Here are ran ... (May have already had this material, but can anyone be useful ...):
... "Con artists sell paintings worth 20 thousand dollars per million
Excessive demand for paintings of Russian artists of the XIX century contributed to the revitalization of the manufacturers of fakes. On the sensational case involving the collection of businessman Valery Uzzhina wrote on Thursday, The Washington Post.
A case involving the collection Uzzhina
Told myself Uzzhin, co-founder of online car dealers, Elex-pole, about 2 years ago, he decided to collect pictures of Russian artists. Almost every two weeks in the collection Uzzhina there is a new picture. In March last year he paid a St. Petersburg art dealer 145 thousand dollars for a picture, which is listed as "Summer Day" by Alexander Kiselev, a Russian landscape painter of the XIX century. By this time he had a decent collection - 30 paintings of the XIX century, which was spent almost $ 5 million.
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From the St. Petersburg gallery owners spouses Tatiana and Igor Preobrazhensky, who two years ago moved to Moscow and opened a saloon "Russian Collection in Gostiny Dvor, a businessman acquaintance, on the recommendation of his business partner in 2004. Learning that Valery Uzzhin keen creativity Peredvizhnik Alexander Kiselev, Tatiana Transfiguration invited him to buy several paintings of this rapidly-priced labels XIX century.
The catch is that Alexander Kiselyov publicly known only one painting - Abandoned Mill (it is in the Tretyakov Gallery). However, after some time in the collection of the businessman with the help of the St. Petersburg gallery owners appeared about two dozen paintings "Kiselyov. Paintings were sold to the buyer at the price of 100-150 thousand dollars.
Once Uzzhin became suspicious, he gave the picture for examination. The Art Critic by applying scientific methods of analysis, determined that the painting, which Uzzhin considered "Summer Day", is actually a much-altered film "Forest road leading to the peasant house," written in 1883 by the Danish artist Janus la Kurom. Experts have found that for 14 months before it was bought Uzzhin, it acquired at auction in Copenhagen for 2 thousand dollars.
The first acquisition Uzzhina made over 150 thousand dollars in early 2004, was a picture, issued by him for the work of Orlovsky "pond with lilies. And it turned out that the businessman had bought the paintings without consultation with specialists. All-Russia Center behalf of the Grabar Art Restoration confirmed that "pond with lilies and others had bought paintings are originals.
But last spring, one of my friends Uzzhina, art lover, who became suspicious about the number of works Kiseleva, which he managed to acquire, once again advised to consult about the authorship. Specialists of the Tretyakov Gallery, raised serious doubts about the authorship of the five paintings, which he brought to them.
Subsequent testing in a private organization "Art Consulting, include chemical analysis of layers of paint showed that the signatures were forged and some of the pictures have changed. Among the forgeries was and pond with lilies.
Preobrazhensky arrested in October, and they are in jail. It is only people arrested in connection with fraud of this kind, and they deny that they knowingly sold a modified picture of Russia's journalists said their lawyer, suggested that his client had been deceived sellers. Who bought the painting in Europe, and changed it, remains unknown. Investigation is continuing.
How fraudsters preparing paintings for sale
Stripped Janus la Cour, who is now stored in the basement of the militia, was in the center of one of the most lucrative and technically complex international schemes identified in recent years. Russia's upper class, driven by wealth and desire for prestigious assets with a touch of patriotism, lifted Russia's art market is an unprecedented height, the paper says. Fever Pitch also drew the most skilled and knowledgeable crooks.
Vladimir Petrov and the Tretyakov Gallery's curator, said that in his estimation, the manufacturers of counterfeit acquired at least 120 minor works of Western European painters of the XIX century in the auction houses in Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Finland and Holland, paying a thousand to 20 thousand dollars for now. After modification, these paintings sell in Russia for the price of 125 thousand to a million dollars, passing them off as works by famous Russian artists of the same period.
According to Petrova, criminals choose pictures that are very similar to the works of Russian artists. He believes that in this area there are several groups with highly skilled professionals. This is a specialist in Russian art. They added a few Russian details or removed the European parts, and sometimes just changed the signature of the author.
For example, in the painting La Cura depicts trees along a dirt road. In the dense bush, which stretches from the trees to the roadside, flashing blue flowers and dandelions. In the distance, against a background of sky covered by clouds, is a one-storey village house.
To Russify landscape, trees add foliage. The house was removed, covering it with new leaves and new sky. The road was shortened and narrowed. In the bush there was a small pond, and in the distance - Russian hut. Forged signature Kiseleva placed in the lower left corner.
Similarly, manufacturers of counterfeit create "works" in demand artists: Ivan Shishkin, Vasily Polenov, Feodor Vasiliev and Vladimir Orlovsky. Half of the collection Uzzhina was little-known works of the Europeans.
Using auction catalogs, Petrov, an expert on Russian art of the XIX century, was a collection of photographs of paintings, as they were sold in Europe and what became, once in Moscow. 56-year-old art historian explores another 100 suspicious products sold in Russia, but not yet identified their European originals.
The London sales of major auction houses, Christie's and Sotheby's, doubled every year. In 2005, they collectively have sold works of Russian painting, valued at some $ 60 million, and most of the paintings returned to Russia. Over the last decade, prices for works by artists such as Kiselev, grew 40 times.
Activity scam makes it that Russia is no surprise appearance on the market previously unknown original works, the paper says. In the chaos of the revolution and World War II, many paintings were hidden from the generations: the authorities sent them to the store or confiscated.
According to Petrov, the manufacturers of fakes are often in European auction houses in search of paintings belonging to the same period and style that are in demand and work of Russian painters. Often they wash the paint to make additions and corrections. Adults and cows clean. Children and geese are added. The picture is lacquered, and sometimes we put on cracelures - a network of small cracks, indicating age.
Standard examination, including a visual assessment of style and ultra-violet analysis of elements such as signature, often does not reveal the fraud. Moreover, the canvas and paint is really relate to the XIX century. The level of counterfeiting is so high and professionals, that even our experts can not distinguish them "... (Full text on the site Inopressa.ru).
//NEWSru.com