2014年经济学人 艺术 伪造大师的作品竟然被拍卖

Art

Imitable

A master forger¹'s works are auctioned³

THE sale of more than 200 drawings on October 22nd by a small auction² house near Salisbury in south-west England has threatened to open old wounds in the art world. The works were by Eric Hebborn, a master forger.

Few have heard of Hebborn, but many museum-goers may have seen his handiwork, masquerading as old masters at major galleries around the world. He claimed his forgeries⁴ found homes in the world's most famous museums, though some friends, and enemies, disputed this. Some in the art world fear that the newly auctioned sketches⁶, collected by his sister after he was murdered in Rome in 1996, could prove to be preliminary drawings which would reveal other major fakes. “This auction is going to open a very large can of worms,” says Simon Wingett, who auctioned Hebborn's works at Webbs of Wilton this week.

Born into a working-class London family in 1934, Hebborn won prizes as a student at the Royal Academy, but his own art brought him little acclaim⁷, leading to suggestions that forgery⁸ was his means of revenge on a snooty art elite⁹. Hebborn maintained that dealers¹¹ were interested in money not art, claiming one paid him ￡750 for a forgery that he sold on for ￡90,000. As for art historians, “they just want to get a knighthood for knowing a lot about Rembrandt”. Art itself was neglected, he believed. He dismissed claims he was a crook¹², saying he, like many before him, simply made imitations.

He is thought to have produced about 1,000 forgeries over the course of his life, sold on by bamboozled¹³ dealers as the work of Rubens, Van Dyck, Brueghel and others. In 1978, a curator at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, noticed that two drawings purchased from Colnaghi, a reputable dealer¹⁰ in London, were on the same kind of paper. The dealer admitted to having been duped, and prices on the London market for master drawings fell. In 1984 Hebborn confessed to having forged them and others. But he was never charged; the dealers and experts were too worried about rocking the market and exposing their own ignorance.

Though few people could tell the difference between his forgeries and the originals, there remains¹⁴ a difference in price. At Sotheby's in New York earlier this year, a painting by Brueghel fetched $5.2m. Hebborn's most expensive sketch⁵ this week went for ￡2,600.

1 forger   

v.伪造；n.（钱、文件等的）伪造者

参考例句：

• He admitted seven charges including forging passports.他承认了7项罪名，其中包括伪造护照。
• She alleged that Taylor had forged her signature on the form.她声称泰勒在表格上伪造了她的签名。

2 auction   

n.拍卖；拍卖会；vt.拍卖

参考例句：

• They've put the contents of their house up for auction.他们把房子里的东西全都拿去拍卖了。
• They bought a new minibus with the proceeds from the auction.他们用拍卖得来的钱买了一辆新面包车。

3 auctioned   

v.拍卖( auction的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• It was sad to see all grandmother's lovely things being auctioned off. 眼看着祖母那些可爱的东西全都被拍卖掉，心里真不好受。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• TV franchises will be auctioned to the highest bidder. 电视特许经营权将拍卖给出价最高的投标人。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 forgeries   

伪造( forgery的名词复数 )； 伪造的文件、签名等

参考例句：

• The whole sky was filled with forgeries of the brain. 整个天空充满了头脑里臆造出来的膺品。
• On inspection, the notes proved to be forgeries. 经过检查，那些钞票证明是伪造的。

5 sketch   

n.草图；梗概；素描；v.素描；概述

参考例句：

• My sister often goes into the country to sketch. 我姐姐常到乡间去写生。
• I will send you a slight sketch of the house.我将给你寄去房屋的草图。

6 sketches   

n.草图( sketch的名词复数 )；素描；速写；梗概

参考例句：

• The artist is making sketches for his next painting. 画家正为他的下一幅作品画素描。
• You have to admit that these sketches are true to life. 你得承认这些素描很逼真。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 acclaim   

v.向…欢呼，公认；n.欢呼，喝彩，称赞

参考例句：

• He was welcomed with great acclaim.他受到十分热烈的欢迎。
• His achievements earned him the acclaim of the scientific community.他的成就赢得了科学界的赞誉。

8 forgery   

n.伪造的文件等，赝品，伪造（行为）

参考例句：

• The painting was a forgery.这张画是赝品。
• He was sent to prison for forgery.他因伪造罪而被关进监狱。

9 elite   

n.精英阶层；实力集团；adj.杰出的，卓越的

参考例句：

• The power elite inside the government is controlling foreign policy.政府内部的一群握有实权的精英控制着对外政策。
• We have a political elite in this country.我们国家有一群政治精英。

10 dealer   

n.商人，贩子

参考例句：

• The dealer spent hours bargaining for the painting.那个商人为购买那幅画花了几个小时讨价还价。
• The dealer reduced the price for cash down.这家商店对付现金的人减价优惠。

11 dealers   

n.商人( dealer的名词复数 )；贩毒者；毒品贩子；发牌者

参考例句：

• There was fast bidding between private collectors and dealers. 私人收藏家和交易商急速竞相喊价。
• The police were corrupt and were operating in collusion with the drug dealers. 警察腐败，与那伙毒品贩子内外勾结。

12 crook   

v.使弯曲；n.小偷，骗子，贼；弯曲(处)

参考例句：

• He demanded an apology from me for calling him a crook.我骂他骗子，他要我向他认错。
• She was cradling a small parcel in the crook of her elbow.她用手臂挎着一个小包裹。

13 bamboozled   

v.欺骗，使迷惑( bamboozle的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He bamboozled his professors into thinking that he knew the subject well. 他欺骗了他的教授，使教授认为他很了解这门学科。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He bamboozled the old lady out of her diamond ring. 他骗了那老妇人的钻石戒指。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。