A Dubious Old Master Unnerves the Art World

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The painting convinced experts at the Louvre. Top French cultural officials declared it a national treasure. Dutch curators at the Mauritshuis and the Rijksmuseum joined the chorus of scholars who decided the enigmatic portrait of a man dressed in black was an undiscovered masterwork by Frans Hals.

To many, “Portrait of a Man” was that rare find, a truly great old master painting that had simply never surfaced. In 2011, Sotheby’s auction house in New York brokered a private sale to an art collector for about $10 million.

This month, though, Sotheby’s declared the work a “modern forgery.” The portrait was linked to a lower-profile event back in March, when the French police seized a painting attributed to Lucas Cranach the Elder that had passed through the hands of the same collector who had sold the Hals. The auction house sent the “Hals” for an in-depth technical analysis that determined that it contained traces of 20th-century materials, which meant that “it could not have been painted in the 17th century.” Sotheby’s rescinded the sale and reimbursed the buyer.

If Sotheby’s was right, the question of who may have committed the forgery remains a mystery. Sotheby’s says an investigation is continuing but declines to discuss it further, as do the French authorities. But no matter who is responsible, the story of how this ostensibly fake Hals managed to pass muster with so many leading experts provides a chilling glimpse into the complex but ultimately subjective process of authenticating art.

There are those who still have doubts. Martin Bijl, a Dutch old masters restorer who has worked on about 30 Hals paintings in the past seven years, said that he had seen some of the data culled by Orion Analytical for Sotheby’s, and that he was not certain that the work was a forgery. “The ones who have researched it until now are good researchers, but they’re not familiar with the handwriting of Frans Hals, so to speak, so that’s an extra reason to be careful,” he said.

Are there other forgeries out there, perhaps from the same source? Several paintings deemed “new discoveries” that came through the hands of the same collector have been called into question. These include “David Contemplating the Head of Goliath,” attributed to Orazio Gentileschi, and a portrait of “Saint Jerome” attributed to the circle of the 16th-century Italian painter Parmigianino, which Sotheby’s sold in 2012 for $842,500. It has been recalled and sent in for testing.

“It’s mushrooming into a big scandal,” said Bob Haboldt, an art dealer in Dutch old master paintings.

Some other art dealers are quick to play down the threat. The London-based old master dealer Johnny van Haeften said, “I think it’s a very isolated incident, and it’s not as widespread as people think.”

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