Fake picture sold to a collection of Vladimir Putin

The Moscow City Court left the custody gallery owners, "Russian Collection" his wife Tatiana and Igor Preobrazhensky, who is accused of organizing one of the biggest scams in the market of Russian antiquities. The couple from St. Petersburg, according to the staff of the Investigative Committee under the Ministry of Interior, got rid of a few dozen gullible businessman forged paintings of Russian artist of the XIX century. One of these paintings, according to some reports, there was also a collection of Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to "Kommersant".

"News Time" suggests that this is just one episode, and after completion of all examinations couple accused of selling forged paintings and other classics of Russian paintings - Aivazovsky, Shishkin, Kiseleva, Orlovsky, Sverchkova.

This criminal case has already been reflected in all the antiques market, causing a sharp drop in confidence as to the dealers, and in general the quality of Russian art expert. The consequence of this was an unprecedented collapse in the prices of antiques.

Ceychas appears in only one victim - a businessman Valery Uzzhin, co-founder of online dealers, "Alex-pole", collects Russian paintings of the XIX century. From Petrograd gallery owners, who a few years ago moved to Moscow and opened a saloon "Russian Collection" in the arcade, a business acquaintance, on the recommendation of his business partner in 2004. Learning that Valery Uzzhin passionate creative artist Wanderers Alexander Kiselev, Tanya Transfiguration offered to buy him some pictures of this rapidly growing 's of the XIX century. The catch is that Alexander Kiselev, the general public aware of only one picture - "Abandoned Mill" (it is in the Tretyakov Gallery). However, some time later in the collection of St. Petersburg businessman with gallery owners came about two dozen paintings, "Kiselyov." Paintings sold to the buyer at a price of 100-150 thousand dollars. Interestingly, the site "Russian Collection" still picture appears Kiselev, "Summer Day. Road along the edge of the forest."

Uzzhin was sure of the authorship of the work, as all the paintings were accompanied by an authoritative examination of the All-Russian Artistic Scientific Restoration Center Grabar (GRC). But in 2005 a collector came to visit his friend, who showed in the catalog of one of the two auctions of European paintings in the collection of former Uzzhina. Both paintings featured in the catalog as the work of Western artists of the XIX century and were sold at auction at a price of 5-7 thousand dollars apiece.

Owners of St. Petersburg gallery "Russian Collection" was detained in Moscow on October 16 in a rented apartment. Husband and wife were charged with "fraud on a large scale," and two days after the detention of the Tver district court issued a warrant for their arrest.

As part of an investigation paintings from the collection Uzzhina were examined by "Art Consulting", which carries not only the standard test, but also the chemical analysis of the paintings. The study confirmed that the businessman sold a fake.

"News Time" argues that, in addition to spouses Preobrazhensky, in this case is another person involved, but the charges brought against him in absentia, and now he is wanted. His name is a consequence of long kept secret.

The well-known gallery owners Gelman said, "Kommersant" that "the stories of Antiquaries, the case began to investigate only after this series of forgeries found in the collection of Vladimir Putin." According to gallery owners, "vmorozit falshaka" always tried to, but this case is seriously undermined consumer confidence in the experts, so the antiques market is now in deep crisis. "

Who are checked for authenticity, and other antique objects that pass through the St. Petersburg gallery and, therefore, may appear in the new episodes and injuries.

In particular, investigators are interested in and work GRC - it turned out that the authenticity of all works sold by Mr. Uzzhinu, assured only one worker center Tatyana Gordeeva. The center has conducted seizures of documents and searches. However, none of the prosecution of its employees are not charged. In the GRC refused to comment on the criminal case.

Investigators believe the damage from the activities of the art dealers of the "Russian Collection" could exceed $ 3 million and is the biggest scam in the Russian antiques market in recent years.

Is it easy to fool the experts

Examination revealed a subtle mechanism of production of fakes, which gives the work of professionals. Given the growing interest of collectors of Russian art of the XIX century, manufacturers of fakes bought paintings by unknown artists in Europe in the same period, similar in manner of Russian authors. Signatures of authors and then plastered, were deposited on top of them autographs of Russian artists, the paintings were made necessary changes associated with the feature of the landscape, the details of everyday life and costume characters. And as the manner of canvas and picture match, collectors fall for scams.

At a recent conference at the Tretyakov Gallery, devoted to examination and attribution sensation was the performance of Vladimir Petrov - fellow TG, a leading expert on Russian art of the XIX century.

"In recent years, spread malicious rewriting of paintings by foreign artists, which later under the names of Russian painters come to our market. And this is not a primitive forgery," - said the expert.

The selection of Western works shall, in the words of Vladimir Petrov, the "eye civilized", ie people with excellent professional training. "Selected Western works fine, I've ran into this phenomenon," - he said. Source material - not the work of the weak and mediocre artists. It is well-known masters in their own country, with the highest level of writing.

Experts agree that the "modifications" of Western painting in the Russian virtuoso performed. Achieved an incredible analogy in the selection of colors, brush strokes, and other techniques. The new "Russian" signature inculcated in the masterly paintings. After the initial manipulation of the cloth of his "old", the signature was erased, zalachivalas, and therefore it can not be distinguished in the ultra-violet rays, which works most of the museum's experts. Technological expertise gave a brilliant time and the similarity in content, as selected by Western artists working at the same time and used the same paint and canvas as their Russian colleagues. Such counterfeiting can be recognized only to the most complex chemical analysis, which is not common practice.

Exemplary example of how many professionals can fool a fake, is a story with a picture of a pseudo-Shishkin's "Landscape with a stream," which in the spring of 2004 Sotheby's barely managed to remove from their Russian trade. At the auction the painting was attributed as an early work of Ivan Shishkin - the period of his training in Europe in the so-called artists of the Dusseldorf School. The painting was valued at about $ 1 million dollars. It turned out that the painting is the work of Dutch painter retouched the same Dusseldorf school Marinus Adrian Kukkuka. A year before this painting was sold on the Swedish auction Bukowskis for 65,000 pounds. By the time the auction in London of "authenticity" has been certified by a respected expert of the State Tretyakov Gallery and Sotheby's.

November 23, 2005