The Guardian covers the new book by Ken Perenyi where he tries to make of virtue of his criminal past as a forger of 18th and 19th Century sporting and maritime paintings:
He recalled at first “trying to become a legitimate… artist” [but] every time I needed supplies or food, I would make a fake and sell it… I started to rely on fakery more and more. I eventually turned it into a full-blown career.”
Explaining why he kept away from famous artists, Perenyi said: “I wouldn’t want to fake a George Stubbs, as paintings… like that are usually… accounted for. However, you take an artist like John F Herring or Thomas Buttersworth and there could always be another one… in somebody’s attic.” […] “I pride myself on my forensic expertise. I started with extensive research… the correct canvas, correct stretchers… framed in good period antique frames. I made sure that… the back side spoke to [experts], that it gave them ‘a history’. I had fake stamps, chalk marks, old inventory labels.”
Master forger comes clean about tricks that fooled art world for four decades (Guardian)
