Convict in the UK forger claims to have forged a drawing of Leonardo da Vinci

Well-known counterfeiter Shaun Greenhalgh claims to have faked a picture Leonardo La Bella Principessa (Fair Princess), valued at £ 150 million. This is an amazing statement, according to art critic Waldemar Januszczak in an interview with The Sunday Times, Greenhal made in his memoirs written in prison. The book is published by Zhanuzak’s company, ZCZ Editions.

In 2007, Greenhal, a native of Bolton (Greater Manchester), was sentenced to four years and eight months in prison for a number of fakes, including sculptures of Princess Amarna and some other ancient sculptures, paintings and drawings. His elderly parents, George and Olivia, were also involved in fraudulent operations and received suspended sentences. Now Greenhal claims that it was he who painted The Beautiful Princess in 1978.

In his book, “The Tale of the Forger,” he writes: “I painted this picture in 1978, when I worked in a cooperative. The picture shows a girl named Sally, who worked on cash registers. She was domineering, with very great conceit. ”

In order to get a real antique piece of parchment, Greenhal used a land act dating to around 1587. He took it from a stand at Victorian school. The portrait, painted with ink and colored crayons, first surfaced in 1998 at Christie’s auction and was cataloged as a drawing made in Germany in the 19th century. The painting was presented by Jeanne Marchig of Florence, who claimed that her husband, the restorer, Giannino Marchig, owned the painting before their wedding in 1955. If this fact is true, then Greenhal cannot be its author. The painting was sold for 22,000 thousand dollars to the Canadian collector, Peter Silverman (Peter Silverman).

In 2008, Martin Kemp, a Renaissance art specialist at the University of Oxford, attributed the drawing as belonging to Leonardo da Vinci. The date of its creation is defined as 1495-96. Experts believe that it depicts Bianca, the illegitimate daughter of the Duke of Milan, Ludovico Sforza.

The cover of the book on La Bella Principessa, written by Kemp in collaboration with Pascal Cotte, says that a drawing can cost £ 150 million. However, most other specialists did not accept Kemp’s conclusions about Leonardo’s authorship, believing that the drawing was attributed to him. Kemp, however, refers to test data that suggests that the chalk used to create the picture was produced approximately in the 17th century. He claims that it is too unlikely that Greenhal could get such an old chalk.

Calling Greenhal’s claims ridiculous, Martin Kemp said in an interview with The Art Newspaper that “the time for nonsense for Leonardo will never end.” La Bella Principessa still keeps its secret. Perhaps the drawing should be added to the list of Grinhal’s extensive works, but the history of art is replete with scammers who falsely ascribe real works to themselves. In 1978, Grinhal was only 17 years old, which means that if his words were true, then he created such an important fake at a very young age. However, when dealing with scammers, you can not trust a single word of them.

Anna Sidorova © Gallerix.ru