Scholars claim Alexander bronze in Greece restitution deal to be a fake | DW Documentary
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 มิ.ย. 2024
- When a long-lost bronze of Alexander the Great suddenly turns up in Greece, experts are suspicious. This DW documentary follows archaeologist Stephan Lehmann as he follows the trail of the art forgers.
Stephan Lehmann has uncovered around 50 suspected forged artworks to date - in the marketplace, in private collections and even in museums. Now, a large bronze of Alexander the Great has resurfaced in Greece. It was owned by a British art dealer and was handed back to Greece as previously looted art. But Lehmann and other experts say it’s a fake.
Due to his work, archaeologist Stephan Lehmann is not always a popular figure: in the art trade and the museum world, many people prefer to sweep the problem of forgeries under the rug. But one anonymous Swiss collector decided to confront the issue. He sent Lehmann an allegedly ancient but highly dubious bronze depicting Emperor Augustus, which he had purchased for several hundred thousand dollars in New York. Lehmann examined it and had it X-rayed at Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute, using one of the most powerful CT scanners in the world. Testing the material an artwork is made of can not only uncover forgeries; it can also shed light on how forgers go about their work.
This documentary sets out on the trail of art forgers, uncovering a dark and concealed side of the antiquities trade. It reveals just how good forgeries can be. Fakes have even sometimes turned up among supposedly looted works being returned to states as part of the restitution process.
#documentary #dwdocumentary #fake #art #crime
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DW is the modern Sherlock Holmes of investigative reporting. Bravo and thank you!
Not when it comes to NATO occupations, wars, and Germany's drugs, arms, racism, or lack of democracy.
The rest looks good.
As someone who's worked at a museum, these recent art documentaries are excellent.
I came here to say the same. The work Stephan and Christoph is doing (or did I should say, RIP Christoph) is astounding and I'm so glad to see an updated report on the work and research into this and their tenacity in the face of a lot of opposition/denial and blocking by those within the industry of art and antiquities. I really hope this work is continued and catalogued and more eminent people on the side of the integrity of history come out in force.
The former forger Shaun Greenhalgh is a great example to study
Another banger doc from DW. They JUST DO NOT MISS. Incredible. Thank you for this gem.
There's a longer version from 6 years ago also on this channel. This is a shortened version with some updates at the end.
I loved the original doc that 22+ mins of this was drawn from.
The “Spanish Master” must be absolutely laughing like heck and have updated their CV to proudly show that their modern forgery has been “court certified” as “ancient, looted”
Thanks DW for the update.
Surely a good fake, especially if done by the Spanish Master, would have value far in excess of inherent material!!! Why shouldn't the artistry, skill and expertise be valued for what it is?
@@marquamfurniture I’d love to fill my house with “previously attributed” fakes.
The entire “serious(ly wealthy) collector” scene is performative art; the dance between billionaires and institutions is highly choreographed ballet; the best forgers used to get more thrill out of “sticking it to the experts” than the money. I think now they love that dealers and auction houses are absolute willing participants in turning the entire market into a “ponzi” or “NFT scam” that only burns the indefensibly, ostentatiously wealthy.
@@bernardkealey6449 The mere premise of the NFT concept was ridiculous in the first place. Han't it died a death by now anyway?
On the trail of art forgers - The concealed side of the antiquities trade | DW Documentary. The dude seen driving his car looked a tad akin to sekanda...
In the first chapter of Charney's book he describes how Michelangelo would create "Greek" statues and have them buried and distressed and then sold through dealers as antiquities to wealthy Italian families in the 15th century.
Hhhmmm, Michelangelo has always been busy commissioned by clients since he was young. Based on his Pieta, I can't imagine he have time to created fake the time he spend on David, his work ethic doesn't seem to have spare time for fakes.
Hhhhmmmm. I gave you the citation, now read it.@@___beyondhorizon4664
Dang gone it. I'm starting to think that the ancient Greek sculpture of dogs playing poker I bought at a yard sale might be a fake.
Wait a minute! Is that fella's "unexpected death" potentially a silencing of sorts?!?!
Only if you're looking for conspiracy delusions to buy into. He was 78, so it's not as if he was young and vibrant with decades ahead of him.
Best wishes from Vermont 🍁
Thank you DW Doc. You provide important information for the public and make it enjoyable to watch to the end. Gut Arbeit!!
Thank you very much for your words and for showing us your support!
The interior of the bronze heads have a lot to say: casting techniques, tool marks, plaster content, possible contamination by sandblasting material. Surprised they didn't spend more time in there. Microscopic particles in there could point to manufacturing techniques.
An art forger a few hundred years ago would have made a fortune without much scientific and expert scrutiny.
There wasn't such a market.
money laundry was easier back then, no need for the "art" market
Love documentaries like this ..
I just love watching DW documentaries regarding art ❤.Keep making such documentaries regarding art 🎨 .
Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment.
A fool and his money shall soon be parted. 😂 a buyer’s ego and the greed of the auction houses won’t let them admit the truth.
Oh, man. And these are the people who give Fiona and Philip far too many thumbs down. The big art market is simply not what it purports to be. Thoroughly enjoyed this video but can't help but think it greatly aids forgers with a wealth of tips to avoid detection.
There's quite a dramatic difference between the exhaustive provenance they demand from Fiona and Philip and the non-existent provenance that apparently satisfies many prestigious auction houses.
As soon as i saw the title i had to speed click! Superb as per usual!!
I don't understand how they can be valued so high with no continuous provenance. Whenever I watch Fake or Fortune, that's the main determinant.
This is a good documentary into the Business of Art that draws in all shades of characters...Master Forgers, Art Thieves, Bancasurance Detectives, Ambulance chasing Lawyers, Forensic expertise assisted by cutting edge technology, a dash of spin doctor press pocketed by Auction Houses...and the Timeless effort of brilliant minds in Academia...trying to even the balance.
A mix of the good guys vs the malfeasant bad.
And a treasure trove for Cinematic experience.
What an excellent documentary, my compliments!
Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment!
You only have to read the disclaimer pages in auction house catalogues to realise how corrupt they are.
This was so informative and well-done!!!
Plot twist - turns out 'The Spanish Master' was actually Stephan Lehmann all along.
The usual suspect
Wow! Really?! Is that true?
@@ArtHistoryProfessor Well, as Abraham Lincoln once said "It's on the Internet, so it must be true."
@@ArtHistoryProfessor Yes, of course
Impressove and inspirational documentary..i am really impressed by the perfectionism , content , the originality of the content and above all the style of conveyance ❤❤❤
Interesting video
I was a blacksmith and in my younger days I made more then a few “ Antiques”
No $million bronze heads but did pay for most of my house with authentic slave collars. 😉
There are 3 types of fakes, ones you can spot across the room, those you have to pick up and examine and then ones you just can’t tell
Also many forgers go over the top, like making an Alexander the Great that should have sent off whistles I think
So too how it would have been removed from the stature, I would expect to see more damage
Remember too if a person could make something back then a person can make it today. Also while there are some pretty bad fakes some are made by those that know what it should look like and how it was made
Most buyers that get bit by these things is because they are stupid and often think they are screwing the seller when in fact they are getting bent over. 😃
DW Documentary, vielen Dank wie immer 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Thanks for watching!
Great documentary, but it's moslty a rehash of an earlier Documentary from DW also very worth watching. Good stuff anyway!
Thank you for watching and taking the time to comment!
Love this stuff! Thanks.
Another banger and incredible documentary shared by an excellent (DW) documentary channel....thank you for sharing
Thank you DW! This is very interesting. I have some fascination for Alexander the Great and Augustus and I recognize their faces immediately. The artist makes a great job with the forge but the ancients wouldn’t have approved those portraits: they do not look like them, they are shallow and plain, and above all they are not canonical. Those bronzes would have been melted, not everybody was allowed to produce an Augustus statue. There is a list of characteristics that all the statues have and correspond to how they wanted to look like and the message they wanted to transmit to the people. Only the eye of an expert and some passionate history lovers can recognize them 🤫
Thanks a lot for watching and for your positive feedback. We appreciate you taking the time to comment and are glad you like our content!
Fascinating inside look at the art world… really well done DW! 🙌🏻
Thanks for your positive feedback and taking the time to watch our documentary!
Very nice work!
Ironically enough, there's a pretty good chance that the "Spanish Master's" work will itself become collectible in a few decades. These notorious fakes have a way of becoming desirable themselves. It's guerrilla art, not unlike Banksy's graffiti, just more of an intellectual graffiti.
Can you name any examples of notorious fakes "becoming desirable themselves"? 🤔
Those who melt old coins should be jailed.
Thank you for the report! Well done! I've been in Greece, and i visited so mane museums, and the only question that crossed in my mind was, is it fake?
No doubt, there are some pieces missing about what's the real story behind the Alexander bust? Is it really fake? Nevertheless, it is a masterpiece just to look at it. Looting arts is like cancer.... You can't stop it no matter what ...
Wonderful to get a follow up on the previous report. Hopfully DW will keep on this story.
Wow! What a documentary!❤❤
Thank you for taking the time to comment!
This is just a shortened version of a DW documentary from 6 years ago with a few minutes of updated extra footage. The original is also on DW's TH-cam channel.
There was another forger from the late-19th/early-20th century known as the Spanish Forger, though he/she/they specialized in medieval miniatures.
Auction is just one way to money launder their money
This is fascinating. It always seems that nobody values or cares about art, until it becomes very old, or a war breaks out and art is stolen and artists forced to create propaganda art. It shows that when it comes down to it, art is very valuable to humans. It's also fascinating how skilled and talented the forgers are, but how nobody wants what they create because their art isn't old or created by someone famous.
An Art forgers is an modernity. It's still own his high value . Because we can't abandon from the past . So, we imitate manythings as well as posible..
.
Make a documentary about the destruction of the Iraqi museum in 2003
I'd like to see that
That would be an excellent topic....so much was lost or looted from that. Such a shame and it definitely deserves more attention in the West.
@@austinballard6815 it was a tragedy still not talked about in big way.
Truth takes so much courage risks and personal loss, much much more maybe priceless than the fakes of millions! kudos and salute to all these brave men in every field who field truth at all costs and with all visible and invisible risks!
Shocked 😲
The Spanish Master can't seem to help adding just a little modernity to his sculpts. Alexander and Augustus look way too good to be true. They are too expressive and the nature of the damage is too decorative. They are probably quite irresistible to a silicone valley billionaire with modern sensibilities, no archaeological background and an ego that aspires to be the next conquering emperor.
I see where you are going.
Zuckerberg
I can only imagine this is going to get worse with how fast technology is accelerating. Ai will probably be able to create perfect replicas and material sciences will create very realistic molds.
The best forgeries are done using original period technology NOT modern technology
Always truthful and fascinating! Keep doing this! Expose the evil people of the world
I love art forgers because.... they fool the "experts." The Stradivarius violin known as the Messiah (in England) is a fake but the museum which houses it refuses to have the wood tested. That alone tells me it's a fake.
today's art definition is all about money - orig or fake
Wrong. The violin's provenance is not disputed. Because it has been examined in detail, it's known that the tailpiece and tuning pegs aren't original. But, the violin is authentic, despite your contempt for people who know much more than you.
You're welcome. 🙄
@@TheStockwell Yes, that may be true - there's always someone out there who may know more than I. However, I trust myself more than I trust anyone else I know. I have never been to the Ashmolean and have never seen the fiddle up close; however, I do know that to my eyes, the thing looks more like a cheap Roth than anything else. I have held Strads, Amatis, Guarneris, Guadagninis, and other semi-precious fiddles in my hands and even played some of them. My eyes alone tell me the "Messiah" in that glass case is fake. Pollens did a test of the wood long ago and concluded that the tree from which that Messiah was made was much younger than the fiddle itself. He submitted his report to the "authorities" and was promptly told he would no longer be allowed near the violin. There may be a real Messiah violin out there somewhere, but I'm absolutely certain it's not the one at the Ashmolean. The violin we call the Messiah was touched by many (many) people, including the master duplicator of violins himself, Vuillaume, and the Hill people. That being the case, it would be incorrect to say with 100% certainty that the provenance is established.
PMSL...that literally proves nothing! 🤦🏻♂️🤦🏻♂️😂😂
Hitler was loved too. Managed to fool a lot of people.
Not about artwork..about value. If a "fraud" is good art .. or a "forgery" is well done in the style of .. it’s art.
That means you can't trust the auctions 100%. 🤔
Very educational and enjoyable, But the Alexander bust being bought buy a an American multi-billionare would have been my choice for a happy ending. lol
the art "market" is a grift of the first order.
not only is it set up to dupe the gullible newly rich,
as well as the status seekers (something I don't really have a huge issue with),
but it is also a very easy way to launder money (something I do have an issue with).
DW always has quality documentarys ! But less depressing documentarys of climate problems would be good . Be more creative with more positive and upbeat narratives ! Thx !
tks
Got one small copper coin when I was 10 years old. It has any value?
its pah-TEEN-ah
Hallo DW Documentary. I am looking for your documentary on what makes a child smart.
May I please have access. Thank you.
Hello, to watch the documentary, click on the link: th-cam.com/video/cGhEUFKbnU0/w-d-xo.html :)
Experts must have watched 'Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable'.
👍 Greetings, Hellas/Macedonia/Thessaloniki.
4:21 Should show the pictures that he is pointing at full screen
Most of this is from an older documentary about the head that was analyzed.
Isn't there a difference in value between a 50 year old fake and a 500 year old fake?
Yes, there is a difference. Interestingly enough, the difference can be represented with the letter “r.”
Re: fake vs faker = difference is “r”
Yes. It's the difference between a drawing by Gustav Klimt and me making an absolutely perfect copy of it. The original is worth more just for *being* the original - and not an accurate copy.
Best wishes from Vermont 🍁
Well, all these pieces need is for a few more documentaries and tv series to be made about them and they'll be famous enough that someone will pay the same as if they were antiquities. I mean, people paid top dollar for NFTs...
A great many of these comments are so obviously from bots. What a shame, because it is a good show. They don't need to screw up the flow here with those mundane compliments.
What about old forgeries dating from the Renaissance
They are masterpiece in their own right
The thumbnail 😭💀
Almost as much as your dp
@@evaburnz😂😂😂😂
14:38 - "It's a fantastic piece," but it might only be worth the cost of the materials (12:45)? Why isn't a talented artist appreciated and compensated in proportion to the quality of the work? Might that have something to do with why they choose to forge antiquities?
Because what they've created is tainted by it being created as a deliberate act of fraud.
If someone sold a terrific copy of a Greek sculpture as their own work, that honesty makes it legitimate and worth owning.
If the same person uses that work to profit through deception, it belongs in an evidence room in a court case.
You can buy a faithful copy of a painting by Klimt on the open market. However, international law states that faking his signature constitutes an illegal act of deliberate fraud.
It's the context, you know? If someone tries to get free drinks by showing off their skills as a Nicholas Cage impersonator, that's fine. If they try to get free drinks by saying they ARE Nicholas Cage, that's fraud and something he'd get arrested for doing.
Context and intent - that's what it comes down to.
Best wishes from Vermont 🍁
📍19:48
❤
😮😮🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏
so thats why carbon dating would not work mmmm i was wondering . nice info . 🤗
13:39 very important information more folks should know about the rich.
I LOVE it!
The art world is full of forgeries. Some of which, are sold in big-name auction houses for millions of dollars, it’s almost comically hilarious and tragic at the same time.
Why no person time travel to ancient Greece and photograph Alexander Face ( ? )
After all the Greek art minister had an internet connection........🤷🏽♂️😂.
Aaaahhh rich people problems. I will never worry that my dogs playing poker on velvet is fake. I'm just blessed that way.
I like her voice.
Preserved deep in Canada's lakes, seaside, and Ocean's lays, over woods° to again that black ship° ○
Hallow'eve ☆🎃 tricK
Δεν το γνώριζα αυτό. Εντυπωσιακό.
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26:04 “…naive American multi billionaire…” 😂
Alexander was not fake. There are many recorded military battles of Alexanders campaigns.
Theclever facetiousness of this video's title obviously went WAY over your head. 🙄
So first degree you should be illegal🤔😳😵💫🙄
really hard to feel sorry for a billionaire who falls for such just for clout !
As an artist crafter I often think about creating fakes. It is far more lucrative than selling replicas. The Spanish masters prove this. It’s more lucrative than getting a degree. The Spanish masters seem to not observe super well. They are fantastic artists but they do not properly study the period they attempt to copy. The problem is there are very few people who have eyes for this combined with the cultural and period expertise to pull it of to perfection and worse fewer people who have the eye to spot the fake. Many academics are stupid in regards to the thing they study. They become esoteric vs putting hands on things. When you become a creator you gain different eyes. When you go one step further and like me create reproductions based on pictures and in person observation then you can see the nuance of the original and can duplicate that to an extent. More importantly you can spot reproductions (fakes) easily. Academics by and large are not capable of the artistic and craft skills to sort this out. They are mostly incapable. Ask a reproduction artist. Otherwise you will remain idiots who let your culture be faked. Don’t be stupid. Ask the artists and craftsmen.
I wonder what kind of publicity stunts were maybe going on back then in hopes that would be helping them do the money laundering well enough back then too? Like when painting out the image of any slave child who happened to be in a painting too. Or if anybody asks the same kind of crooks throwing works of art stolen into the deep while saying it was only for their religious reasons as to why they were doing so. Michelangelo's orignial works of art would have been a lot harder to just toss into the deep while being followed to try and get away with doing the same thing. Unless of course that was after a whole lot of bombing and burning and then later picking up the pieces in some Archeologist set of work room which sounds way too far fetched anyway. Seems to me there will never be another human being like Michaelangelo the artist too. When would or could a work of art from ancient times which an artist did long ago to depict a fully clothed figure later become an icon instead without perhaps after being re-assembled then only being called a worthless fake or instead the stolen spoils of war?
Auction is a great place to launder their money
Too much money
ultimately the greed of money and power of human race takes over truth and purity...the noble and truthful have a tough road too trek for ages, time immemorial.
Antiques should be in Museum for the public, it's human history. I can only laugh if a rich guy paid for a fake.
Most of the ancient artefacts and general paintings are forgeries, copying has been rife since time began.
Sylvester Stallonne not Alexander 😅
Is the Spanish master that British bloke that did the fake shipwreck? Lol
So how old are these fakes?
Original NFTs
You’re getting ripped off buying this stuff to begin with.
"patina" is properly pronounced "pa-TEEN-a", not "PAT-a-na".
Ok Jafar
And who is controlling the controllers? Just because it is the opinion of ONE man, does it mean he is THE authority?
Of course, All they are o were retired from that business at that moment. So they need to sell the book.
Is it important the cage. By copying the dead sea document got to us
I love Alexander the 8
nothing strange for money laundering industry ...
HOW😅😅😅😊