The exhibition, called “A thorough examination of: fraud, error and discovery”, you can see a fake picture Golbeyna, Rembrandt and other artists

In 1845, when bought the London National Gallery painting by Hans Golbeyna (Hans Holbein) turned out to be false, the public was so outraged that the director of the museum was forced to resign. Almost two centuries later the director of the National Gallery, Nicholas Penny (Nicholas Penny) said that self-respecting cultural institutions should not be shy fakes in their collections.

On Tuesday, Penney announced that next June, the museum will host the first exhibition falshivok and copies. It will be presented 40 works - all from the National Gallery. Penny argues that a forgery in the collection - this is not such a bad idea. «It is a pity that we did not so much falshivok, - he said." - The reputation of our institution is not hurt. Know what can be clever forgers, it is very important. National Gallery - the place where the great masterpieces on display, but at the same time and place where you can explore the history of art. Only a naive person might think that [the fakes in the collection] should be ashamed of or that you need to get rid of them ».

Penny explained that the National Gallery in Washington, where he worked in his time, sometimes specially purchased counterfeit products. He believed that museums should always be alert, but fear falshivok as the fire is not worth it. «Thanks to such errors [experts] are becoming more cautious and in some sense less», - he says. According to the director, even the most experienced specialists in the art can not always recognize the falsification. He cites the example of the legendary German curator of the XIX century by Wilhelm von Bode (Wilhelm von Bode), which «are sometimes wrong, but was one of the greatest connoisseurs of his time».

The exhibition was named «A thorough examination of: fraud, mistakes and discoveries» (Close Examination: Fakes, Mistakes and Discoveries). It will be presented the same false «Golbeyn», under the title «The man with the skull», as well as painting «Old man in a chair», formerly created by Rembrandt (Rembrandt). On the canvas is invalid signature and date. In addition, the point was that the beard, fur coat, and the right hand of the old man is not written very well, so the cloth can not be considered a very great master piece. Galleries Specialists concluded that the author of «inspired portrait works by Venetian artists, including Tintoretto» and is now believed that it was written by an unknown disciple or early follower of Rembrandt.

Another well-known forgery - «Portrait of Italian Renaissance», executed in the XX century. The National Gallery acquired the painting in 1923, being in full confidence that buys the product of XV century, but later it turned out that the pigments used in its creation, until the XIX century, were not used. In addition to the painting was discovered a special coating that gives it to «old» type. Comparing it with the real Italian portraits of the late XV century, experts have seen many inconsistencies. As the picture shows the emblem of Montefeltro family, it was felt that it was a portrait of Federico da Montefeltro (Federico da Montefeltro), Duke of Urbinskogo, and his two children. But when compared with these canvas images Montefeltro, it turned out that the person at the Duke of another. In particular, Federico was a true dent in the nose, received by him in battle, while the fake picture of the bruising and ÐÏÍÉÎÅ no.

In addition, the exhibition will see a picture «Madonna with Child and two angels», which, according to legend, was created in the workshop of Andrea del Verrokko (one of the assistants who was, incidentally, by Sandro Botticelli ). Experts have found that different parts of the painting to writing, so that authors may be at least two artists.

Nicholas Penny said that the National Gallery also plans to organize an exhibition of Venetian painter Canaletto (Canaletto). Recently, the museum presented its own application for Communicators iPhone .

Material prepared Yulia Maksimova, AI

Sources: independent.co.uk , artinvestment.ru