Beltracchi - 'I made thousands of fakes'

March 6 2012

When the German master forger Wolfgang Beltracchi was convicted and sentenced to six years in prison, German police revealed a list of over 50 paintings they believed were fakes. But now Beltracchi has said he painted many, many more. From Der Spiegel:

Speaking to the media for the first time since he was sentenced, Beltracchi refused to name the exact number of paintings he forged throughout his career, which he began in the 1970s by creating "unpainted works by old masters, and later Jugendstil and Expressionists" and selling them at flea markets. But during the interview with SPIEGEL, Beltracchi said that due to high demand, he could have easily put "1,000 or 2,000" forgeries on the art market.

That's a lot of dodgy pictures. Where were they all sold? If I was a modern art auctioneer, I'd be feeling rather anxious. To see how easily the likes of Christie's and Sotheby's were fooled by Beltracchi, see my earlier post here.

Update: A reader comments: 

Truth or puckish shit-stirring?

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