Fake Madonna

A quiet nightmare haunting museum directors is the fear that they may wind up with a fake masterpiece on their hands. Last week Sir Philip Hendy, director of London's august National Gallery, woke up to find that for him the dream had come true. A London art dealer had proved that the National Gallery's Virgin with Angel and Child by the 15th century Italian, Francesco Francia, was a fake.

For Art Dealer Leonard F. Koester, the matter of the false Virgin had been a 6,000-guinea ($18,000) question, the price he paid a year ago for a similar Francia. Koester lined up his own art experts, including one who noted: "Your picture shows the fine crisp craquelure [cracks in the varnish] characteristic of many Renaissance paintings," and "the anatomy, e.g., of the Virgin's eye socket ... is better understood and more determinedly modeled." When the British press turned the dispute into a guessing game, the National Gallery decided it was time to put its Francia through a threefold lab test: Xray, infra-red and microscopic analysis.

The results were conclusive. The X rays showed that the paint in the National Gallery's Francia did not have the heavy amounts of lead carbonate usual in most Renaissance paintings. Infra-red exposure for half a minute revealed black pencil lines under the paint (unknown in Francia's works). More important the pencil sketch was not in Francia's style. Under the microscope the painting's craquelure, instead of conforming to the regular pattern, spidered over the painting.

For Sir Philip Hendy there was only one way out. Last week he admitted the National Gallery's mistake. Said Sir Philip: "I think it is the only fake the National Gallery owns. But it is a fake." Art Dealer Koester promptly put his true Virgin on display in his St. James's gallery. Asking price: 18,000 guineas.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.