'Art and Artifice: Fakes from the Collection' exhibition at London's Courtauld Gallery reveals the secret world of art fraud.
'Art and Artifice: Fakes from the Collection' at London's Courtauld Gallery examines art forgeries and the detective work unearthing the truth © HENRY NICHOLLS / AFP
The exhibition, which opens at the Courtauld in Somerset House on Saturday, features around 25 drawings and seven paintings, as well as sculpture and decorative art from the renowned gallery's collection.
Armed with magnifying glasses, visitors can scrutinise purported masterpieces by Sandro Botticelli, John Constable, and Auguste Rodin.
Visitors will learn how they were created, the methods of the most infamous forgers and the increasingly sophisticated methods used to detect them.
"Forgeries have always existed in the history of art and have a place in our study," Rachel Hapoienu, drawings cataloguer at the gallery, told AFP.
Hapoienu highlighted one work thought to be by Englis...