MovieChat Forums > Tim's Vermeer (2014) Discussion > Forgeries

Forgeries

posted 10 years ago by frankgaipa
9 replies | jump to latest

I'm curious whether any creditable Vermeer forgeries exist, that is ones good enough that even experts might argue their authenticity. If so, I wonder how well they replicate Vermeer's light, and what cruxes forgers may have tried.

fg

[–] kharrison18 10 years ago

Over the years, "Young Woman at the Virginals" has been counted and discounted as a real Vermeer. I believe currently it is thought to be authentic.

Two other paintings, "Girl with a Flute", and "Girl in a Red Hat" have been said to be painted "in the style of Vermeer", but not real Vermeers. Depending on which expert you believe, they could go either way. Personally, neither look like a Vermeer to me, although it would be easier to believe "Girl in a Red Hat" is a Vermeer over "Girl with a Flute." Look them up on the internet, and see what you think.

These 3 are the most famous paintings that have been argued about over the years. There are others that no disputes are forgeries, although they have been attributed to Vermeer at one time or another. Currently, the number of authentic Vermeers is 37, but could only be 34 if one thinks the 3 mentioned above are not Vermeer.

[–] Korios 10 years ago

This film is literally a Vermeer forgery guide. Even if there were no forgeries some will surely crop now.

Fanboy : a person who does not think while watching.

[–] mr_maigo 10 years ago

Sure, you'd just need to spend several years to build the room, then source, build and commission furnishings, build the machine, hirer models, get period specific paints that will pass forensics, age the painting ~450 years. Then you just paint a few.

Might as well become a real artist and be famous under your own name.

[–] jab670 10 years ago

mr_maigo for the win.

[–] rockmail 9 years ago

And then you still would have wasted your time and money. Tim and his method did not come even close to producing a quality "forgery". It's a blocky, flat reference image at best.

[–] mr_maigo 9 years ago

Sorry, you're right. You'd also have to practice... a lot.

[–] rockmail 9 years ago

No. No it isn't. Expert painters can create forgeries, although Tim's creation might look similar to a layperson, even a first year art student or even an experienced art lover can easily see what Tim's painting is missing, and it's a lot.

[–] Bzine 10 years ago

Incredibly, these not very convincing forgeries were thought authentic for some time:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_van_Meegeren

[–] kovesp 9 years ago

I think you only say "not very convincing" because they are now known. But at the time they were thought authentic by the best art experts. The forgeries were only discovered when van Meegeren had to confess to avoid the death penalty for collaboration with the Nazis and of selling Dutch national treasures to Göring. Even then he had to paint a new "Vermeer" in front of witnesses to prove his innocence (of collaboration, but his guilt of being a forger).

The other point about this is that it shows that while Tim proved that his method could have been used by Vermeer (and this is all he set out to do), "traditional" methods could have been used also.