Mental Floss: The great masters of art heists and scams

• Published in: Newhouse news service p. 1
• Main Author: FLOSS, MENTAL
• Format: Newspaper Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington Newhouse News Service 28.03.2007

Elgin claimed to have removed the friezes and sculptures because the Ottomans (who ruled Greece at the time) were neglecting them. Of course, critics are more than happy to tell you the good earl outright stole them. Whatever Elgin's motives, the workers who removed the sculptures did terrible, irreparable damage to the Parthenon. The marbles arrived in England between 1801 and 1805 to a mixture of awe and outrage. A profligate spender (earls just wanna have fun!), Elgin piled up huge debts and ended up selling the collection to Parliament in 1816. Shortly after the theft, the archbishop received 13 ransom notes signed "D.U.A." demanding 1 million Belgian francs for the painting's safe return. "D.U.A." turned out to be a transposition of the initials of Arseen van Damme (with the "V" unlatinized into a "U"), alias of Arsene Goedertier, an eccentric who allegedly got the idea from a detective novel. A few months after the theft, Goedertier, on his deathbed, said he was the only one who knew where the painting was hidden, but he did not say where it was. What made Elmyr de Hory infamous wasn't the sheer number of forgeries he sold. It was that they were very good forgeries. For 30 years, de Hory sold forgeries of paintings by the world's greatest artists, including Picasso, Chagall, Matisse, Degas and Toulouse- Lautrec. In fact, his forgeries were so good, so precise in every detail, that they fooled even the most experienced art buyers. So much so that the native Hungarian has even attracted his own cult following, who pay high prices for "authentic" de Hory fakes. Irony of ironies, the forger's forgeries are now being forged and sold by other forgers! Even more odd: Today, legitimate museums host exhibitions of de Hory's works.