object will record a map of such substances in an object1 thus revealing much that is below the surface4 ,on the other hand1 ultra-violet rays falling on a surface cause fluorescence1 which varies according to substance and texture1 so that additions to the surface may be revealed4 ,infra-red rays1 in contrast1 penetrate the surface1 and are reflected back from the layers beneath1 so that a photograph taken by infra-red light may reveal something concealed from the eye1 which ,x-ray may not pick up4 ,the second group of investigatory methods includes various means of analyzing the materials present in an object4 ,the most familiar is chemical analysis2 but this is being supplemented and to some extent displaced by spectrographic analysis1 with its recent extension in the use of ,x-ray diffraction4 ,by these means1 it is possible to detect even minute traces of substances whose presence or absence may be decisive in settling the date or provenance of a material4 ,some recent applications of quantitative analysis have proved helpful in ascertaining the date of objects4 ,one of these techniques1 determination of the extent of fluorination1 was used to prove that the jawbone of the ,piltdown skull was a modern forgery2 while another1 based on the amount of radio-active carbon present1 which is known to decay at a certain rate1 is still in course of development1 but promises to be most useful4 ,thus1 a formidable group of weapons are available against the forger4 ,to be effective1 however1 the significance of the facts they bring to light must be understood4 ,decisive proof that an object is not of the period or by the hand to which it is attributed comes only through the discovery of facts which are not only inconsistent with the attribution but cannot be explained except by assuming that the attribution is wrong4 ,for instance1 the body of a work may contain a substance unknown at its ostensible date4 ,modern nails inside a piece of wood sculpture said to be of the fourteenth century2 cobalt1 unknown as a pigment until the early nineteenth century1 in a painting attributed to ,velzquez2 and titanium white1 a twentieth-century invention1 in a portrait labelled fifteenth-century ,florentine--these are all good evidence that the object is not what it is held out to be4 ,moreover1 the facts discovered always have to be controlled by reference to established standards4 ,structure revealed by microscopic examination must be compared with that of known substances2 chemical and spectrographic analysis has to be checked by reference to a codified series of earlier tests2 crackle on a surface can only be labelled as false if the nature of genuine crackle is known2 and the reading of whatever is discovered by ,x-ray1 ultra-violet1 or infra-red rays calls for comparison with verified results of previous examinations4 ,the facts yielded by one method of investigation may by themselves not be sufficient evidence of forgery2 if1 however1 they can be joined with the results of other methods1 all pointing in the same direction1 a strong case can be built up4 ,as in a court of law1 this1 rather than production of a single dramatic and decisive piece of evidence1 is what usually happens4 ,it might be thought that the combination of expert and scientist would leave the forger with his occupation gone4 ,on the contrary1 he continues to flourish4 ,in the face of the expert1 he discards the clumsy copy and the inept certificate1 utilizing the improved methods of photography and reproduction and the increasing flood of learned works1 to help save him from anachronisms and inherent contradictions in his work4 ,the scientist he meets either by concentrating in fields where scientific methods of inquiry are relatively helpless1 or by himself going to school with the scientist4 ,the results of recent scientific work have put at his disposal much knowledge of what to do1 what to avoid1 and how to baffle certain types of investigation4 ,moreover1 he has even taken over certain procedures worked out by scientists1 such as those for hastening the effect of time1 and has applied them to his own problems2 cases are known of forgeries having been submitted1 through innocent hands1 for scientific investigation1 to find out whether they will survive the ordeal1 and if not1 what are the mistakes to be avoided in the future4 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 ,one question is often asked in connection with forgeries3 ,why should a once-admired object be disregarded or condemned on being proved a forgery1 seeing that it is still the same object8 ,one reason is human snobbery2 another1 and more important1 is that when an object is proved to be a forgery1 it is to us no longer the same object that it was4 ,after the discovery1 human knowledge about the positive and negative qualities of the object has increased1 and a new judgment has to be made upon it4 ,exactly the same thing happens with a genuine work4 ,as familiarity with it grows1 it becomes another thing to the spectator's eyes and mind1 and so it may rise or fall in his esteem4 ,conceivably1 the characteristics which proclaim something to be a forgery might1 when discovered1 cause it to be more highly regarded2 but that kind of forgery is not yet known1 though it may perhaps exist4 ,illustration3 ,w4 ,g4 ,,constable ,william ,george ,constable was born in ,derby1 ,england1 in #ahhg and educated at ,cambridge ,university and the ,slade ,school of the ,university of ,london4 ,he was formerly ,assistant ,director of the ,national ,gallery1 ,london2 ,director of the ,courtauld ,institute 7,university of ,london72 and ,slade ,professor of ,fine ,art at ,cambridge ,university4 ,since #aich1 he has been ,curator of ,paintings at the ,museum of ,fine ,arts1 ,boston4 ,the author of numerous books and magazine articles1 ,mr4 ,constable has devoted himself particularly to the study of ,english and ,italian paintings and drawings4 ,this is reflected in his more recent publications3 ,venetian ,painting 7#aiej72 a monograph on the ,english artist ,richard ,wilson 7#aiec72 and ,the ,painter's ,workshop 7#aied74 ,illustration3 ,,back ,,cover3 ,a forgery of a ,greek bronze statuette4 ,transcriber's ,notes --,silently corrected a few typos4 --,retained publication information from the printed edition3 this e,book is public-domain in the country of publication4 --,in the text versions only1 text in italics is delimited by underscores4